Who is Amalek in 2023

Question

What is the Avodah of remembering Amalek today?

furthermore, what represents Amalek in present day, is it the internal battle between good vs bad?

Please cite any sources quoted (links are preferred)

Answer 1

By way of introduction it is worth noting that the mitzvah and its relevance to today is the basis of an argument based on the Rambam...

The Rambam lists 2 similar laws in Hilchos Melachim UMilchamos.

In Mishna 4 he explains that there is a mitzvah to destroy the seven nations who inhabited the land of Israel in the times of Yehoshua. The Rambam observes:

וְכָל שֶׁבָּא לְיָדוֹ אֶחָד מֵהֶן וְלֹא הֲרָגוֹ עוֹבֵר בְּלֹא תַּעֲשֶׂה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים כ טז) לֹא תְחַיֶּה כָּל נְשָׁמָה...

Anyone who has the potential to kill them and doesn’t, has transgressed a negative commandment (Devarim 20:16) - "Do not let a soul remain alive".

However he importantly concludes:

וּכְבָר אָבַד זִכְרָם

“Their memory has already been lost”.

The Radbaz adds that the Assyrian General Sancheiriv, who conquered the tribes of Israel, literally, ‘mixed up the world’. This suggests that Sancheiriv destroyed the identities of the various nations and we can no longer define who belongs to one of the seven nations. As such, this command may now be deemed obsolete. Yet, in the following Mishnah where the Rambam recalls the mitzvah to erase Amalek, he makes no mention of whether this command is applicable nowadays. Therefore, the implication is that since the Rambam says nothing, it must still apply nowadays.

The Haghos Maimonis suggests that this requirement to wipe out Amalek is only relevant in the days of Moshiach:

מצוה זו אינה נוהגת עד ימות המשיח לאחר כיבוש הארץ

Yet, this observation is quickly rejected by the Radbaz who points to the episode that happened with Shaul HaMelech. It was during Shaul’s reign as king, that Shmuel Hanavi told Shaul to attack the Amalekite kingdom and wipe it out – men, women, children and every single animal. As a result Shaul assembled a large army and began his campaign. However, along the way, Shaul faltered, and took pity on Agag, the Amalekite king and his wife. Instead of killing them he imprisoned them until he could confer with Shmuel. Upon hearing, Shmuel told Shaul that he had effectively forfeited his kingdom. When Shaul returned, Agag’s wife eventually escaped and would give birth to a child who would be the ancestor of Haman. The Radbaz proves from this case that Shaul was evidently criticized for not completely destroying Amalek and this was clearly before the days of Moshiach. Indeed, this serves to underscore the point that destroying Amalek is still applicable.

So back to square one - how to do it today?

The Sefas Emes on Parshas Zachor suggests that the way we are to confront the concept of Amalek is to focus on the very word we are commanded with – זָכוֹר. It is not enough to translate זָכוֹר as merely the need to remember. The Sefas Emes writes:

ועיקר פי' זכירה הוא פנימיות החיות

The essence of remembrance is a person’s inner vibrancy.

This means that the only way we can erase Amalek from the world is to be constantly aware that enemies exist. It is not enough to just recall past events, rather, we must consciously keep it in our minds and not let the memories fade. By being vigilant, we will ensure that steps are taken to prevent such enemies from arising again, and this in turn, will stifle their very survival.

In response to the difficulty with the Rambam, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik answers that the reason why the Rambam does not mention anything about the relevance of the mitzvah to wipe out Amalek, is because unlike the nations that inhabited the land of Israel, Amalek still exists today. However, it is not necessarily the exact biological descendants of Amalek but rather any person or nation who wishes the Jewish people harm. Thus, any nation who acts with cruelty to the Jewish people is considered to come under the term "עמלק" and there is a Mitzvah to destroy them. As a result, the Rambam was not concerned about the fact that Amalek may not be identifiable since there are many ‘Amaleks’ that exist in the world and the mitzvah still stands. Having said this though, classifying Amalek is something that can only come from the gedolei yisroel and it is not in our hands to make our own definitions.

Answer 2

In Dov's well sourced and excellent answer, he states that today our duty is to remember, perpetually, that there are enemies, and translate this into practical vigilance preventing the enemies from arising again. Two supportive answers would be 1) what is an enemy and 2) how to take practical steps.

I would like to deal with 1) in this answer, and I will outline the principles of 2), but a dedicated answer to that would be in order, possibly with reference to modern events to give context. I will base this answer mainly on this shiur, which is a deep explanation on what Amalek stands for, what we stand for, and what is the original source of what we are fighting over, and how the enemies gain ground. As we are concluding, what we are predominantly supposed to remember today is their ideology and the fact that this ideology is the enemy of Torah, so we need to get to the deep roots and first stirrings in creation that lead to good and evil. I recommend that shiur and its second part follow up (which goes deep into 2) for a lot more detail that I will have to leave out - apologies for the length despite that.

I will refer to the ideology as a personified man called Amalek in this for clarity, and to reflect the sources and acknowledge the history. I will also embody Torah in the personification of Yisrael.

One more disclaimer is that, while I've been deliberate in all my wording, this is the type of answer that Rabbi Sacks A'H might call a "right brained answer", intuitive and philosophical - its an answer that has to deal with the realm of super-rational, so it's an important approach - so again let me recommend further reading, and thinking, and certainly I welcome questions. Yaacov Deane in this comment references many other points as well, and references one of the main sources for the information in this answer: ma'amer Basi Legani.

What does Amalek stand for?

He is the antithesis of the enthusiastic worship of Hashem, may He be blessed. How can we see this? When the Jews came out of Egypt, the enthusiasm for Hashem and Torah was palpably strong, not just with the Jews but across the whole world. Amalek came and cooled off that enthusiasm (Rashi Devarim 25:18). He did it by making the following argument:

Look, God split the sea, no question. Fine. Why are you getting so excited? God can do anything! Are you surprised that God can perform a miracle? You are being strange getting so worked up about it, changing your lifestyle and all that!?

The technical issue is that there are two modes of service that shouldn't overlap. In the first, one can do a mitzva because one understands the reasons for it, and agrees, and therefore enthusiastically supports the cause and does the mitzva personally, with one's own self. Or, one can do a mitzva without understanding it, without relating to it, and therefore the service is done out of obedience; God said so, He's in charge and wiser than me, so I'll just do it. Obedience is a putting aside of one's feelings to do something outside of oneself, so how can it intersect with doing things with feeling (all this is based on Ester 3:8 and commentary)? Amalek doesn't want anything that is outside of you to actually affect you inwardly. In Chassidic terminology, the makif should stay makif and not become penimi.

What does this boil down to? It's saying only your subjective world should be important to you, and anything outside of you, anything objective, should remain objective and irrelevant to you. It should be meaningless to you. This is the root of the unholy force of Amalek: meaninglessness, קרי, happenstance, random, whatever, and this makes him the polar opposite to Yisrael who stands for preciousness and meaning, יקר (see Rashi, Kitzur Baal HaTurim, Sfas Emes on Vayikra 1:1).

Ultimately, Amalek's argument that nothing outside of us should affect us personally translates to a war on meaning and preciousness itself, which really is a war on Hashem, the Source and Passionate Advocate of all meaning and preciousness. Nothing really is meaningful, or important, Amalek says. Everything objective just happens to be that way, so just go and find your own subjective meaning in whatever happens to appeal to you personally, for your own personal reasons, #yolo.

This is Yisrael's worst enemy, and not a single iota of ground should be conceded to it. Yisrael isn't just here to teach monotheism, but that this One God is personal, and did everything meaningfully, and the meaningfulness of His subjectivity is our objective reality. Life is precious, people are precious, Hashem's world and plan is of infinite value and importance and it is good - be in awe of Him (see Yaacov Deane's edit further down). We should seek out, amplify and be affected by this meaning that He invested in the world, and not let our inborn subjective feelings get in the way or rise in prominence.

How does Amalek gain ground, how does wickedness prosper?

In the Kabbalah, there is a level of creation where there is no difference between good and bad, and all things are the same; right and wrong doesn't matter. This level is called Tohu, chaos. Contrast this to the world of Tikkun, order, where right is right and wrong is wrong. Hashem undid Tohu in the 6 days of creation: there were evenings and mornings, light and dark, sun and moon. This is the theme of those days; everything and its opposite was created side by side. The pig was created along side the clean animals. The holiest and most unholiest things were created. They were distinguished, yet they are in some sense still equal, as we will now explain...

Amalek built a 50 ama gallows, which seems excessively high, and we learn that this number 50 was to represent the 50th Gate of Binah (Binah is the faculty of intelligence that analyses and applies logical derivations, and makes up human comprehension). What is this Gate? The other 49 gates are all the gates that comprise the totality of human comprehension and reason. The 50th Gate goes beyond human comprehension, and is therefore able to reach into this place of "beyond good and evil", beyond the world of Tikkun, and as a result evil is able to gain some power. This is best illustrated with a mashal.

A person is born a wild animal, meaning he has no discernment. He has a passion to get up and do things, and he wants to try everything. He doesn't distinguish between what things are good and what are evil, what are right and wrong. It's only when he is taught and elevated to a more moral level that he is able to see the difference between right and wrong. The more educated in this manner, the more fine distinctions he can make between right and wrong. Regarding some people, the height of their morality is that they know it's wrong to murder, and some people are more refined, sophisticated and elevated, and make more distinctions, and all the way at the top is someone who knows the moral right and wrong of every act and detail of the world, even how to tie shoes!

The more we distinguish between the right and the wrong, the less energy is left for evil, because that original wild and untamed energy is now captured, channelled and contained in productive behaviour. The more distinctions between right and wrong, the more wildness has been used. The indiscriminate can no longer siphon off this energy as it has been channelled into and occupied by discriminate behaviour.

This is true of the world at large. The more indiscriminate energy there is, the more evil can prosper, and in fact the more holiness suffers, as holiness cannot tolerate indiscriminateness (this is the deep reason why we have to earn our goodness - Derech Hashem 1 et al. - as giving us goodness arbitrarily is indiscriminate. A holy person feels uncomfortable when Hashem gives him more than he deserves). So when we don't use the revelation of what God wants to give purpose and order to creation, the super rational passion that was given to all creation is now available to Amalek, and they use it ruthlessly; passionately undoing all meaning and preciousness from the world (one of the deeper reasons they are also called Reishit in the Torah, along side Yisrael).

How to defeat Amalek

As kabbalah and chassidus put it, our job is to capture the indiscriminate energy of the world and channel it into orderly behaviour. It's not enough to just teach a child right and wrong, but the child should take the wildness, the passion he was born with, and actually channel it in to that orderly behaviour. Take that which is bigger than us, bigger than right and wrong, bigger than the details, and channel it into practical personal change and improvement. Then we've captured the best of both worlds.

We serve God in His way, but with our enthusiasm. Amalek can't stand this, he only thrives when the passion and energy of life is not earmarked for any particular purpose or behaviour, and by channelling it into purposeful behaviour and good deeds, the unholy has no energy left to put into its evil.

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Here is an edit from Yaacov Deane on how to defeat Amalek:

Rambam explains the mitzvah in Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings and Their Wars, chapter 5:5 which says:

וְכֵן מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה לְאַבֵּד זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק. שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים כה יט) "תִּמְחֶה אֶת זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק". וּמִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה לִזְכֹּר תָּמִיד מַעֲשָׂיו הָרָעִים וַאֲרִיבָתוֹ. כְּדֵי לְעוֹרֵר אֵיבָתוֹ. שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים כה יז) "זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק". מִפִּי הַשְּׁמוּעָה לָמְדוּ זָכוֹר בַּפֶּה לֹא תִּשְׁכָּח בַּלֵּב. שֶׁאָסוּר לִשְׁכֹּחַ אֵיבָתוֹ וְשִׂנְאָתוֹ:

It is a positive commandment that we are to erase the memory of Amalek by way of remembering what Amalek did to us.

At first glance this seems to be contradictory. But by looking at the full quotation from Devarim 25:18-19 as it appears in the text of the daily remembrances recited at the close of daily prayers its meaning is understood.

זָכ֕וֹר אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֥ה לְךָ֖ עֲמָלֵ֑ק בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶ֥ם מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃ אֲשֶׁ֨ר קָֽרְךָ֜ בַּדֶּ֗רֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּ֤ב בְּךָ֙ כׇּל־הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִ֣ים אַֽחֲרֶ֔יךָ וְאַתָּ֖ה עָיֵ֣ף וְיָגֵ֑עַ וְלֹ֥א יָרֵ֖א אֱלֹהִֽים׃ וְהָיָ֡ה בְּהָנִ֣יחַ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֣יךָ ׀ לְ֠ךָ֠ מִכׇּל־אֹ֨יְבֶ֜יךָ מִסָּבִ֗יב בָּאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יְיָ־אֱ֠לֹהֶ֠יךָ נֹתֵ֨ן לְךָ֤ נַחֲלָה֙ לְרִשְׁתָּ֔הּ תִּמְחֶה֙ אֶת־זֵ֣כֶר עֲמָלֵ֔ק מִתַּ֖חַת הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם לֹ֖א תִּשְׁכָּֽח׃

That we are to remember how it is recalled in the written Torah which explains that we were vulnerable because we were faint and weary from the exile in Egypt.

To put this in modern language, we were experiencing battle fatigue and PTSD from the exile and exodus from Egypt and Amalek then struck at the weakest among us. In addition to this, even Moshe was exhausted and was unable to respond in defense. It states in connection with all the above that Amalek struck us (like a predator that feeds upon the weak and sick, culling the herd) and did not fear G-d.

The root of the problem was not with the Jewish people or its leader, Moshe, but the assessment that Amalek did not fear G-d, meaning that Amalek did not act according to G-d’s will.

And then the wording of the mitzvah emphasizes that at the final redemption when we have been returned to the land of Israel and G-d has given us rest from all our enemies that surround the land of Israel, we are to erase the memory of Amalek from under Heaven. This emphasizes after the stress of battle and the damage that it causes.

What memory of Amalek do we have? That Amalek did not fear G-d!

וְלֹ֥א יָרֵ֖א אֱלֹהִֽים

So what are we to erase about this? Are we to commit genocide and kill every last man, woman and child from the descendants of Amalek? Is this the lesson learned by the nation of Israel, who lost more than six million of its innocent people, men, women and children, and was the primary victim of the Holocaust?

And in fact, if you look throughout the Torah literature to those times when Israel clashed with the descendants of Amalek in each generation, they never followed that path of genocide even when they could have actually succeeded. There was war and people died, but it was not in an attempt to exterminate the entire people.

So what does the Torah actually tell us to do? לֹ֖א תִּשְׁכָּֽח You will forget the No!

What No are we supposed to forget which erases our memory of Amalek? וְלֹ֥א יָרֵ֖א אֱלֹהִֽים That our memory is that Amalek did not fear G-d and we are told to forget the negative modifier in that memory. That in so doing it is converted into וְיָרֵ֖א אֱלֹהִֽים and he feared G-d. That in fact, like any predatory animal that stalks its next meal provided by the Creator of us all, it seeks out the weak and weary of the herd.

That this commandment of erasing the memory of Amalek is about us healing ourselves from the pain and perspective that the suffering we experienced during our long exile was random and senseless. We express this sentiment each day at the close of the Amidah prayer which says:

וְכָל־הַחוֹשְׁבִים עָלַי רָעָה, מְהֵרָה הָפֵר עֲצָתָם וְקַלְקֵל מַחֲשַׁבְתָּם: יִהְיוּ כְּמֹץ לִפְנֵי רוּחַ וּמַלְאַךְ יְיָ דּוֹחֶה. לְמַעַן יֵחָלְצוּן יְדִידֶיךָ

That this too was part of G-d’s plan from the very beginning of Creation and was only for good. That like we learn in connection with the commentary of the Chida to the Maggid section of the Haggadah, that the opposite of good does not descend from Above.

שאין רע יורד מלמעלה אך הוא רע מצד המקבלים וזה שאמר אין עוד כו׳

This is an amazing statement that seems to fly in the face of what is commonly taught about the mitzvah concerning Amalek.

But consider the details of what the Torah lays before us. Who is Amalek? He is in fact a descendent of Eisav, the brother of Yaacov Avinu through his son Elifaz and Elifaz's concubine, Timna.

What example do we have from Yaacov Avinu concerning his relationship with his brother, Eisav, who wanted to kill Yaacov?

Ultimately, Yaacov acted trying to bring his brother to return to G-d's service and even to bring the offerings of Eisav as Korbanot. This is the subject of an incredible series of Chassidic discourses from the Alter Rebbe (בעל התניא ושלחן ערוך) in his Sefer Torah Ohr to parshat VaYishlach. That Yaacov was ready at that time, but Eisav was not yet prepared for this act of his brother. This would only be accomplished at the time of the final redemption with Melech HaMoshiach, King Moshiach!

And like we learn from the expression of our Sages,"The acts of the Patriarchs (and the Matriarchs) are a paradigm for their descendents."

That ultimately, the remnant of Eisav, including Amalek, will return to serve G-d and the remnant of Yaacov, who is also called Yisrael and Yeshurun, will bring the offerings of his brother, together with his own in the service of G-d. That Amalek will come to Fear G-d.

And in so doing, measure for measure, by our forgetting the No connected with Amalek, we reveal and remember the Alufo shel Olam (אלופו של עולם היינו א׳), meaning G-d (see Zohar, VaYikra 38:269 and Me'or Einayim to VaYikra 1:1) and the Aleph of the throne of G-d's Kingship (הכסא הכבוד מלכותו), which up until this time has been concealed (כִּֽי־יָד֙ עַל־כֵּ֣ס יָ֔הּ) like is found in Shemot 17:14-16 and which also pertains to this mitzvah, will be revealed.

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה כְּתֹ֨ב זֹ֤את זִכָּרוֹן֙ בַּסֵּ֔פֶר וְשִׂ֖ים בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י יְהוֹשֻׁ֑עַ כִּֽי־מָחֹ֤ה אֶמְחֶה֙ אֶת־זֵ֣כֶר עֲמָלֵ֔ק מִתַּ֖חַת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ וַיִּ֥בֶן מֹשֶׁ֖ה מִזְבֵּ֑חַ וַיִּקְרָ֥א שְׁמ֖וֹ יְהֹוָ֥ה ׀ נִסִּֽי׃ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר כִּֽי־יָד֙ עַל־כֵּ֣ס יָ֔הּ מִלְחָמָ֥ה לַיהֹוָ֖ה בַּֽעֲמָלֵ֑ק מִדֹּ֖ר דֹּֽר׃

That only G-d, the Creator of us all, is King. There is no other! אין עוד מלבדו

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So if one keeps Torah and mitzvot unenthusiastically, and believes that it's not possible to get enthusiastic about it, then they have forgotten what Amalek did, and are therefore unaware that Amalek's ideology is making home in their heart. This person should at the very least realise that it is possible - nay imperative - to be completely, wholeheartedly and realistically enthusiastic about life, goodness, Torah, mitzvot, relationships and Hashem. Study the Torah and figure out and be in awe of Hashem's fine details of what is right and wrong, good and bad. Combine with teshuva (a higher-than-reason transformation) and healing; get closer to Hashem, study and taste (Tehillim 34) His goodness, discover the preciousness and meaning that is His objective Self, and His plan and desire, and the life He created for us, the relationships He gave us.

Stay away from any ideology that tries to homogenize; tries to champion the cause of קרי; meaningless and indiscriminateness; tries to strip out and mock the preciousness of these things, out of Hashem's distinctions and preferences. Know instead that every last detail of everything is infinitely invested with super-rational and beyond-comprehensible meaning, purpose and preciousness - to Him; every atom, every thought, every word, every deed. It's all יקר.

Learn how to emulate Him and serve Him and His very precious children lishma. It may be super-rational, but it is possible to find it and know it; the greatest of all holy passion is the goodness of making Him and the people we relate to in our lives important and precious to us, closely, personally, intimately, altruistically - when it comes to this, and the meaning and delight of serving people lishma, even the heavens are no limit! Amalek's empty promise that finding meaning only subjectively is all that matters will vanish like smoke, and his memory will indeed be utterly destroyed forever.

As Rabbi Sacks put it:

"Faith is a relationship of intersubjectivity, the meeting point of our subjectivity with the subjectivity, the inwardness, of God. God is the personal reality of otherness".

See also this beautiful Kedushat Levi on Ester 3:8, which I came across while researching this answer. Either way, I hope this has aided the question of identifying who Amalek is in 2023, how to spot his ideology, and given a starter into the avodah.

Answer 3

Rav Eliezer Ben David says that it says to erase Amalek "from under the heavens" (Dvarim 25:19). Under the heavens is primarily in your hearts and mouths (Dvarim 30:12, 14), this is also a separate commandment of "removing the foreskin of the heart" (Dvarim 10:16). So yes, nowadays it represents the internal battle.

Amalek has 2 main traits, love of gold from his father, Eli Paz, which translates as my god is pure gold therefore in his eyes "a poor man is considered dead" (Rashi B'reshit 29:11, the Yerushalmi Yuma 1:1 mentions the Second Temple was destroyed because of love of money) and second is not listening to gedolim from his mother, Timna, which translates as refraining (see Sandedrin 99b).

Further more

יש לעמלק שני מידות, אהבת הכסף ולא שומע (ראה לעיל בראשית לו:יב). שבני ישראל עושים מעשיו, עמלק בא (ראה לעיל שמות יז:ח). פעם הראשון בזמן משה שהיו מתלהבים אחרי זהב ולא שמעו למשה לצאת מהים (רש"י שמות טו:כב, וראה לעיל שמות יז:ח) "וַיִּלֹּנוּ הָעָם עַל מֹשֶׁה" (שמות טו:כד). פעם שניה, שמואל צוה שאול המלך להמתין עד שהוא בא (שמואל א' י:ח) אבל שאול לא המתין (שמואל א' יג:ח-י). אז ה' צוה שאול להילחם עם עמלק "וְלֹא תַחְמֹל עָלָיו" (שמואל א' טו:ג) אבל "ויחמל שאול והעם על אגג" (שמואל א' טו:ט). שאול לא נצח כי "לֹא שָׁמַעְתָּ בְּקוֹל יְהֹוָה וַתַּעַט אֶל הַשָּׁלָל" (שמואל א' טו:יט). פעם שלישי היה פורים ונצחו. מרדכי אמר להתענות בפסח (מגילה טו.) ובני ישראל שמעו אפילו שזה היה נגד התורה. ואפילו ש"נָתַן הַמֶּלֶךְ לַיְּהוּדִים… שְׁלָלָם לָבוֹז" (ח:יא), "בַבִּזָּה לֹא שָׁלְחוּ אֶת יָדָם". בזמן שאול ש"חָמַל הָעָם עַל מֵיטַב הַצֹּאן וְהַבָּקָר" (שמואל א' טו:טו) זה נקרא "שלל" אבל בזמן פורים ש"לֹא שָׁלְחוּ אֶת יָדָם" נקרא "ביזה" מלשון לבזות, לא רצו הכסף. שבני ישראל התכחשו המידות של עמלק ניצחו.