A Primer on Amalek Part 7 – Amalek Then and Now (Part 1)

This is the final part in the series.  In case you missed the previous parts, below are links.  Please share this.

Part 1: https://chananyaweissman.com/article.php?id=486

Part 2: https://chananyaweissman.com/article.php?id=487

Part 3: https://chananyaweissman.com/article.php?id=488

Part 4: https://chananyaweissman.com/article.php?id=489

Amalek’s Last Stand: https://chananyaweissman.com/article.php?id=150

Part 5 - Haman's Letter: https://chananyaweissman.com/article.php?id=491

Part 6 - From Agag to Haman: https://chananyaweissman.com/article.php?id=493

Part 7 - Amalek Then and Now: https://chananyaweissman.com/article.php?id=495

A Primer on Amalek Part 7 – Amalek Then and Now

The children of Israel descended to Egypt as seventy people, and quickly multiplied into a nation. Chazal tell us that the Jewish women gave birth to six children at a time, and had no need for midwives, let alone hospitals. They proceeded to raise their own children and take care of their homes.

Despite never donning an army uniform or climbing a corporate ladder, they found being a wife and matriarch infinitely more empowering and fulfilling than anything the “liberated” woman in perpetual struggle against God's will and nature will ever achieve. The world didn't run out of resources, and the climate did just fine. Of course.

The new generation of Jews became comfortable living in Egypt. They built permanent homes and lost interest in returning to the land of their forefathers, where they were meant to fulfill their destiny. They forgot that they were in exile, so they needed a harsh reminder. This would be the first of many times the same story would be repeated throughout history. Those who don't learn the lesson the easy way have to learn it the hard way, and we are watching it unfold one more time in our days.

For no apparent reason other than the prosperity of the Jewish people – something that benefited their host country, to whom they were most loyal – the Egyptians turned against them. Pharaoh decided one day that he had a Jewish problem that threatened his entire nation.

Pharaoh convened with three prominent advisers to decide what to do. As every Jew with a bit of education knows, they were Bil'am, Iyov. And Yisro. Bil'am advised Pharaoh to act against the Jews, Iyov was quiet, and Yisro fled (Sotah 11A).

It is difficult to take the Midrash completely at face value. First of all, Bil'am was killed shortly before the Jews entered Israel, approximately 150 years after this meeting would have taken place. It's not impossible that his adulthood spanned such a long time, but it's highly unlikely.

The next problem is that there is a wide variance of opinion over when Iyov lived (Bava Basra 15). This Midrash could not possibly square with all the opinions.

Therefore it seems most likely that the characters named as Pharaoh's advisers were archetypes for the people who were actually in the room (this is a common device in Midrash). There was the Bil'am type, the opportunist who told the king what he wanted to hear, with hopes of being rewarded (or at least keeping his head firmly attached to his body). There was the Iyov type, who had enough of a conscience not to actively participate in the atrocity, but who lacked the courage to protest it. And there was the Yisro type, who stood up to authority and objected to the evil, even though he was powerless to stop it.

The Midrash is teaching about the three choices people have when confronted with evil plans from the government: go along with it, look the other way, or resist however possible. Indeed, the Midrash immediately relates the consequences of these decisions. Bil'am lost far more than he profited in the short term; he was eventually executed and punished forever. This is the fate of those who rationalize their collusion with evil and put their personal profit over what is right.

Iyov figured that Pharaoh would do whatever he wanted anyway, so he might as well stay quiet instead of voicing a righteous objection. We have no way to know how influential his vote might have been, if his objections might have given Pharaoh pause. Iyov's silence wasn't necessarily tacit approval, but it was a sign that those who inwardly objected to what was about to happen weren't going to do anything about it. He avoided the wrath of a human king, but received the wrath of the King of all kings instead. This is the fate of all those who place their jobs, their social standing, and their personal conveniences above all else.

Yisro saw which way the wind was blowing, but he could not stay silent. He suffered mightily in the short term; he was forced to flee for his life, he lost his prestigious position, and his family became outcasts. In the end, however, Hashem richly rewarded his righteousness beyond anything he could have otherwise achieved. This is the fate of all those who pay a price in the short term to do the right thing.

If this is all we learned from the Midrash, it would be enough to teach a vital lesson to every human being, and hopefully galvanize enough of them to stop today's genocidal monsters in their tracks. After all, they cannot implement their plans without enough opportunists actively supporting them, and most of the rest of society looking the other way.

But there is another Midrash, one that is almost completely unknown to people nowadays, that sheds further light on this fateful meeting with Pharaoh. According to this Midrash, there were not three, but two advisers present, and it requires no stretch of the imagination for the people named to have been there in the flesh, not merely in spirit. Yisro was there, but not Bil'am or Iyov.

The other adviser was Amalek.

Not the nation, but the man himself, the grandson of Eisav who had made it his quest to destroy the children of Israel and the rest of the world along with them.

The Midrash appears in Shemos Rabba 27:6, and tells us all we need to know in six simple words: “עמלק ויתרו היו בעצה עם פרעה”.

Amalek and Yisro were in the advisory meeting with Pharaoh.

This version of the events is entirely plausible in literal terms, for both were alive at this point in history. In addition, Amalek was surely a prominent man, and had intimate knowledge of the Jewish people from their very origins. Yisro was one of the leading religious figures of the time and possessed great wisdom. Who better to counsel Pharaoh regarding his Jewish problem?

This adds an incredible dimension to the story of the Jews being enslaved in Egypt and brought to the brink of destruction. It never really made sense for the Egyptians to turn against the Jews so severely, so quickly. They might have been jealous of the Jews' prosperity and resented their lifestyle, which stood in stark contrast to the idolatrous ways of the Egyptians, but that's hardly an impetus to brutally enslave one's fellow citizens and murder their babies.

Unless Amalek is there to stoke the fears and hatred, to make it kosher, and guide them every step of the way.

Not only was Amalek always there throughout history waging war against Israel and subverting the nations of the world, but their namesake was there at the very beginning, doing just that with Pharaoh and the Egyptians!

(continued)