Note: The next few weeks will have a shorter Dvar Torah and less Halacha Bytes than the regular weeks.  I will try my best Bl"Nd to keep the Divrei Torah coming to you each week without interruption.

Ki Teitzei:

Pasuk (25:17-19)

"Remember what Amalek did to you, on the way when you were leaving Egypt...you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the Heaven - you shall not forget!"

We are commanded a positive commandment to erase the memory of Amalek.  Amalek is more despised than any of the other nations which waged war against the Bnei Yisroel, for Amalek did fear people, yet they had no fear of G-d.

When the Bnei Yisroel left Egypt through miraculous events, the other nations were stunned by the miracles, yet Amalek refused to be impressed by the facts.  They instead decided to "cool off" the other nations fears.
The sages explain that the word "Karcha" (happened) has the word "Kor" (cold) in it.  Just like a boiling hot pool, no one is willing to enter, until one rebellious person walks into it, and cools it off in the eyes of others. The sages also explain that the word "Karcha" also means chance, for they felt that what ever happens in this world is only by chance.

The main reason for Amaleks attack, was because they couldn't stand spirituality and holiness.  Since the Bnei Yisroel were the ones who were the bearers of what they despised, they felt that this was a good reason to attack them.

Rav Henach Leibowitz asks, Amalek may have "cooled off" the boiling pool, however he still got badly burnt, so why were the other nations, now less afraid to attack the Bnei Yisroel?

He explains that Chazal are teaching us the psychology  of human beings.  Types of actions which a person sees as morally wrong or physically harmful, one automatically removes those thoughts from the realm of possibility.  This keeps a normal person out of dangerous situations, for he is aware of the consequences.  When one decides to take a jump into the boiling pool, he has now cooled it off, in the realm of possibility.  It is no more behind the protective fence of "Dangerous don't enter".

When Amalek attacked the Bnei Yisroel when they left Egypt, they were no longer "untouchables", they were human, thus others felt they can now also attack them.

We can take this same lesson to our society today.
In the past there were certain protective fences, that people knew they couldn't pass.  They knew that there was a "red line".  Certain behaviors, were not even thinkable.  Acts of immorality, vulgarity, violence, abuse, was all unimaginable a generation ago.

Just decades ago, abortion (of a nonlife-threatening pregnancy) was looked at as a crime equal to murder.  Now a days it is not only acceptable, but is looked at as a right, with even governmental support.  This is because the worlds population is growing and people are living longer lives, so the worlds fences have changed again.  This is not so with Torah.

Our job, is to be on guard, and block out those negative influences with new and stronger fences, built up with the help of our study of the Torah and Mussar (ethics) and thus strive to a higher spiritual level in our service of Hashem.



(Above based on Rabbi E. Dessler, Rav Aryeh Carmel, Rav Henach Leibowitz)