It’s All Good
By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Many
nations have risen up to battle us, subjugate us, and torment us, yet Amaleik
is singled out for eternal derision. Many of those who fought us succeeded in
their battles, killing many of us, crushing us, and evicting us from our land.
Amaleik, though the first to fight us, did not succeed in his mission and was
beaten back by the Bnei Yisroel under the leadership of Moshe and
Yehoshua.
Rav
Yosef Shalom Elyashiv explained that the behavior of Amaleik is diametrically
opposite that of the Jewish people. The posuk (Devorim 25:18)
states regarding Amaleik, “Asher korcha baderech vayezaneiv becha kol
hanechesholim acharecha - They came upon you while you were traveling and
attacked those who were weak” and tired from traveling.
“They
respected strength, denigrated weakness, and supported the rodef, the
attacker,” said Rav Elyashiv. “The Torah teaches to love the outsider and to
support him, to hate the bully and to support the nirdof, the victim.
“This
battle is eternal because Am Yisroel is always tired and always on the
move in the desert.”
Rav
Elyashiv likened this to the famous story (Melochim 3) of the two women
who went to Shlomo Hamelech quarreling over ownership of a child, each one
claiming that she had given birth to it. The Medrash (Shir Hashirim
1) states without explanation that the women involved were sheidim, not
human.
The
Vilna Goan explains the Medrash. Chazal teach (Avos 5:10)
that there are four types of people: “The one who says, ‘What is mine is mine
and what is yours is yours,’ is a beinoni, and some say that is middas
Sedom. The one who says, ‘What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine,’
is an am ha’aretz. If he says, ‘What is mine is yours and what is yours
is yours,’ he is a chossid. And the one who says, ‘What is mine is mine
and what is yours is mine,’ is a wicked rosha.”
Says
the Gaon, from here we see that to destroy something when there is no purpose
or gain from its destruction is not a human trait, and therefore, since one of
the women agreed to cut the baby in half, the story must have occurred with sheidim.
Such
is the attribute of Amaleik, battling Am Yisroel just for the sake of
fighting them, with no gain in it for themselves. They continuously battle us,
but they never win.
In
our day, time and again, we see enemies of the Jewish people seeking to destroy
us. Although Hashem continues to protect us each time and allow us to win over
our enemies, they continue attacking even though they know that they will lose
and often die in the process.
Israel
recently suffered an awful attack and has been working desperately to defeat a
despicable terrorist enemy who threatens us and the world. However, the
Amaleiki nations of the world and some like-minded Jews target Israel for
derision and seek to prevent it from winning the war, even if that means
empowering their own worst terror enemies. They seek to present the terrorists
with the gift of a state on Israel’s doorstep, as if it were a reward for
perpetrating a monstrous attack on the innocent people of Israel.
Although
they have nothing to gain from battling and hindering Israel, and only stand to
lose, they persist in their campaign to hobble Israel and its leadership.
The
sefer Siach Ish quotes a letter from Rav Elyashiv that was apparently
written in the 1940s. This is what he writes: “In normal years, we read the parsha
of Amaleik on Purim and on the Shabbos that precedes it. The
past few years, we read the parsha of ‘Vayavo Amaleik’ every hour
of every day. And even in this, we see the trait of Amaleik in that he comes
upon us ‘baderech,’ when we are on the way to build and strengthen the
Jewish people in Eretz Yisroel.
“It
is possible that the Sar of Eisov knows that if we are able to realize
our goal and arrive at our final destination, we will be on the way to kabbolas
haTorah, as we were promised by the novi (Yeshayahu 11:9) that
at the End of Days, ‘Umolah ha’aretz dei’ah es Hashem.’
“This
is the same Amaleik that five years ago spread his hand on the seat of Hashem,
destroyed our Botei Mikdosh, and killed gedolei Torah.
“What
can we do to combat the Amaleik that threatens us now? We can follow the same
advice that Moshe gave to his talmid, when he said at the outset of the
fight with Amaleik, ‘Bechar lonu anoshim - Go choose for us strong men
to fight him.’
“Although
in our days we don’t have a general such as Yehoshua, who didn’t leave the tent
of Moshe, we have to find and choose men who are ‘yerei cheit,’ who will
climb the mountain and hold aloft the hands of Moshe, seeing to it that
Hashem’s nation turns its gaze upwards, towards Hashem, knowing that their
salvation will come from Him.
“The
Gemara in Makkos (10) states, “Rabi Yehoshua ben Levi taught: The
explanation of the posuk (Tehillim 122:2), ‘Omdos hoyu
ragleinu bishorayich Yerushalayim,’ is as follows: Who caused our legs to
remain upright in battle? It was those behind the gates of Yerushalayim who
were studying Torah.”
“This
is compounded when talking about a battle with Amaleik, whose main strength
emanates when Klal Yisroel is weakened in Torah, as the posuk (Shemos
17:8) states that Amaleik battled the Jewish people in Refidim. Chazal (Tanchuma,
Shemos 25) explain that Refidim hints that “rofu yedeihem min haTorah,”
the people became weakened in Torah.”
When
we don’t study Torah as we should, Amaleik is given the power to attack us.
Therefore, the way we combat Amaleik is by strengthening our study and
observance of Torah. In our day, as well, as we contend with Amaleik and seek
to turn him back and rid our people of the threat he presents, the ultimate
weapon we have is Torah.
When
we seek to explain defeats, victories and tragedies in natural terms, we cause
trouble for ourselves and are not able to obtain victory and comfort.
Rav
Gedaliah Schorr (Ohr Gedalyahu, Purim 4) says that if we examine
the Megillah, we will see that the very same occurrences that brought on
bad omens for the Jewish people were turned into omens of geulah, when
the people did teshuvah.
The
cause of the decree against the Jews was because they joyfully participated in
the feast of Achashveirosh. At that feast, the story with Vashti took place and
Haman was given his big promotion.
At
the root of the sin of participating in Achashveirosh’s feast that caused the
decree of their destruction was that they were opposed to the position of
Mordechai, who would not bend or bow to the king and his men. They believed
that all their problems were caused by Mordechai not being subservient to the
leader. They felt that if they would ingratiate themselves with the king and
lobby him as the laws of nature would dictate, the king would like them and
they would be able to work things out.
But
the opposite happened. Going to the feast immediately awakened Amaleik and
empowered Haman to go after them. It was when they repented and did teshuvah
that they realized that they were wrong for going to the feast and
Mordechai was correct in his position of not bending to the kingdom. When they
then began following Mordechai and his instructions, everything turned around
and that same feast that caused them so much trouble now caused good things to
happen to them. The feast that caused the demise of Vashti triggered the
selection of Esther to be the new queen and the salvation was brought about
through her.
This
is hinted at in the posuk (Yirmiyohu 30:7) which states, “Eis
tzorah hee l’Yaakov umimenah yivosheia,” that when Yaakov is in a tzorah,
when things aren’t going right and tragedy threatens, the deliverance will come
from the tzorah itself.
We
see from this analysis of the Megillah that the outcome of a precarious
situation is dependent on us. If we understand what is happening according to
the natural way of cause and effect, then it will end poorly for us. But if we
go beyond the superficial cause and effect method of comprehending current
events and things that plague us, appreciating that everything that happens is
because Hashem arranged it so, then things that appear to be bad turn out to be
good, because Hashem arranged His world that way.
In
our time, when we see things that are happening and hear things that world and
political leaders are saying, it seems as if the world is closing in on us and
there is nothing but gloom and doom ahead. However, we have to know that if we
do teshuvah and recognize that Hashem is manipulating everything that is
happening, then those very same speeches, attacks and actions that appear so
threatening and dangerous can be at the root of our deliverance and ultimate
victory. We mustn’t get sucked in and frightened by things that we see and read
and hear. We have to know that there is a deeper meaning behind everything that
transpires.
The
same is true in our private lives. When we face challenges, and sometimes they
are so crushing that we see no escape and no way to overcome them, we must know
that they were placed there by Hashem, and when we turn to Him, those very
aggravations will bring about our recovery.
The
Rama finishes the halachos of Purim and Shulchan Aruch
Orach Chaim by quoting the posuk in Mishlei (15:15) which
states, “V’lev tov mishteh tomid – A good heart is always celebrating.”
There are many different interpretations for what the Rama’s intention
was in citing this posuk. The Mishnah Berurah understands that he
is saying that it is a good thing to increase the celebration of the miracles
that took place at this time.
Rav
Tzadok Hakohein explains (Pri Tzaddik, Rosh Chodesh Adar 1:1) that in
the World to Come, we will recognize that everything Hashem did and does is for
the good. But a person who is described as a “lev tov,” someone who has
cleansed his heart of the yeitzer hora that dwells on the left side of
the heart, now has one heart, which is filled with good and is dedicated to
Hashem, for the left side of his heart also becomes filled with good upon the
banishment of the yeitzer hora. Thus, he is always happy, always filled
with simcha. This person is able to appreciate that everything Hashem
does is for the good and there is no “ra,” something that other people
will only see in the World to Come.
This
lies at the core of the Purim miracle, which was the defeat of Amaleik,
who is at the root of the yeitzer hora, as it says in the Zohar.
At the time, everyone appreciated that all that Hashem does is for the good,
because they had feared what would happen as a result of Haman’s decree. They
realized that without Haman’s decree, it would not have been possible for
Esther to ask Achashveirosh to destroy Amaleik and kill the citizens of his
nation. The decree caused the Jewish people to overcome their enemies, and thus
they saw that “hakol letovah,” everything that Hashem does is for the
good. The evil decree itself was their salvation.
This
is why the Rama quotes the posuk from Mishlei, for someone
who lives in this world with a “tov leiv,” meaning the understanding
that everything Hashem does is for the good, does not become depressed when
things don’t go the way he thinks they should. Rather, he knows that everything
is designed from Above and will turn out in a positive fashion.
We
get to that level only by increasing our study of Torah, for only with Torah
and teshuvah can we defeat Amaleik. We cannot beat him with conventional
arms and battle plans. Studying Torah and performing its mitzvos
properly and with diligence purifies our hearts and souls and brings us closer
to Hashem. Look at the people who do nothing but learn Torah and you see pure
souls and good hearts. Each one is a leiv tov who is one with his
Creator and always b’simcha.
When
you encounter someone like that, with the sublime smile on his face and
satisfaction in his heart, know that it is in his zechus that the world
exists, that we exist, and that it will be in his zechus that Amaleik
will be defeated.
Know
one more thing: You can also be like him. There is nothing preventing anyone
reading this column from becoming a leiv tov, who only sees good and who
is one with Hashem. That is the lesson of Purim. Look around and see
Hashem everywhere. See the good. See the good people and become one yourself so
that you will be good and happy.
May
we merit vanquishing all of our enemies and all who want to do us harm, and
beating Amaleik very soon.
Ah freilichen
Purim.
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