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)
1 comment:
Joshua had to Pick for himself men. This also happens after Moses dies at 120 (in order to carry Josef). This answers the obvious question of why Moses didn't go into battle himself. He wouldn't be the one to finish the mission. The choosing of men that were pure of the brit, is the same as choosing men loyal to Josef! Because the Brit (oath) Mila (word) means "man of his word" and of course Josef told us Pekad Pekadeti and we all vowed!
WHO ARE THE 10 THAT CAN DO WHAT SABA LEFT FOR US TO DO??? THE SELECTION WILL TAKE PLACE DURING THE IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE WITH AMALEK , ONCE PEACE RETURNS TO THE LAND.
Now we need the mercy of G-d and the merit of the few to become witnesses to a miracle of G-ds' mercy on his rebellious people. Amalek will complain that an injustice has been done and the selection process will begin anew?
If you don't understand this, don't worry, but don't blame it on me either.
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