Opinion & Comment
Amolek: Their Crime and Their Punishment

"Remember what Amolek did to you along the way of your coming out of Mitzrayim. That he encountered you along the way and killed all the weak stragglers trailing behind you -- when you were feeble and weary -- and he did not fear G-d . . . you shall wipe out the memory of Amolek from underneath the heaven; you shall not forget." (Devorim 25:17-29)

The essence of Amolek, what it is and what it represents, is a complex subject. Nonetheless Chazal, beruach kodshom, have given us specific insights designed to help us clearly understand the nature of Amolek and also their sin against HaKodosh Boruch Hu, Klal Yisroel and against the world.

Rashi (Devorim 25:18) in order to describe Amolek's attack on Klal Yisroel, cites Chazal's moshol of "a boiling hot bath. No creature could ever go down into it. A bli'aal -- a heedless person -- came along, jumped and plunged into it. Even though he was scalded, he cooled it off for others."

This moshol depicts Amolek exactly and, with siyata deShmaya, we can correctly interpret its meaning and true message.

It is significant that Chazal describe Amolek as heedless, rather than insane or foolish. Everyone normally has an inherent fear of being boiled to death. No sane individual would knowingly leap headlong into a scorching pool of water. Fools do things that no one else would dare to do, not because they do not care but rather because they do not consider the consequences of their actions.

Far from being fools, Amolek knew exactly what they were doing. Their wanton aggression had disastrous, premeditated consequences. Klal Yisroel lost the miraculous splendor that surrounded them when they left Mitzrayim. When the nations learned of Amolek's blatant attack, the special awe that they had for HaKodosh Boruch Hu vanished. The world became complacent again.

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The Ramban zt"l in parshas Beshalach (Shemos 17:16) explains this as a reason why Amolek's punishment is so much more severe than that of all the other nations, namely, a Heaven-sworn promise of eradication. HaKodosh Boruch Hu had just redeemed His people with grand, evident miracles. Whereas the whole world shuddered from fright over the devastation of Egypt, only Amolek was insensitive, for "Amolek came from afar as if to vanquish Hashem." Therefore, the Torah makes another accusation against Amolek; they " . . . did not fear Hashem."

The Torah states this openly so that we should not err and think that Amolek did not believe in Hashem. They certainly believed in Hashem. However, it was belief without fear or awe, for not fearing HaKodosh Boruch Hu was the essential ingredient of their plot. Lacking fear, the miraculous Ten Plagues and the glorious unprecedented Splitting of the Sea meant nothing to Amolek. Uninfluenced, they seized the best moment to attack -- immediately after Klal Yisroel's incredible redemption -- thereby dimming the full brilliance of Hashem's miracles which could have illuminated the world and enlightened the nations.

Therefore, Amolek's war against Hashem began with the inauguration of Klal Yisroel as Hashem's emissary nation. Amolek's battle cry was, "Do not fear them or their G- d!" They attacked the weak and isolated stragglers, slicing off the bris, Amolek hurled them towards heaven as if to say, "The mitzvos You have commanded Your Chosen People -- how have they helped them?"

Amolek's attack was in reality a war against HaKodosh Boruch Hu! Outwardly, it had the appearance of a military conflict with Bnei Yisroel, but an analysis of their plot reveals that their true intentions had nothing to with military considerations or objectives.

The Daas Zekeinim MiBaalei HaTosefos (Shemos 17:8) asks "Why did they wait until now to battle Klal Yisroel and not [attack] immediately when Klal Yisroel went down to Egypt, for then they were only seventy people?"

The surprising answer gives us a clear insight into their motives. Amolek's scheme was based on the fact that HaKodosh Boruch Hu had promised Avrohom Ovinu that his offspring would become slaves -- slaves that would be oppressed and would suffer terribly at the hands of their taskmasters in a foreign land for four hundred years. This promise was to be fulfilled by Avrohom's son Yitzchok and then by Yaakov and his sons. Amolek understood that if he destroyed Yaakov and his sons, then by default -- being the surviving offspring of Yitzchok -- the burden to fulfill this prophecy of golus would fall upon Amolek.

Hence, Amolek said, "Therefore I will wait until they come out of Egypt with the debt [of four hundred years] having been paid -- and then I will go to war against them."

An ingenious and fiendish strategy!

After Klal Yisroel suffered hundreds of years of oppression -- the price that had to be paid to acquire Eretz Yisroel -- Amolek would strike and do battle and thereby, as they hoped, with victory, steal Hashem's promise out from under the rightful heirs of Avrohom Ovinu.

Amolek forfeited the easy kill of seventy and instead waited two-hundred-and-ten years to clash with at least six hundred thousand -- a strategy that no military mind would ever consider. However, since Amolek was waging a spiritual war against Hashem, his plan made sense. Their war was calculated and deliberate, stimulated by an ideology that strangely enough included emunah -- faith in HaKodosh Boruch Hu and belief in His Promise to redeem Klal Yisroel.

Obviously, Amolek's philosophies cannot be dismissed as atheistic. Amolek were villainous scoundrels, but not apikorsim.

Chazal depict Amolek as a bli'aal -- heedless and without a yoke -- in order to give us an insight as to how Amolek could believe in Hashem, believe in His promise, believe in golus and geulah and could also mock -- with contempt -- Hashem's commandments. In addition, the atrocity of Amolek's attack was their insensitive, premeditated response to all the great wonders that Hashem had wrought for Klal Yisroel.

They were willing to sacrifice themselves in order to extinguish the splendor and impact of Hashem's miracles. They were willing to be boiled to death! The corruptly evil essence of Amolek put them in a unique class by themselves -- the worst of all nations.

The gemora (Eruvin 19a) teaches us that even the worst transgressor -- with a life's history of folly, sin and rebellion -- inevitably, at the end of his days as his sad soul, laden with tears, is poised on the threshold of Gehennom -- will admit the truth to his Creator. His soul declares, "Master of the Universe! You have judged fairly. You have exonerated fairly. You have convicted fairly. And, in fairness, You have prepared Gehennom for the reshoim and Gan Eden for the tzaddikim!"

However, the gemora questions this statement, for it contradicts Resh Lokish, who said, "The reshoim, even at the portal of Gehennom, do not repent . . ."

The gemora resolves this inconsistency by concluding that both statements are true. One statement refers to the wanton sinners of Klal Yisroel and the other statement concerns the wanton sinners of the rest of the nations. The rish'ei umos haolom do not admit and do not repent, whereas the sinners of Klal Yisroel do. Although while they were alive, their sins were deliberate and ingrained, the posh'ei Am Yisroel will, in the end, have regrets and repent. The posh'ei umos haolom will not.

A case in point is the gemora (Gittin 57a). When Onkelos, the nephew of Andrionos the Emperor of Rome and therefore a candidate for the throne of the Roman Empire, was contemplating converting to Judaism, he inquired thoroughly about the Jews -- even from those who were punished in Gehennom.

When Bilaam was asked he replied, from the scorching abyss of his Gehennom, "Do not seek their peace or welfare . . ." While Bilaam was alive he sought to curse Klal Yisroel. After his death, seemingly oblivious to his eternal punishment, he had no regrets and no change of mind. He continued his battle against Hashem and His people beyond his grave and into the depths of his Gehennom. Such defiance seems to be beyond rational explanation.

Onkelos also asked the Jewish sinners. Totally opposite to Bilaam's answer, they said about the Jews, "Pursue their welfare; do not seek to harm them."

The difference stems from being a bli'aal or not. The kedushoh of Klal Yisroel will not allow such callous disregard of Divine retribution. Only a ruach hatumah, as found in the rish'ei umos haolom, can extinguish an otherwise instinctive fear of pain and punishment.

Likewise, the potential for yiras Shomayim is natural, a G-d-given quality. An inborn virtue of humanity, it gives us the capacity to recognize and fear our Creator -- something common to all, save for those who have been wickedly and willingly corrupted. Every animal can sense danger; they instinctively flee from the slightest possibility of harm. It is part of their nature.

Every living creature fears danger and knows instinctively what to do to protect itself. Yirah precedes thought; it is automatic and spontaneous. We do not have to ponder whether to shun touching fire. Yirah, by definition, must be automatic. However, people can, with effort, uproot and nullify that which is part of their own nature.

For example, what should naturally be loathsome, fearful and dangerous can instead become desirable, exciting and familiar. A terrorist was not born an achzar. His cruelty, the achzarious he shows, was developed in him. The natural human qualities of kindness and compassion were intentionally replaced with brutality and ruthlessness. His G- d-given humane nature was deliberately changed.

Chazal teach us that Amolek is in essence a bli'aal. A person, by nature, is afraid of fire or a seething bath. Amolek killed their fear, the normal, human response that HaKodosh Boruch Hu wanted and expected. When the rest of the nations trembled over what Hashem did to the Egyptians, Amolek boldly came forward with disregard and contempt. Amolek should have been frozen stiff -- paralyzed from fright. However, purged of their fear -- the ordinary, healthy fear that even an animal possesses -- they plunged into their long-awaited battle with Hashem. The natural, G-d- given response was purposely uprooted. They nurtured the dereliction of a poshei'a, they valued the heedlessness of a bli'aal -- and certainly yiras Shomayim was the last of their concerns.

Although they believed in Hashem and His promise to redeem His people, they uncaringly and cunningly prepared well for the day of their attack, for the slightest concern or sensitivity over the miraculous devastation of Egypt would foil their plans. Yirah, and certainly yiras Shomayim, could not exist. Amolek destroyed it for themselves and they destroyed it for the world.

This is why Amolek's punishment is different than that of all other nations. Their willful eradication of a basic human trait earned them a punishment midda keneged midda. Eradication. Amolek will be missing from the scene when the world will be fully illuminated by the truth and light of Hashem's Presence

If yiras Shomayim exists, then there is hope that a person can change for the better and become a baal teshuvoh -- a spark of hope that the person will change; but if there is no yirah, then what can one expect to accomplish?

Amolek's plans were devised with great cunning for more than two centuries. We see from their example how, without yiras Shomayim, a whole nation can become ensnared in the deviant schemes of their own ideology -- so much so that even a war against the Borei Olom becomes a rational possibility for them. Whereas chochmoh cannot hold a person back, yiras Shomayim will.

This is the crucial lesson of the gemora (Shabbos 31b). Chazal, quoting the posuk in Iyov (28:28), teach us that chochmoh, when coupled with yiras Shomayim, becomes unique. Yiras Shomayim is the only true wisdom. It is a completely different and exclusively noble wisdom, for as Rashi explains, "Yirah is unique in the world." Yirah is an exceptional, peerless wisdom. Nothing else in the world approaches its sterling, impeccable qualities.

Amolek intentionally destroyed their own yiras Shomayim in order to ruin the world's chances of growing in yirah based on the lessons of Mitzrayim. The seething bath was cooled off . . . and consequently, ever since, the world lacks yirah, lacks chochmoh and lacks the perfection that true yirah and chochmoh can bring to the world.

We are commanded not to forget Amolek's crime. When we fully understand the atrocity and its true damage, then we can better hope and pray for the day that Hashem will exact full punishment upon them and correct all the havoc that exists in the world. May the day come speedily in our days.

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