Q:
What did Amalek do that was so terrible that he deserved to be destroyed?
A:
When Hakodosh Boruch Hu split the sea, it says that שמעו עמים ירגזון – all the nations heard and they trembled. חיל אחז יושבי פלשת – a trembling took hold of all the nations.
Now, I must explain something before I answer you. We have to understand that the purpose of the ten makkot, the ten plagues in Egypt, were not just to punish Egypt. It says openly the purpose is למען תדע כי אין כמוני בכל הארץ – you should know that there’s no one like Me in the world, וידעו מצרים כי אני השם – to teach the world that I am Hashem.
Now Hakodosh Boruch Hu does not want miracles. That’s a big principle. Because He established all the laws of nature. They’re His laws and if He has to abrogate the laws of nature, it means He has to change His word. And just as He expects us to be loyal to His laws, He shows an example to us and He is loyal also to His laws of nature. And so when He does make an exception, it’s for a very important reason. And the reason was to demonstrate for all time, to make a lasting impression on all the world, they should understand there’s a Hashem.
Now after all this effort, when the whole world was duly impressed and everybody was afraid because they learned the fear of Hashem, all of a sudden an az ponim, one bold and brazen Amalek came up and he attacked the Jewish people. Right away. And he broke the spell.
Imagine, somebody is preaching to the people. He inspires them and everyone now is in a pious and noble mood, an inspired mood. All of a sudden, one clown in the back makes a crack and there’s a joke and people laugh and the whole effect is dispelled. ליצנות אחת דוחה מאה תוכחות. And the letz, that was Amalek. He ruined it. He ruined the world. He ruined the nations. The lesson they should have learned, he came and he smashed the lesson.
That’s why it says לץ תכה – you have to smite the letz, זה עמלק.
TAPE # 22 (April 1973)
