Amalek is the psychic and cosmic nemesis of all that is pure and G‑dly in man and in creation. How is he overcome? The key lies in a single word: “Remember.”
20 Comments Posted
Without Faith it is impossible to please G-d.
I very much liked the article.
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actually, in truth, and simply...what is truth and what does it mean to you.....SIMPLY....
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what do i have to remember about amalek........
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"Bottleneck": How often has one admired the perfect sculptured face and profile of the great Queen of Ancient Egypt, Nefertiti, which is housed in the Berlin Museum.. And how often does one wonder why the scullptor seemed to exaggerate her long narrow swanlike neck angled so perfectly to allow her head to balance so precariously and yet it has never toppled.
In this article by the Rebbi on the understanding of "Amalek", I believe lies the 'Truth' behind the sculptor's creative moulding of Nefertitii. . Her long narrow 'bottleneck' conveys the symbolic meaning of 'Mitzrayim'. A lesson that the Jewish people have learnt since their great Exodus from Egypt. Was this lesson already experienced by Queen Nefertiti and her husband, Pharaoh/King Akhenaton, the "heretic king" whose unacceptable belief in 'monotheism' lead to his mysterious end by a military coup and uprising of the 'pagan' priests.
Did Moses grow up in their Royal Court?
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I have read this parshah article several times over the years, I think. It is one of my favorites. I think looking at Amalek as a personification of either doubt or not having faith makes sense.
Thanks for putting it up again for us to re-read this week.
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Is the idea to change the meaning of malak, to melek, so that his name is erased in meaning, and all that remains is the Moshiach HaMelek?
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In my own exodus from feelings to Truth and in the battle of who will control the being, I still wonder why G-d would allow me to be in such a position at all. I think this is the question that so many ask today, perhaps even w/o asking aloud. Why would G-d allow His people to be in such a vulnerable position in the first place? Perhaps that is really the question for me in these lean days when the heavens seem shut and G-d seems so distant. Is He calling to the Amalek in me to come out and show himself for the traitor that he is? Is it to root out all of Mitzrayim that is still in me, though my sojourn has brought me so far toward Canaan?
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"A Moral Reckoning," Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
T. Jefferson's letter to S. Kercheval, 19jan1810
"The New Pearl Harbor,"Griffin/Google/Scholar
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Was Amalek in Italy, or his descendants. Are the descendants of Amalek some of the first to settle in Italy.
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It is written that the Edomites are the Romans. However, it is a longer stretch to say that the Amalekites (who are also from Esau's clan) are the Romans.
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Amalek is no longer a who as much as a what. Amalek's gematria equals doubt. Amalek is our doubt...this is what/who must be wiped out!!
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Amalek = Germany
Edom=Italy
This is why Hitler was so obsessed with getting Mussolini/Italy on his side
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Amalek is the opposite of Emmunah. Amalek = Doubt and Emmunah = Faith... To remember Amalek means to remember that we all fight the ‘doubt’ within us. Amalek is a force in the world and a force within us all. Develop faith by first, establishing reason, then blotting out doubt with the ensuing faith. The latter is the hardest part, but can be achieved in real time by remembering that we contain the evil force within us... Amalek = Doubt... blot out the ‘doubt’ with pure faith in every moment!
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"What differentiates terrorism from every other form of death? "
It's called globalization. So let's see. A subway car blows up in London vs. 5 die in a car crash on a winding road at 2 am. near my home.
I'd be a tad less likely to take the subway in London then drive on a winding road here next week.
London economy takes a hit.
Winding road traffic numbers stay exactly the same.
Uh. There's a BIG difference.
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Why is doubt or Amalek the enemy? Because doubt paralyzes. It prevents action. Mitzvot require action. That is why Moses and the Israelites had to fight and kill Amalek. Obedience to Torah is freedom and security for Jews in Israel, our promised land by HaShem. If we fail to obey God, and fail to remember the lessons of the Babylon and Roman exiles, if we fail to fight and defeat our enemies, then by inaction, we allow them to fight and destroy us. Military defence is essential to the commandment to choose life. Doubt says the Palestinian Arabs are human beings with the same right to the land as Jews. Doubt says that we must not exile them. That doubt is a giant barrier to our defense, our freedom, our life. Doubt and inaction destroys Torah and is a chilul HaShem.
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Wish modern Israel would realize these truths and live them. If not, the place will not make it though its first generation.
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The jews of the first century CE considered Rome to be a second or new Babylon. Yet it is true that later on in the middle ages, as new gentile religions formed based on the older jewish traditions, definitions changed. Christianity based on rome became edom, and Ismael based from arabia became ishmael. By this reasoning one could say Amalek is a christian offspring of rome. However, going back to Torah itself (from the bronze age, before christianity and islam). Amalek was a nomadic tribe of pirates and murderers, bent on plundering and even exterminating the ancient Israelites. So any group of people who match these descriptions could be said to be "amalek".
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Thank you for the lessons you teach us to carry out a worthy lifestyle in these days of modern turmoil and chaos which we tend to hang onto at every turn no matter what trauma we suffer.
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