The War of Amalek

This shabbos we read Parshas Zachor, the portion of the Torah that reminds us of our obligation to wipe out Amalek in every generation.  In addition, Haman was an Amalekite, and a major point of Purim is to wipe out Amalek.      Here is a piece from Likutei Halachot of Reb Noson (Hilchos Shabbos) that discusses the War of Amalek in every generation, including our own:

The main power needed to fight Amalek and to erase

his name and memory from the world, is through

Shabbat, which is the name of the Holy One, Blessed

be He. For the main war of Amalek in every

generation is against the name of Hashem,

which is the name of the True Tzaddik, for the name

of Hashem is joined with that of the True Tzaddik.

This Tzaddik is the glory and beauty and splendor of

the whole world. He is the true grace of the world. He

is the aspect of the simple foundation, the river that

flows out of Eden, from which are drawn all four

elements which are the basis of all the worlds. For all

of them are drawn from (this river), and all their lifeforce

is drawn from it So everyone who is included in

the true name of this Tzaddik, looks upon himself

through all four elements - which include all the

dimensions – and merits to return in repentance to

Hashem.

And if this True Tzaddik were to be revealed, and all

the world drew close to him in truth, the world would

already be totally repaired. For this Tzaddik has the

power to fix the whole world, if not for the attempts of

the Other Side to hide him. For in every generation

there is the aspect of the war of Amalek. The core of

his struggle, may his name be erased, is specifically

against the True Tzaddik, who is the "Head of the

House".

For Amalek is the aspect of the Head of the Other

Side, as in "The first of the nations is Amalek."

Therefore, his entire war is only against the true Head

of the House, from whom all the generations are

drawn. In the aspect of "Call the generations from the

start."

For Amalek has no interest in waging war with any

other leader - large or small - aside from the Head

himself. However, against the Head of the House, he

has no power to wage war. For that True Tzaddik - the

Head of the House - has already merited to defeat and

break him completely, since he has no selfish

motivations at all. For he has already broken all his

desires and negative traits with such an absolute

completeness, that beyond it there is no more final

completeness.

He has annulled completely from himself the

"impurity of the Snake", which is the impurity of

Amalek, the Other Side, until there remains with him

not a trace of evil at all. Furthermore, he continues,

after this, to dedicate his entire being every day for

Hashem, and accepts upon himself suffering intense

and more bitter than death to sanctify the name of

Hashem, and for His people Israel. Therefore,

certainly Amalek has no chance to wage war against

this Tzaddik himself Consequently, his entire war

hinges upon how he confuses the world at every

moment, and creates a great attack at all times against

this True Tzaddik, who is the Head of the House, in

order to distance Israel from him, so that they will not

return to Hashem through this True Tzaddik, who has

the power to return the whole world to a state of

well-being.

And this is the evil husk, who is Haman-Amalek,

whose every plan and whose entire war is to hide and

cover up the name of this True Tzaddik, who is the

true Head of the House. For Amalek is quite pleased

that the people of Israel will come close to all the

leaders of the world: for example, to the philosophers

and the heretics. For also in these groups, there are

leaders who teach them the crooked ideas that uproot

them from this world and the next. And that people

should draw close to these leaders, is certainly a great

joy to Amalek.

However, even those leaders who have a share in

holiness, who are Torah individuals and even

tzaddikim, only that they are still held to some degree

by the forces of Evil... Amalek is very satisfied that

these leaders will be powerful and famous, have a

great name in the world, and have a great following.

All his evil intention is only to hide through this the

true Head of the House, who is the Head of all the

Heads in the world...

All the four elements are called "heads". As it is

written: "And it (the river flowing from Eden) became

four heads." And these further divided into many

smaller heads throughout the world. And even within

holiness there are many heads.

For each one according to his share, in that he

succeeded in purifying some part from the four

elements through perfecting his traits and overcoming

his desires, so he merits some part in leadership drawn

from purifying the four elements. However, none of

these leaders have succeeded in purifying the four

elements completely, to the zenith of purity. For they

are still gripped to some degree by certain desires and

negative traits that they have not overcome And as I

heard directly from Rabbeinu, that there are a number

of tzaddikim who have on the whole broken their

desires, yet there still remains with them some trace of

them. And these tzaddikim do not have the power to

bring the children of Israel back in repentance.

This power resides only with the True Tzaddik, the

True Head of the House, who has merited to annul the

evil in him completely. For since there is no evil in

him at all, he has the power to fix all the souls that

draw close to him, to return them to Hashem, may His

name be praised.

Therefore, the Evil One girds himself especially, and

extends himself from one end of the world to the

other, to hide the name, greatness and glory of this

True Tzaddik, and creates around him a fierce

controversy. And he strives in his schemes to raise up

leaders in the world, whose names are drawn from the

Impure Side, and to glorify their names to a great

degree.

And sometimes, when he sees that it is impossible to

overturn the truth completely, and to cause a complete

sinner to become a famed Torah leader - for certainly

the Jews would not follow such a man – consequently

he clothes himself within a basically upright person, or

a tzaddik who is not complete, and plants in his heart

the will to attack the aforementioned True Tzaddik,

the True Head of the House. And the Evil One

aggrandizes the name of this attacker; he glorifies him

and makes him exceedingly wellknown.

For Amalek is pleased that all the world will come

close to these leaders - even though they are only

tzaddikim to a small degree - in order to distance them

from the Great Tzaddik, the True Head of the House,

upon whom depends the rectification of all the souls

of Israel, and of the entire world. And this is hinted at

in the passage:

"and he (Amalek) cut off all the weak ones behind

you". "Cut off", or "veizanav" in Hebrew, is derived

from the root word "zanav", tail. The sages

commented on this: "Amalek cut off the tails and

threw them skyward." For the people, in relation to the

True Tzaddik, are the aspect of tails - for they are

secondary to him, for he is the head. However, it is

certainly better to be a tail in relation to him, rather

than a head somewhere else. As the sages said, "Be a

tail of a lion, and don't be a head to foxes."

And as they said, "One who is attached to a pure

source, is also pure". However, Amalek, in his twisted

schemes, cuts off the tails and throws them skyward,

turning them into heads. That is, he takes those who

are small in stature - who are like a tail in relation to

the Head of the House, and ought to be subdued to

him.

He takes these "tails", cuts them off - that is to say,

distances them from the true Head. And throws them

skyward - that is to say, he makes them leaders and

raises them very high, and magnifies their name

exceedingly. He plants in their hearts to attack the

True Tzaddik. All in order to hide the name of the

True Tzaddik, the true Head of the House. Thus, it is

said in the Torah:

"The war of Hashem against Amalek is in every

generation." For in every generation, Amalek

maintains his attack, since in every generation, the

Redemption is ready to come through this Head of the

House, who is the aspect of Moshe-Mashiach - the

highest tzaddik of each generation. The primary

obstacle is through this tremendous controversy,

which itself is the War of Amalek, whose entire war is

to hide and obscure the name of this Tzaddik.

In Moshe's war with Amalek, he specifically sent

Yehoshua to fight him, and did not enter the war

himself. For since the entire war of Amalek is against

Moshe, the true Head of the House, Moshe himself

cannot contend with him. For "He who is in prison

cannot free himself." The Tzaddik cannot glorify and

publicize his own name, for it would not

appear appropriate. Therefore, Moshe commanded

Yehoshua to go and wage the war.

For the aspect of Yehoshua - the student - all his

efforts and schemes are to publicize and glorify the

holy and awesome name of the Tzaddik in this world.

As Rabbeinu wrote, "Specifically through the students

of the Tzaddik, one can know his greatness." And

certainly, all Yehoshua's power to fight Amalek, is

only from the Tzaddik himself, who is the aspect of

Moshe. For surely, Yehoshua, the aspect of "student",

does not have the power to wage a war so tremendous

and awesome as this. So it is written:

"And it was, when Moshe would raise his arms, Israel

would triumph, etc." For certainly, the primary force

of the battle came from Moshe himself. However,

even so, the war itself – to overcome Amalek, to

glorify and publicize the name of the Tzaddik - must

be carried out by Yehoshua, the student. As it is

written in the Zohar (Beshalach, chapt. 65, sect. 2),

specifically Yehoshua was fit for this war.

(Orach Chaim III, Hilchos Shabbos, Halacha 5, Paragraphs 9, 10)