Q:
Why did Amalek attack the Jewish people when they knew that Hashem had just performed remarkable miracles for them?
A:
Now we have to know who Amalek was. Amalek wasn’t such a wicked nation as we think. The fact is, the children of Yisro all throughout history associated with Amalek; they lived together with them. You remember when Shaul came to battle against Amalek, he had to send a messenger to the Bnei Keini warning them to separate from Amalek because he’s going to war against them now. Now, the Bnei Keini, children of Yisro, they wouldn’t live with Amalek if Amalek was that bad.
The answer is this: Amalek was a brother. Amalek was the children of Eisav and nobody is an enemy like a brother who turns sour. The worst enemies that we have are Jews that turn bad. Who were the ones who battled that the Nazis should be recognized by the Supreme Court as a legitimate organization? Jews! The ACLU, the American Criminal Liberties Union, they got fifty thousand dollars from a Jew named Neier for that purpose. And the United Hebrew Federations of Los Angeles gave their first annual award to Neier. So the Federation of Charities gave their first annual award to Neier for a special service to the Jewish people. And he was the one who gave fifty thousand dollars to get the Nazis recognized.
Throughout history, our worst enemies have been Jews. You have to know that. In the communist upheaval, when the Bolsheviks took over, we suffered from the Jewish communists more than from anybody else. They were the ones that sent Reb Dovid Rappaport to his death; a gadol baTorah, the Tzemach Dovid, a rosh yeshiva. They packed him off to a concentration camp where he died. They sent off tzaddikim, gedolim to their deaths. They were the worst ones. Trotsky, yimach shmo v’zichro, Leon Trotsky was one of the worst enemies of the Jewish people.
And therefore we have to remember that Amalek was a brother. Amalek was Esav’s grandson – he was a brother of the Jewish people and therefore he had more sinah than anybody else. So all the nations heard, שמעו עמים ירגזון – The nations heard and they trembled. But Amalek was a brother and therefore he mustered enough impudence to attack the Am Yisroel. He wanted to show – “It’s nothing.” He wanted to demonstrate to the nations, “Don’t be impressed by these people; they’re frummies. We know them. My grandfather had business with their ancestor, Yaakov. He’s a crook. He’s a ramai.” And that’s why they went out to fight against our people and nobody else did. Because a brother who is no good is the worst enemy.
TAPE # 268 (June 1979)
