Raise your hands in the air!

On Purim, we read Parshat Zachor, " Remember what Amalek perpetrated against you on the way when you were going out of Egypt. When they chanced upon you en route and struck down your appendage-- all the feeble ones behind you-- and you were exhausted and wearied, and they had no fear of God. When Hashem, your God, has given you repose from all your enemies all around, in the land that Hashem, your God, is giving you as a territory to inherit, you shall obliterate the memory of Amalek from beneath the sky; do not forget." (Devarim, Ki Teitzei; 18-19)

So what is the passage about? What did Amalek do to us that we must remember? And also, why the reminder not to forget that we are to obliterate the memory of Amalek? So to understand what Parshat Zachor is speaking about, we read yud-zayin of parshat Beshalach on Purim. In that Parsha, Amalek attacks us in the desert after we leave Mitzrayim.

There are a couple of main themes to look at that can open this story up for us and teach us something very important. Let's look at the water and thirst as well as the mentioning of hands.

"They camped at Rephidim." Rephidim comes from, "Raphu Yaddaim," meaning their hands were weak. And in this place where their hands were weak, there was no water for them to drink.We know that water is a metaphore for Torah. Also, this event occurs shortly before the revelation of the torah at Sinai. In the simple understanding of this event, B'nai Yisroel is being grumpy and complaining for water. I want to suggest that they were not just whining, however, but that really something very deep was going on, and that Hashem set up B'nai Yisroel so that the events would purposefully happen in this way.

The Ishbitzer Rebbe teaches in sefer Bais Yaacov that we can have two types of relationships with God. We can relate to him with our hands, reaching out and holding on to him. In this way, we relate to him through our hands and through our actions and mitzvot. Our hands are strong. OR we can relate to him in a way in which he is guiding us from a hidden place high above our minds' capacity to understand. When we have this type of relationship with Hashem, it may seem that he is not with us. We might feel an emptiness and a thirst for Hashem's hand. In this case, we might also use the excuse that he is guiding us from such a high place that we don't have to do anything because we don't understand and because maybe he is there, but so far away. If we do say this, our actions and our 'hands' become weak. When we are weak, we get to a place of thirst. We thirst for meaning, we thirst to fill a void, we thirst for God's hand to be close and known to us. For example, on Purim, we give shlach manos. Reb Shlomo teaches that "yadid" (Hebrew for friends) is like "yad-yad" (hand-hand). Sometimes we put out our hand and we don't want shlach manos. We don't want any thing. We don't want tzeddakah. We just want our friend's hand.

In a similar way, at Rephidim, maybe what we were complaining about was that we didn't want God's far-away guidance. We wanted to feel his hand in our hand. We wanted water, or torah, but Hashem would put us through some tests first. Before we get the torah, we have to fight Amalek.

Just before we fight Amalek, and before even getting a preliminary taste of water, we ask, "Is Hashem with us or is he not?" The Hebrew word used for "not" is "Ayin." Ayin means more than just "not." Ayin means the apex of the yud, or rather, the part of Hashem that is there, but far beyond our knowledge or choice. We are asking, God, are you the far away God or are you here with us holding our hand?
We were thirsty. We wanted torah, but if you are the far away God, than maybe it doesn't really matter what we do down here one way or the other. As soon as we begin to think that way, that is precisely when Amalek attacks. Amalek, however, takes these thoughts to the extreme He says, not only does it not matter, but nothing matters. You think God is just distant? Stop fooling yourself. God is not even there. None of it matters. Give it up.
Only after we fight off these thoughts will our thirst really be quenched and we can receive the torah.

During the battle, we see that when Moshe's hands are raised, (as an expression of faith and connection to Hashem), Israel prevails, but when his hands fall, Amalek prevails. What is "yadav emunah," or "hands of faith," as Moshe's hands are called? Besides the obvious expression of reaching up to God, the phrase also shows that sometimes we first have to act with our hands in order to have or develop the faith. But if our hands are weak, we loose faith, and Amalek attacks.

Nevertheless, God set things up to play out in this way so that we would have to really thirst for him and for torah before we would receive it. We would not just get torah, but we would have to fight for our faith, fight to keep our hands raised in the air and fight to keep Amalek out and to obliterate him forever.

Going back to parshat Zachor, we see that this was is not yet over, but that right now in the present it is time for us to really fight this battle. It says, "when Hashem your God has given you repose from all your enemies around in the land that Hashem your God is giving you as territory to inherit, you shall obliterate the memory of Amalek from beneath the sky. Do not forget." Now, Hashem has given us the land of Israel. Our enemies surround us and yet, thank God, here I am learning torah in Yerushalayim ir ha Kodesh. So now, more than ever, it is time the time that we are told to obliterate the memory of Amalek. How? Even though Hashem promises "I will totally obliterate the memory of Amalek," we also have to do our work from this end, our hishtadlut. So, when Moshe has his hands raised, Israel prevails. We should learn from this that in order to beat Amalek and evil, we too, have to keep our hands of faith and action, raised. And on Purim, when we give shlach manos, we are holding hands with our friends. In turn, hashem will see our kindness and when he sees our hands raised out to him, he will hold our hand as well.