I
"And He called to Moshe, and He spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying" (Vayikra 1:1). This introductory verse to the entire Chumash Vayikra serves as the source of many fundamental teachings about the nature of prophecy, Torah and the relationship of Hakadosh Baruch Hu and the Jewish people and their beloved leader. Rashi, quoting Chazal, explains that keria is lashon chiba, an expression of endearment. By calling Moshe Rabbeinu by name before speaking to him, G-d was demonstrating his great affection toward him. Rashi further quotes from our sages that the phrase "to Moshe" teaches us that the sound of G-d only reached Moshe's ears and no one else's. On the phrase "from the Tent of Meeting", Rashi similarly comments that the sound stopped within the mishkan and did not go outside, not because of the faintness of the sound - the opposite being true, the sound of G-d is enormously powerful (Tehillim 29) - but rather because Hashem caused the sound to stop. The commentaries on Rashi and the Toras Kohanim from which he is quoting analyze the necessity of two seemingly redundant derashos of the sound not being heard by other people nor outside the mishkan. (See commentary of R. Eliyahu Mizrachi, Gur Aryeh and others.)
Perhaps we can suggest an approach linking these various teachings and with it gain a greater insight as to the nature of the miracle of a powerful sound stopping within the limited confines of the mishkan. Rambam (Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah, Chapters 7-10), Ramchal (Derech Hashem 3:3-5) and others elaborate as to the nature of prophecy and the crucial distinctions between the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu and that of other prophets. What clearly emerges from their respective presentations is that prophecy is not a loud voice created by Hashem heard by the physical ears of the prophet. Rather, it consists of an intense cleaving of the mind of the prophet with the Glory of Hashem's Presence, the result of which is a communication from Hashem to a human being. The nature of this communication is often overpowering, nullifying the sensations and functionality of the prophet, Moshe's prophecy being an exception to this rule. The communication is direct, crystal clear and leaves no room for doubt in the mind of the prophet that a Divine communication was conveyed to him. Perhaps this is the deeper meaning of Chazal's words quoted by Rashi that the sound only reached Moshe and no others, notwithstanding its powerful quality. It was not a specific miracle of the stopping of sound waves which ordinarily would spread further, but was a fundamentally different kind of communication penetrating to the very being of the prophet, in this case, Moshe Rabbeinu. Hence, only Moshe "heard" the sound and no one else did since it was not transmitted via ordinary or even miraculously created sound waves but consisted of an entirely different form of direct communication.
The Jewish people merited this form of Divine communication at ma'amad Har Sinai "hearing" - or, more properly stated, "receiving" in their minds - the first two of the Ten Commandments. Not being on a level worthy of such prophecy and filled with fright because of its overwhelming nature, they pleaded with Moshe to be their representative in hearing the Divine message, after which only Moshe received this Divine communication and faithfully transmitted it to the Jewish people (Shemos 20:15-18). At first glance, Klal Yisrael totally lost the opportunity to directly "hear" Hashem's message after their pleading with Moshe to receive the Divine Torah and teach it to them. But Chazal teach us שקול משה כישראל וישראל כמשה, שקול רב כתלמיד ותלמיד כרב - "Moshe is equivalent to Yisrael and Yisrael to Moshe; the Rav is equivalent to the student and the student to the Rav" (Mechilta, Yisro, 1). The great leader, Moshe Rabbeinu, not only faithfully led the people; in addition, in a very real spiritual manner, he represented the people. The concept of the Jewish people was included in his very being. I heard from my great Rebbe, Rav Chaim Ya'acov Goldwicht zt"l, that Moshe's "rays of glory" (Shemos 34:29 ff.) were a manifestation and conglomeration of all the "mini-rays" initially received by the Jewish people as a result of ma'amad har Sinai but subsequently lost because of the sin of the golden calf (ibid. 33:4-6). It was as if Moshe were the epicenter and the aggregate of the people.[1] Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 3:6) characterizes the Jewish king in a similar way: "His heart is the heart of the nation," and hence his glory is the glory of the nation. If so, we can suggest that the transmission of the Torah to Moshe was, in a sense, ultimately a transmission to the entire Jewish people, not just because they subsequently heard the Torah from him but because he represented them.[2] We can further suggest that the affection demonstrated by Hashem's calling Moshe to the mishkan, besides being directed toward the individual Moshe, was really a manifestation of the affection Hashem has for the entire Jewish people
II
The maftir this week, Parshas Zachor, contains the Divine commandment to remember the Amalekite attack against the Jewish people and to eradicate the nation of Amalek. Much has been written from halachic, hashkafic and philosophical perspectives concerning this atypical mitzvah. One major topic of discussion is the morality of eradicating an entire nation. The question is all the more heightened in light of the many attempts by other nations and members of other religions to do exactly the same thing to the Jewish people. Most prominent of these attempts is the foiled attempt of Haman, "להשמיד להרוג ולאבד את כל היהודים מנער ועד זקן טף ונשים", described in Megillas Esther and the more recent horrific eradication of a complete third of Jewry during the Holocaust. The troubling, often unasked, question beckons loudly: How can the Jewish people be commanded to do to other nations that which other nations have attempted and even unfortunately largely done to us?! This question was raised by no less a prominent figure than King Shaul. As we read in this week's haftorah, >"ויבא שאול עד עיר עמלק וירב בנחל" - "And Shaul came to the city of the Amalekites and battled in the valley" (Shmuel I 15:5). Presumably commenting on the fact that verse 5 states that Shaul fought Amalek in the valley before the actual battle is described in verse 7, the Talmud (Yoma 22a) presents an additional interpretation that the first battle was a conceptual one:
R. Mani stated: On the matters of "the valley". At the time that Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded Shaul, "Go and smite Amalek," he (Shaul) thought, 'If even for one life [lost, found on the road], the Torah commands to bring an eglah arufah [in a valley], for all these lives [of Amalek] all the more so! Even if the people sinned, how did the animals sin?! Even if the adults sinned, how did the children sin?! A heavenly voice came out and pronounced, "Do not be overly righteous!"
Shmuel harshly rebukes Shaul Hamelech after his claim that he wished to use the Amalekite animals as offerings to Hashem: "Behold, listening is better than an offering, to obey more than the fat of rams!" (ibid. v. 22). "Since you have despised the Word of Hashem, He has despised you as king!" (v. 23). Following this, Shmuel unceremoniously dispatches of Agag, the Amalekite king spared by Shaul. "And Shmuel said, 'As your sword bereaved women, so your mother shall be bereaved!' And Shmuel sliced Agag before G-d in Gilgal" (v. 33).
But what is the answer to Shaul's claims? Clearly the Ribono shel Olam has declared Amalek to be evil. The Brisker Rav, Rav Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveichik, (Al HaTorah 160) comments that the war against Amalek only applies upon specific commandment of a prophet. Yehoshua fought against Amalek upon being commanded to do so by Moshe; Shaul warred against Amalek after hearing Shmuel's command. I have heard that conceptually, a prophet is needed to declare that Amalek in that particular generation is still acting like their evil predecessors. Our Torah demands of us at the right time to wipe out these evildoers who are still following their evil ways, whose primary pursuit is destroying the righteous, this plan being the motivation for Amalek to war against the Jewish people throughout all of history.
More fundamentally, human beings are not in a position to challenge Divine authority. This is exactly the content of Shmuel's rebuke to Shaul as well as the message of the heavenly voice described in the above-quoted Gemara, "Do not be overly righteous!" Do not think that your human intellect can lead to a greater level of morality than that which is commanded by the Torah. We certainly do not always comprehend the Divine Will. Even reasons for mitzvos, oftentimes presented and analyzed by Rishonim and Acharonim, are not reasons in the classic sense of the motivations the Legislator of the Torah laws had in mind. Rather, they are human attempts at gaining some additional understanding of the wisdom emerging from the Divine revelation, "hashkafic nuggets"[3] enhancing our understanding, but never sufficiently "cracking the Divine code."
This then is the root of the morality of the commandment to destroy Amalek - explicit Divine command often beyond human logic. But other religions also claim or have claimed a Divine command to persecute the Jewish people! The answer to this claim I believe is rooted in having utter confidence in the exclusive truth of Judaism. Much has been written about the fact that Judaism is the only religion to claim a national revelation of its Torah to an entire generation. Moshe Rabbeinu was selected as the shliach for transmitting the rest of the Torah to Klal Yisrael after they requested that the Divine communication to them cease as mentioned above but only after hearing the first two commandments directly from G-d and the fact that Moshe was being chosen as the shliach. Whereas some feebly attempt to dismiss the power of this claim, the fact remains that no other world religion has a national revelation tale as part of its traditions.[4] There is a straightforward reason for this. You cannot fabricate such a narrative without paying the price of being disproven by the next generation discovering that no one is able to testify about that national revelation. This is why the Torah places such an emphasis on the Exodus from Egypt and ma'amad Har Sinai and faithfully transmitting the tradition of these events to our descendants. As developed above, the prophetic experience is not a mere "loud voice". This is an erroneous claim often advanced in order to futilely propose that the national revelation claim was made up.[5] The entire Jewish people for a short period of time and the faithful transmitter of Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu, received Divine communication in a manner which left no room for doubt. It is this that gives us the confidence that whatever Hashem asks us to do, whether logical or not, seemingly fitting our version of morality or not, is indeed moral, just and proper.[6] The fact that a descendant of Agag, Haman, indeed attempted to eradicate the Jewish people, provides hindsight insight into the dangers of not following the Divine command.
Any member of any religion claiming a Divine commandment to harm others which is not verified by a national revelation tradition - only Judaism possesses one - does not have the moral sanction to such a claim, and therefore such a claim is morally reprehensible and inherently false. This assertion applies equally for anyone or any nation who does so based on claims of racial superiority, military supremacy or any other secular argument.[7]
The eradication of Amalek and the concepts and forces this nation represents - lack of Divine providence, atheism, immorality, might makes right and mockery to name a few - is associated with the messianic unfolding. When the world approaches its ultimate state of perfection, the half-name of Hashem, Y-K, mentioned in the maftir - which many explain represents an incomplete understanding of Hashem's ways when evil can exist in the world - blossoms into the full name of Y-K-V-K mentioned every day by Jews worldwide in the Aleinu prayer "V'haya Hashem l'melech al kol ha'aretz bayom hahu yihye Hashem (Y-K-V-K) echad u'shmo echad." In a world of confusion, delusion and rampant evil let us all redouble our spiritual efforts - with all the values antithetical to what Amalek represents: belief in G-d and His providence, being faithful to Divine morality, helping the unfortunate and reverence for sanctity - to partner with the Master of History in bringing about this blessed era.
[1] See Midrash (Shemos Rabba 1:27) about Moshe's intense concern for Jewish people even before he was appointed their leader. Perhaps this nullification of his individual self to the Jewish people is what qualified him to represent them so intensely. I am indebted to Rav Shay Schacter for presenting this source in a powerful shiur (available on yutorah.org) calling us to action in light of the current humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
[2] See Be'er Yosef, by Rav Yosef Tzvi Salant (Vayikra p. 5 ff.), who explains that Klal Yisrael were only able to reach a high level of prophecy at ma'amad Har Sinai even temporarily because of the unity formed before this great event. This seems to reflect an important fundamental concept. The Torah was conveyed to Klal Yisrael as a whole, indivisible entity, not to a group of individuals, hence the terms Klal Yisrael and Knesses Yisrael. When the "body politic" was not able to directly receive the message of Torah, its leader, Moshe Rabbeinu, who was equivalent to it, received it for the people in this communal entity. Nonetheless, Midrashim describe how Klal Yisrael did lose out to some extent by not receiving the communication directly and will once again receive such direct communication in the messianic era.
[3] A term I have heard in the name of Rav Michael Rosensweig shlit"a.
[4] See Permission to Receive by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen.
[5] Some have even resorted to claiming that Moshe Rabbeinu anachronistically invented electricity and, behind Har Sinai, boomed an imaginary loud voice to convince the Jewish people of the truth of revelation. It is quite remarkable that rather than accept the power of the national revelation narrative, some have resorted to converting Moshe into the Wizard of Oz!
[6] See Rambam (Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah Chapter 8), Sefer Ikkarim (Maamar 3), Ramban (end of Bo and Glosses to Sefer Hamitzvos, negative commandments 2) and more who greatly elaborate on this fundamental truth.
[7] The thoughts presented here have been crystallized in my mind, b'chasdei Hashem, after the cataclysmic events of 9/11, 2001 and after reading some eye-opening essays in its aftermath about the problem of religion commanding seemingly immoral acts, specifically one by Rabbi Dr. David Shatz.