Israel and Amalek: Two “Firsts”
The story of Purim represents another episode in our ongoing confrontation with Amalek. Historically, this confrontation began with Amalek attacking the Jewish People soon after they left Egypt. However, from a conceptual point of view, this enmity goes back further still, reaching back, in fact, to the very beginning…
The opening word of the Torah is “בראשית.”[1] This word is commonly translated as “the beginning,” but the term “ראשית” more accurately translates as the “first” or “choice” of something. As such, one of the classic expositions on the word “בראשית” reads it as “ב’ ראשית,” which means “two firsts.” This refers to the fact that there are two nations in Tanach that are called by the term reishis:
- The first nation to be called “first” is the nation of Israel, as the verse says: “קודש ישראל לה’ ראשית תבואתו — Israel is holy to Hashem, the first of His crop.”[2]
- The second nation is Amalek, about whom it is said: “ראשית גוים עמלק — Amalek is first among the nations.”[3]
What is the meaning of this distinction shared by these two nations? Moreover, the very notion of two nations being called “first” seems to be a contradiction in terms. The idea that something is “first” means, by definition, that all others are not! How is it possible, then, for two nations to both be “first”?
The commentators explain that it all depends on the worldview to which the Jewish People subscribe:
- If they are faithful to their higher connection with Hashem and look to Him for protection, guidance, and success, then Israel is the reishis. Thus, the verse emphasizes that if Israel is “holy to Hashem,” then they are “the choice of His crop.”
- However, if they subscribe to a lower vision of life, pursuing success in a way akin to the nations of the world, with similar ambitions and goals, then it is Amalek who emerges as the reishis among the nations, with the Jewish People often bearing the brunt of that ascendency.[4]
A classic case that illustrates this idea is the Purim story. The people attended Achashveirosh’s feast, even though Mordechai had cautioned against it. Their thinking was, This is what we need to do to get ahead here. We need to be seen, to make connections and cultivate relationships. If the food and atmosphere there are not appropriate in terms of Jewish law, that is unfortunate, but it cannot interfere with our path toward success as we see it.
Having detached themselves from their higher connection with Hashem and having tried their hand at proceeding like any other nation, they thereby empowered Amalek, represented by Haman, to emerge as the reishis — and they ultimately found themselves under threat of extinction.
Reconnecting, and Counting Up
Understandably, the path to recovery at that time was to rediscover our higher connection with Hashem, through prayer, fasting, and teshuvah. The great irony, of course, is that it was Haman who was the catalyst for this rediscovery. His threat of annihilation galvanized the people to abandon their ill-fated designs at succeeding in mundane terms and led them back to Hashem.
The number that represents our higher connection is fifty, as it exists beyond the multiples of seven, which reflect the natural world. For this reason, the Torah was given to us on the fiftieth day after leaving Egypt, as it contains Hashem’s message from the realm beyond this world. The Megillah lays particular emphasis on the fact that the gallows Haman prepared for Mordechai was fifty amos (cubits) tall. Haman reasoned that with the Jewish People having abandoned what is represented by the fiftieth level, their leader would likewise be vulnerable and could be hanged at that height. As it turned out, once the people repented and reclaimed their connection to that level, it was Haman who was hanged there. Indeed, Haman was killed on the second day of Pesach, which is the day we start counting the forty-nine days of the omer up to Shavuos on the fiftieth day, when we received the Torah. When it comes to spiritual matters, location is a function of direction. If a person is headed in a good direction, he is already in a good place. Here, too, all the people needed was to be headed back toward counting toward receiving the Torah, and on the day they began that count, Haman was already defeated.[5]
May we merit to use the holy day of Purim to re-establish and strengthen our higher connection with Hashem, and may we soon reclaim our status as reishis among the nations in the most meaningful sense of the word.
Purim Sameach.
[1] Bereishis 1:1.
[2] Yirmiyahu 2:3.
[3] Bamidbar 24:20.
[4] Rabbi Uri Jungreis, Ori V’Yishi, Moadim, sec. 48.
[5] Ori V’Yishi loc. cit.