Another primary tactic of Amalek is to cause people to feel like sinners and to lose hope.
It states (25:17-18) ויזנב ...עמלק לך עשה אשר את זכור אלקים ירא ולא ויגע עיף ואתה אחריך הנחשלים כל בך, "Remember what Amalek did to you... He cut off all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary and didn't fear Hashem."
Rashi writes that this means Amalek attached "those who lacked strength on account of their aveiros, and the cloud [of glory] expelled them." Amalek came to the not-so-successful people who had failed in their lives, failed in their spiritual lives, and wanted them to lose hope. The Torah teaches that we must entirely wipe out Amalek and this notion. Every Yid is precious and wanted by Hashem, and everyone must believe this.
The parashah begins, ...אויבך על למלחמה תצא כי שביו ושבית, "When you go out to war against your enemies... and you take his captives." The Belzer Rav zt'l explains that the pasuk is discussing when we go out to war against the yetzer hara. The Torah tells us שביו ושבית, which means to stop considering ourselves as captives, captured in the hands of the yetzer hara. We must believe in our potential and that we can live a life of spirituality with Hashem.
A ben sorer u'moreh is discussed in this week's parashah (see 21:18). He is a rebellious child who eats large quantities of meat, drinks exaggerated amounts of wine, and doesn't heed his parents' rebuke. Rashi (21:18) writes, "The ben sorer u'moreh (the wayward, rebellious child) is executed on account of what he will become in the end. The Torah penetrates to his ultimate intentions. Eventually, he will squander his father's money, seek what he has become accustomed to, not find it, and stand at the crossroads and rob people [killing them, thereby incurring the death penalty]. Says the Torah, 'Let him die innocent [of such crimes] rather than have him die guilty [of such crimes]." The ben sorer u'moreh is executed because he will certainly commit severe sins in the future.
Reb Shimon bar Yochai (Sanhedrin 71.) says, להיות עתיד ולא היה לא ומורה סורר בן, there never was one, and there will never be a ben sorer u'moreh. We can explain that it never occurred because, for Bnei Yisrael, there is always hope. Even if a child is acting up, we never sign him off. We don't know the future. The potential is still before him. There is no guarantee that he will commit severe sins in the future.
And the path to improvement is through kabalos tovos. When you take on yourself to improve with small steps, you will change. The Alter of Kelm zt'l said that just as the ben sorer u'moreh is סופו שם על נדון, judged and punished because of what will become of him, so, too, we can be certain that when one is on the path of improvement, even if he hasn't yet improved, he is judged as if he has already improved his ways.
This shows the benefit of kabalos tovos, which brings one on a journey of gradual growth. Since he began the process, he is judged as having already improved his ways.
