By Rabbi Joshua (measuredly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman ztz"l
At the end of this week's parsha, we are told to remember the war that Amalek waged against the Jewish nation in the wilderness, and to blot out any trace of that nation. This mention of Amalek immediately follows the section which commands us to have honest measures and weights. Rashi, based on the Midrash Tanchuma, explains this juxtaposition by saying that if one is dishonest in measures and weights, he should worry about provocation by the enemy. Rabbi Naphtoli Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, or the Netziv, in his commentary Ha'amek Davar, notes that the implication of this midrash is that Amalek attacked the Jews because they were dishonest in measures and weights. However, he continues, this is very hard to understand. After all, the Jews, in the wilderness, had all of their needs taken care of by God in a miraculous fashion, and, thus, had no need to engage in commercial activities. How, then, was this sin relevant to them, in their situation?
The Netziv answers that the core of the sin of dishonest weights and measures is a lack of belief in God's providence and His control over our livelihoods. If one really believed that God provides for us in accordance to our actions, he would realize that he would not gain anything by cheating somebody else. In parshas Beshalach, when the people asked for water at Rephidim, they asked whether God was in their midst or not. What they were asking, according to the Netziv, was, how do we know, when the miracles end after Moshe is no longer with us, and we live on a more natural plane, that God will be among us and enable us to make a livelihood? This outcry indicated a lack of faith in God, Who had sustained the nation for so many years until that point in time. Because of that lack of faith, they were attacked by Amalek, whose purpose for existence is to remove any trace of belief of God from this world.
Based on the Netziv's explanation of the connection between dishonest weights and the attack of Amalek, we can better understand what the Torah tells us, in parshas Beshalach, about the battle that took place. We are told that Moshe stood on top of a hill and raised his arms. When Moshe raised his arms, the Torah tells us, Yisroel was stronger, and when Moshe lowered his arms, Amalek was stronger. The mishneh in Rosh Hashanah (3:8), explains that it was not Moshe’s arms which waged the war and determined who was stronger. Rather, when Yisroel looked at Moshe’s raised arms, they looked further up to heaven, subjugated their hearts to God, Who then made them stronger than Amalek and granted them victory in the battle. Following the Netziv, the idea expressed here is that since the attack of Amalek came from a lack of faith and trust in God, it could only be won by a renewing that faith and trust.
Interestingly, the Torah there says, regarding Moshe's upraised arms,' vayehi yadav emunah,' - and his hands were faithful (Shemos 17:12). Rav Eliezer Waldman, Rosh Yeshivah in Kiryas Arba, explained that for faith in God to be real, it must be translated into action. Although Rabbi Waldman said this in reference to the imagery of Moshe raising his arms and thereby inspiring the Jewish nation to have faith in God, following the Netziv's explanation for the reason behind Amalek's attack, we can further say that Moshe was instructing the people that they need to translate their faith into action in their daily life, by engaging in honest business practices, which bespeak a belief in God's providence.
In parshas Shoftim, we learn about the declaration made to Jewish soldiers before going out to war, that anyone who is afraid and soft of heart should return home before the battle starts. Although the exemptions from war granted to those who were awaiting marriage, or the initiation work on a vineyard, of the completion of a house, did not apply to a milchemes mitzvoh, or an obligatory war, such as the war against Amalek, it would appear that the instruction to those who were ferarful and of soft heart did apply. According to Rav Yose HaGelili, the Torah is referring to people who were afraid because of sins which they had committed. In parshas Beshalach, Moshe tells Yehoshua, "choose men for us, and go out, do battle with Amalek" (Shemos 17:9). The Mechilta explains that the word ‘anoshim’ - men - refers to people who feared sin. It would seem reasonable to assume that a person who feared sin, in the context of the war against Amalek, would certainly abstain from the kind of sin that would make someone afraid to go out in battle.
Rav Yosi HaGelili, in identifying the kind of sin that would make a person afraid to go out to battle, says that it is the sin of speaking between the prayer of Yishtabach and that of ‘Yotzeir,’ while Rav Yosi says that it is the sin of being married to a woman to whom one is forbidden. The practical difference between them, says the gemara, would be in regard to a rabbinic prohibition, such as speaking between the laying on of the hand tefillin (phylactery) and the head tefillin. According to Rav Yosi haGelili, a person who transgressed this sin could not engage in battle (for more on this dispute, see Netvort to parshas Shoftim, 5759, available at Torahheights.com). Rav Shlomo Yosef Zevin, in his LeTorah Ulemoadim, explains that the tefillin of the hand symbolize action, and the tefillin of the head symbolize faith in God. When one speaks between the placement of these tefillin, he is breaking the linkage between his belief and his actions, and, thereby committing the kind of sin which, according to the Netziv, generated the attack of Amalek. That is, apparently, why such people were instructed to return home from the battle front.
