Themes of Featured Contemporary Kabbalists Articles

Regarding the war against Amalek, the Lubavitcher Rebbe comments: Amalek is the second enemy the Jews faced since they left Egypt; the first was the Egyptians, who chased them into the Sea of Reeds. There, Moses said, "G-d will do battle for you and you shall remain silent." In contrast, the children of Israel themselves had to fight the Amalekites.

This is because the Egyptians stood behind the Jews; they were not blocking their path to Sinai (i.e. the way out of exile), while the Amalekites were. Similarly, battling adversity which stands as a barrier between Sinai and us should be left to G-d, while those that stand in the way of bringing light to the world must be tackled head on.

The seven Canaanite nations alludes to the seven bad qualities, as opposed to the holy seven sefirot, aspects of G-d's influence in this world. Human qualities are not to be annihilated but each quality modulated according to the correct measure [measure and quality are the same word in Hebrew], its good measure to be pursued diligently. Accordingly, we are not commanded to annihilate these nations but to conquer them and bring them within the sacred.

This is not the case with Amalek whose early root is the primordial serpent that caused all sins and whose essence is the planting of doubt in the existence of divine supervision. The quality of Amalek cannot be similarly conquered; one can only eradicate it by revealing the light of the Torah so that doubt disappears.

Purim is named after the Persian word for lottery, the basis of the central miracle of the holiday. Lotteries operate on a plane higher than reason and understanding; the Providence of G-d guides it. Haman had lotteries performed to ascertain the month and the day in which he would find success. He knew that Moses, the redeemer of the Jews, had passed away on the seventh of Adar. So when the lottery fell on that day, Haman rejoiced. But Haman didn't know that Moses was born on the same date!

According to the Zohar, "Yom Kippur is similar to Purim" and both are associated with lotteries. The repentance of Yom Kippur, in all its magnitude, was contingent on a lottery cast between two goats. Nevertheless Purim is loftier than Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur atonement is contingent on repentance. But on Purim, additional factors aren't necessary. The lottery itself brings about the miracle.