בייה

A Daily Bread Date: 6 Tamuz 5781 (June 16, 2021) Torah Portion: Chukat Topic: Amalek, Part 2

If the inner Amalek fails to cool us off, he will disguise himself as a Kena’anite who is an inhabitant of material life we face each day. He will say, “I have no argument with you being set-apart and “Godly” when you pray and study the Torah, but when you make a living as dealing with the physical world, you have to forget all of that and live by ‘my’ laws. You cannot succeed in life if you keep Shabbat and festivals. You must focus on material success, not elevating material reality and raising Divine consciousness wherever you go and whatever you do.”

The inner Amalek behaves the way Amalek behaved from our verse (Num. 21:1), that “he took a captive from them,” someone the Yisraelites had originally captured from the Amalekites. Amalek maintains that “the material world belongs to me. You are the one who, by transforming the material into the spiritual, is stealing from me what is rightfully mine.”

Just as Amalek attacked the Yisraelites at the beginning and end of their trek in the desert, we engage him in the beginning and end of our post-desert history. Hashem commanded King Saul to completely destroy the Amalek. Because Saul did not follow His instructions fully, a later descendant of Amalek, Haman almost wiped out Yehudim completely (Book of Esther). Now, as we are at the end of our post-desert history, one the even of our final entry into the Land of Yisrael, we must face Amalek once again.

As before, Amalek disguises himself as the sophisticated businessman, making light of our commitment to Hashem’s Torah. Once again, he argues, “Forget what the Torah has to say about business ethics, honesty, morality, and responsibility. Forget that Hashem is guiding your steps and that you need His help to succeed. No one believes that, much less act on it. You job is to make money, and in the dog-eat-dog world reality, you have to play by the rules if you expect to survive.”

But the Torah tells us that even though it sounds like we’re talking to an astute businessman, we should recognize that it is really Amalek who is talking. Despite his concessions to our private spiritual life, his goal is to wipe us out. Therefore, the only proper response to this inner voice is to wipe it out first, by constantly renewing our impetuous enthusiasm for Hashem and His Torah, and our desire to see it assume its rightful role as our guide in all aspects of life.1

Shalom.

1 Likutei Sichot, vol. 1, pp. 208-213 www.kohebroots.com