Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chilling With Amalek: Tezaveh (Zachor) - English Version
Chilling With Amalek: Tezaveh (Zachor) - English Version
Chilling With Amalek: Tezaveh (Zachor) - English Version
ENGLISH Version
And to defuse this power of Amalek, we put to use our time, money and effort to do the Mitzvot of Mishloach Manot and Matanot La'evyonim, to bring unity to our people, ultimately fighting the power of Amalek. We may ask ourselves how Amalek causes disunity amongst us. The Torah answers exactly what he does that he "happened upon" you(implying chance, random occurrence) Rashi, in accordance with the Midrash, explains these words with another explanation that he cooled you down.
away from their responsibilities when they do not pay attention to those who are falling out of the community. Of course these people who are falling to the wayside are too busy chilling but maybe the members of the community are chilling as well from their responsibility to care. For their responsibility to fight for every Jewish soul.
R Z. Wallerstien once explained this to a group of teenagers. There is a word that is commonly used when you ask a teen what he was doing out till late ( shall we say, 3 AM) and he answers I was chilling. What is chilling? Chilling means not doing anything to answer up to responsibilities. It means ignoring that one has responsibilities. This can, mistakenly, be confused with pleasure. Chilling is not pleasure; rather, it is a fear and G-d does not give up on any answers I was an avoidance of the "pain" of one of his children, even if they chilling. behaving with responsibility. end up as idol worshippers and Being up till 3 in the morning, fall into the claws of Amalek. doing nothing constructive, is And, in every generation he simply saying, "I do not have to be responsible for asks us to fight his battle to save those who are tomorrow." People somehow get into this habit of falling behind. Let us fight Amalek by keeping a "chilling"; it's usually done by finding others who sense of unity. Let us fight Amalek by recognizing are "on the same page" finding people who are our responsibilities to our Torah study and to each "chilling" to chill with. Thats all it is. other. Then, we will merit a redemption like the one in the days of Mordechai and Esther. And on When the Jews were not studying the Torah the that day, G-d will be One and His Name will be way that they were supposed to they were One, together with us and with all of our brethren shirking their responsibilities. People are shying in the Holy Temple. Amen.
The first thing that dropouts do to "chill" is to say to themselves, "We do not need the community. We do not need others, nor do we care what they think of us. Often, this attitude is a result of their feeling that they are unimportant in the eyes of their peers. So, they start to chill - to do nothing with their time and wait for someone (Amalek) to call to them by name and say, "Leave There is a word your camp. We care for you out that is commonly here." They walk out and get strangled. It gives us much used when you ask food for thought about this deep, eternally insightful a teen what he was commentary that the word doing out till late " -"that he cooled you down is used so concisely for ( shall we say, 3 the same type of attitude in the 21st Century. AM) and he
Amalek and then we realized, without a shadow of a doubt, that our only hope was to cry out to G-d! We know then, in times when we are keenly aware that we need Him, that He is among us, and He answers our prayers. Suddenly, the philosophical doubts Of G-ds presence in our midst dissipate. Mordecai, the first person to be called Yehudi, was a living force against this. He would walk out with the T'chelet blue - to remind everyone and himself in exile of the sky, which ultimately brings to mind the knowledge of G-ds Presence everywhere , similar to the visual reminder found in the T'chelet strings of Tzizit. Mordecai intended
to walk publicly, clothed in this color to demonstrate that G-d is actually here with us. Using the T'chelet as a kind of banner, he demonstrated that Amalek and their atheist beliefs were nonsensical. He reestablished the Name of G-d in his generation. And if we take the last two letters of , the and ( underneath ) form the letter revealing the ending letters of "that Amalek tried to ignore and erase from the world! This is a battle for us as well. We must actively erase the Amalek's banner of doubt, and anything that reminds us of even a suggestion of a belief that G-d is not amongst us.
To support this publication, receive it by e-mail, or to submit questions or comments, please contact us. rabbiyoseffarhi@gmail.com 0527161854 IN LOVING MEMORY OF REUVEN BEN SARA AND CHANA BAT HENYA