By Rabbi Dovid Sapirman, Dean, Ani Maamin Foundation
Purim is the celebration of a miraculous victory over Amalek, the nation that descends from Esav’s grandson. In order to best appreciate this miracle, a little analysis of Amalek is in order.
Since the Torah says that Hashem is at eternal war with Amalek, we understand that Amalek’s war with klal Yisrael was actually a war against Hashem. As Rav Elchanan Wasserman zt”l said, “If Amalek could have placed ladders to climb up to heaven and battle with Hashem, they would have done so. Since that was impossible, they fought the people who represent Him in the world: Am Yisrael.”
What is Amalek’s complaint against Hashem? Amalek wants to live life without any morals or restrictions that would hold back its lusts and whims. Hashem insists on morals, ethics and self-restraint, so Amalek wants to eradicate any reminder of Him from the world. For that reason, Hashem declares that Amalek’s memory will be erased from the world, as if it had never existed.
When Kaiser Wilhelm visited Palestine in 1898, Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld zt”l did not go out to greet him, because he had a tradition from his rebbi, Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin zt”l, that the Germans are the true Amalekim. Indeed, Hitler yemach shemo resented the Jews for introducing morality to the world.
When Yitzchak Avinu blessed Yaakov, he said, “The voice is the voice of Yaakov, but the hands are the hands of Esav.” Chazal explain that when the voice of Yaakov is heard in shuls and batei midrash, the hands of Esav have no power. If not, however, the hands of Esav can overpower Yaakov. Tefillah is the most effective method we can use to gain an awareness of Hashem in His world.
Now we can understand why, during the first war with Amalek, Moshe Rabbeinu went up the mountain and stretched out his hands in fervent prayer for all klal Yisrael to see. As long as they looked and thought about Hashem, they were victorious. When he rested his hands and they stopped looking up towards Hashem, they faltered.
When Mordechai was informed about the decree of annihilation, he went out into the street and began to cry out. Those screams were tefillah. He wanted to inform klal Yisrael that the only antidote to Amalek’s threat was tefillah. Indeed, all the Jews immediately began fasting and praying to Hashem.
The Megillah sums up the story of Purim as “the story of the fasts and their outcry.” The story of Purim is the story of a Holocaust averted through a wave of national teshuva and tefillah. May we, too, be zoche to daven with full hearts, and to merit Hashem’s heavenly protection from all our enemies.
