Amalek and Anti-Semitism

By: Miriam Cohen (10th) and Tova Bossewitch (9th)

As most know, Anti-Semitic incidents have recently increased, with harassment, vandalism, and violence seemingly at an all time high. In fact, 2021 was the highest year on record for documented reports of Anti-Semitic hate crimes. Seventy years after the Holocaust, anti-Semitism is once again being expressed openly and violently by influential people, such as Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, and the Hadids, and the majority of American Jews fear for their safety.

Although Anti-Semitism is nothing new, where did this hate originate?

This type of hate tracks all the way back to our Avot. In the Torah, Eisav and Yakov, the two sons of Yitzchak, were in conflict. Yakov convinced Eisav to sell him his birthright, and Eisav realized his mistake too late when Yitzchak was blessing them before he died. Infuriated and full of hatred for Yakov, Eisav sent his son, Elifas, to kill Yakov, and although Yakov gave Elifas all he had to prevent being murdered, the hate never diminished. This hatred was passed from Eisav to Elifas and from Elifas to Amalek. This was the root of Anti-semitism and the reason the Gemera says that regarding Anti-semitism, it is a given that Eisav will always hate Yakov.

Many years later, Benei Yisrael left the desert and traveled to Israel. Since they had sinned with Avoda Zara and were therefore on a spiritually weakend level, Amalek decided now would be a good time to go to war with them. And so he did. However, our sages ask a question: What was so terrible about this? It’s not as if no other nations hated the Jews.

It’s said that all the other nations were terrified to start war with the Jews. Aware of the famous miracles, such as the splitting of the sea and Mitzrayim, no one wanted to mess with them, but Amalek decided to be “gutsy” and start a war. He thought he might lose and have his men killed, but he wanted to show the world that it was possible to attack Jews.

Rashi uses the metaphor of a boiling bathtub: No one wants to step in because they might get burned, so the first brave person who steps in cools the water for everyone else. So too, when Amalek went to war with the Jews, although he didn’t win, he showed the world that it was not impossible to attack Jews. In other words, he “cooled off” the water for all other nations. Because Amalek had the chutzpah to show that the Jews were not untouchable, Hashem commands us to erase him. There is a Mitzvah to erase Amalek, and although we can’t tell who is from Amalek and who is not, the Torah says erase their memory. Chasidut explains that we all have Amalek in us. Sometimes, when we get enthusiastic about and invest in something, telling ourselves what and when we’re going to accomplish, our little “Amalek '' - yetzer Hara, “cools off” our enthusiasm. That influence is what we should erase or at least try to eradicate. The Torah doesn’t say to kill them but to erase them. That little voice is what we should erase and not get caught up in it.