Descendents of Rachel Defeat Amalek
Yechidah
By Hadassah Levy
The Descendants of Rachel and their Fight Against Amalek
"Then came Amalek and fought with Yisrael in Refidim. And Moshe said to
Yehoshua, Choose out men, and go out fight with Amalek..." (Shmot 17:8-9)
"And go out fight with Amalek. Is Moshe standing and telling Yehoshua to
make war with Amalek? Rather, it is tradition that the sons of Esau are only
defeated by the sons of Rachel." (Mechilta DeRashbi)
Moshe, as the leader of Israel, should have been the one to lead the nation
into war against Amalek. At first glance, it appears that Moshe was shirking
his responsibility. The midrash refutes this reading. Moshe had a specific
reason for sending Yehoshua, which was that the descendants of Esau can only
be defeated by descendants of Rachel. Yehoshua, from the tribe of Ephraim,
was sent to war against Amalek.
The second war in history between Israel and Amalek was also fought by a
descendant of Rachel: King Saul. Samuel commanded Saul to go to war against
Amalek: "The Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over
Israel, now therefore hearken to the to the voice of the words of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord of Hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how
he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt" (Samuel I
15:1-2). This commandment seems superfluous since every Jew is commanded to
destroy Amalek, as it says in Parshat Zachor, "thou shalt blot out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven" (Devarim 25:19). This commandment
was to be fulfilled by the community after Am Yisrael settled in the Land of
Israel, along with the mitzvot of appointing a king and building the Temple.
The commandment to Saul was in addition to the commandment to every Jew.
Saul, as a king of Israel and descendant of Rachel, was to lead the nation
in a total war against Amalek. According to Rabbi Yigal Ariel in his book Oz
Melech, Saul was meant to participate in a historic accounting of nations.
Amalek's account was so large that only total destruction would suffice.
Saul didn't understand his special mission and fulfilled the mitzva on the
level of every Jew. He destroyed the city of Amalek and killed almost the
entire nation. He did not rid the world of the nation of Amalek and Amalek
continued to fight against Israel.
Amalek fights against Israel again when Haman attempts to destroy the Jews.
Here too a descendant of Rachel defeats him, Mordechai from the tribe of
Binyamin. Mordechai does his best to destroy Amalek, but by this time the
identification of Amalek is much more difficult.
At the end of days the descendants of Yosef will defeat all the descendants
of Esau. In Baba Batra 123b, the Gemara says, "The descendants of Esau are
only defeated by the descendants of Yosef, as it written (Ovadya 1:18), "And
the house of Yaacov shall be fire, and the house of Yosef flame, and the
house of Esau straw..."
Why is it that only the descendants of Rachel can defeat Amalek?
According to Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon (on the Virtual Beit Midrash of Yeshivat
Har Etzion), the reason is the opposing ideologies of the descendants of
Rachel and Amalek. Amalek believes that there is no divine supervision or
intervention in the world, but rather that each event is an isolated
incident. It is said in Parshat Zachor, "Asher Korcha BaDerech" - how he
happened across you along the way. The midrash emphasizes the word
"Korcha" - happened - which is the paramount to coincidence. This is the
reason that contrary to all other nations, the Amalekites do not fear Israel
after the Exodus. It is said of the other nations, "Then the chiefs of Edom
shall be amazed, the mighty men of Moav, trembling shall take hold upon
them, all the inhabitants of Kenaan shall melt away, fear and dread shall
fall upon them" (Shmot 15:15-16). The Amalekites see the Exodus from Egypt
as a natural historical phenomenon and therefore "he feared not G-d"
(Devarim 25:18). Haman had the same outlook on life. He perceived the world
as coincidental and therefore he makes decisions by the luck of the draw.
Yosef represents the opposite outlook. He attributes his sale to Egypt as
part of G-d's plan; likewise, he attributes his success in his decoding of
Pharoah's dreams to G-d almighty. Not only do the descendants of Rachel
fight the physical entity of Amalek, they also battle the perception of the
world as devoid of divine intervention. The Book of Esther does not merely
tell a story of the occurrence of a natural political revolution, but also
the story of the underlying hand of G-d guiding the events. He who reads the
story with an arbitrary outlook will see merely arbitrary events. However,
he who reads the story with a firm belief in G-d's guidance will see divine
intervention in the unfolding of events. Therefore, on Purim we not only
celebrate the annihilation of the physical nation of Amalek, but also an
ideological victory over the Amalekite perception of the world.
http://www.matan.org.il/oll/parsha-vayikra.html