Drash on Ki Tetze 2024

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tetze, is considered to be one of the most important as it contains a large number of mitzvot. The laws articulated in this portion vary from inheritance rights for the first born and returning a lost object to sending away the mother bird before taking away her young. Perhaps one of the most controversial and problematic commandments in the Torah is found at the end of the parsha concerning the behaviour of the Amalekites.

“ Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey after you left Egypt – how, undeterred by fear of God, they surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore, when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25:1719).

Many Jews throughout the ages have found these verses very troubling. Clearly the Amalekites behaved egregiously in attacking those among the Israelites who were most vulnerable and unable to defend themselves. The problem, however, is that there are certain Rabbis who seek to identify Amalek in our time. In so doing they give license – intentionally or unintentionally – to those who wish to carry out acts of violence and terror for the purpose of fulfilling this commandment. Baruch Goldstein, an American born Israeli extremist who killed 29 and wounded 125 Palestinian Muslim worshippers on Purim 1994 was one such person who used these verses as a pretext for his egregious crime.

In our mystical tradition we see a different view of Amalek emerge. Many Hassidic sages teach that we are commanded to remember to blot out the memory of every aspect of Amalek that arises within us! Amalek in our mystical tradition is that quality of the yetzer hara, the evil or selfish inclination, in all people that ‘sneaks up on us.’ It is what ‘attacks us’ in our weakest places, when and where we are most vulnerable. Amalek is that which inhibits us from realising our true potential. When we are feeling weak or in a place of despair, it might seem like there is no way out. Amalek is the quality that keeps us there, not allowing us to move beyond our anger, jealousy, hatred or feelings of helplessness.

Understood this way, the Torah is reminding us to blot out Amalek as a negative archetype or quality that exists within each and every one of us. If we are truly honest with ourselves, we can never totally achieve this; however, by identifying these negative qualities when they arise within us, we are in a better position to do something about it.

We have entered the month of Elul, a time of reflection and preparation for the upcoming days of Awe. There is no more powerful time in our calendar to take to heart the wisdom of our mystical sages who taught that the spiritual work consists of looking for the Amalek within, identifying it and diminishing its power over us. By understanding the commandment to blot out Amalek in this way – as opposed to the way Baruch Goldstein understood it – we can, through our own personal efforts, align ourselves with the great and sacred work of Tikkun (healing of our world), which is at the heart of Judaism and is the true purpose of the commandments.