RABBI LAZER BRODY Parshat Zchor, Remember!

The War against Doubt "Remember what Amalek did to you, on the way, when you were leaving Egypt, that he encountered you on the way, and he struck those weak of you that were lagging behind, and you were tired and weary" (Devorim 25: 17-18). "He encountered you on the way" is a play on words in Hebrew; it also means, "He cooled you down". Emuna, the pure and complete faith in Hashem, resembles a constant burning ember in one's midst, always there to warm the soul, enabling it to survive in a cold and cruel world. Amalek is the opposite; he's a jug of ice water that not only tries to cool down the ember of emuna, he tries to extinguish it altogether. Therefore, the commandment to wipe out Amalek is not simply a matter of piety, but an issue of basic spiritual and emotional survival.