The Hands of Moshe Rabbeinu
How to Erase the Memory of Amalek from Under Heaven:
After B'nei Yisrael left the immediate environs of the Yam Suf, Moshe Rabbeinu told everybody to travel to the Shur Desert (Shemot 15:22). After going three days without finding water, they finally came upon a source of water. The wonderful news quickly spread throughout the camp. Just imagine how excited and relieved everybody must have felt. But as soon as they put it to their lips they realized that the water was too bitter to drink. אוי ואבוי (Oy va'voi)! Can we even begin to feel their disappointment, their discouragement – their despair?
We shouldn't be all that surprised to read what happened next (15:24): וַיִּלֹּנוּ הָעָם עַל־מֹשֶׁה (And the people complained against Moshe). In just a few short days, they went from singing an exalted song of praise and thanksgiving and the accompanying testimony of וַיַּאֲמִינוּ בַּיי וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּוֹ (And they had emunah in Hashem and in Moshe His servant) to complaining against this selfsame Moshe. Now, it may be understandable that they lashed out against Moshe, after all he was the one who gave the orders to travel to the Shur Desert, but shouldn't they have realized that Moshe was only taking instructions from Hashem, the One they had just praised and thanked a few days earlier? The truth is that it was just a test (15:25): וְשָׁם נִסָּהוּ (And He tested them there). Sadly, they failed the test.
But Hashem, in His infinite kindness, didn't wait very long before He gave them another chance. Exactly one month after they left Egypt, they came to a different desert, the Sin Desert (16:1). And what was the first thing they did when they got there (16:2)? וַיִּלּוֹנוּ כׇּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל עַל־מֹשֶׁה וְעַל־אַהֲרֹן (And the whole congregation of B'nei Yisrael complained against Moshe and against Aharon). Whereas the first complaint came from 'the people', i.e. the Erev Rav (Zohar ha-Kadosh, Beshalach 45b), this second complaint came from 'the whole congregation of B'nei Yisrael'. Furthermore, the first complaint was directed only against Moshe, but this second complaint was directed against Moshe and Aharon. It doesn't look like they did so well on the second test, does it? If they got an F the first time, they probably got an F-minus now.
But maybe we're being too harsh. After all, a whole month had gone by, and they had probably finished eating whatever provisions they had taken with them. They themselves said (16:3): כִּי־הוֹצֵאתֶם אֹתָנוּ אֶל־הַמִּדְבָּר הַזֶּה לְהָמִית אֶת־כׇּל־הַקָּהָל הַזֶּה בָּרָעָב (For you [Moshe and Aharon] brought us out to this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger). More than likely, they were really hungry! So, wasn't their complaint justified?
Let's see what Moshe Rabbeinu thought. After explaining to them that Hashem was going to rain down upon them 'bread from heaven', he said the following (16:7): וּבֹקֶר וּרְאִיתֶם אֶת־כְּבוֹד יְיָ בְּשׇׁמְעוֹ אֶת־תְּלֻנֹּתֵיכֶם עַל־יְיָ וְנַחְנוּ מָה כִּי תַלִּינוּ עָלֵינוּ (And in the morning, you will see the glory of Hashem, when He hears your complaints against Hashem, for what are we [Aharon and I] that you have complained against us?). As far as Moshe was concerned, they were not justified in their complaints. Not only that, but he made it clear to them that their complaints against him were really, at a deeper level, complaints against Hashem. And just to make sure that none of them missed this point, he repeated it in v.8 and again in v.9. And if that's not enough, Hashem told Moshe in v.11 that He heard the complaints of B'nei Yisrael (not just the Erev Rav), and that He wasn't very impressed.
After this whole episode was over, Hashem led them to a place called Rephidim (17:1): וְאֵין מַיִם לִשְׁתֹּת הָעָם (And there was no water for the people to drink). Well, what do you know! As they say in the movie industry, 'Take three.' Finally, they're going to get the message and pass the test, right? The Torah says (17:2): וַיָּרֶב הָעָם עִם־מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמְרוּ תְּנוּ־לָנוּ מַיִם וְנִשְׁתֶּה וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם מֹשֶׁה מַה־תְּרִיבוּן עִמָּדִי מַה־תְּנַסּוּן אֶת־יְיָ (And the people quarreled with Moshe, and they said, 'Give us water and we'll drink!' And Moshe said to them, 'Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing Hashem?). Apparently, they didn't pass this test either. And in v.3 it says: וַיָּלֶן הָעָם עַל־מֹשֶׁה (And the people complained against Moshe). Things got so out-of-hand that Moshe thought they were going to stone him (17:4)!
Three tests. Three abject failures. You have to ask, Were they really that dense that they couldn't figure out what was going on? It wasn't like the tests took place with lots of time between them. They were, literally, back to back.
Do you remember what happened next? It is written (17:8): וַיָּבֹא עֲמָלֵק וַיִּלָּחֶם עִם־יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּרְפִידִם (And Amalek came and made war against Yisrael in Rephidim). Interesting, isn't it? Seemingly, Amalek appeared out of nowhere with no apparent warning to fight against Yisrael! But the truth is that Amalek didn't appear out of nowhere for no reason. Amalek is created directly as a result of our aveirot, specifically the sin of complaining against the Tzaddik, which is really just complaining against Hashem and His hashgachah. To put it bluntly, complaining is lashon ha-ra against Hashem and that's why its punishment is so decisive and devastating.
Now let's discover the root of the problem. What is the fundamental spiritual flaw that predisposes us to complain, thus bringing Amalek down upon us? Because – think about it – if we knew what flaw was at the root of the problem, and we worked at fixing that flaw, then maybe, just maybe, we might merit this pasuk being fulfilled before our eyes (17:14): כִּי־מָחֹה אֶמְחֶה אֶת־זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם (For I [Hashem] will surely erase the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven).
We know the story. Moshe told Yehoshua to pick men to fight the war, and that he himself would go up to the top of the hill and stand there with the staff of G-d in his hand (17:9). Yehoshua did as Moshe said and Moshe, Aharon and Chur went up to the top of the hill (17:10). Everything seems pretty normal to this point. But then something strange took place (17:11): וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרִים מֹשֶׁה יָדוֹ וְגָבַר יִשְׂרָאֵל וְכַאֲשֶׁר יָנִיחַ יָדוֹ וְגָבַר עֲמָלֵק׃ (And when Moshe lifted his hand, Yisrael prevailed, and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed). The Mishnah quotes this pasuk and explains its meaning (Rosh Hashanah 29a): וְכִי יָדָיו שֶׁל מֹשֶׁה עוֹשׂוֹת מִלְחָמָה אוֹ שׁוֹבְרוֹת מִלְחָמָה? אֶלָּא לוֹמַר לָךְ: כׇּל זְמַן שֶׁהָיוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל מִסְתַּכְּלִין כְּלַפֵּי מַעְלָה וּמְשַׁעְבְּדִין אֶת לִבָּם לַאֲבִיהֶם שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם הָיוּ מִתְגַּבְּרִים, וְאִם לָאו הָיוּ נוֹפְלִים (Do the hands of Moshe make or break a war? Rather, [it comes] to tell you: When Yisrael looks upward and subjects their heart to their Father in heaven, they prevail, but if not, they fall). It's as simple as that.
Moshe's hands reflect the level of emunah that the nation has in Hashem. In a sense, they're not really his hands at all. They are a mirror. And we see this explicitly stated in the next verse (17:12): וִידֵי מֹשֶׁה כְּבֵדִים וַיִּקְחוּ־אֶבֶן וַיָּשִׂימוּ תַחְתָּיו וַיֵּשֶׁב עָלֶיהָ וְאַהֲרֹן וְחוּר תָּמְכוּ בְיָדָיו מִזֶּה אֶחָד וּמִזֶּה אֶחָד וַיְהִי יָדָיו אֱמוּנָה עַד־בֹּא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ (And Moshe's hands were 'heavy' [keveidim], and they [Aharon and Chur] took a stone and put it underneath him [Moshe], and he sat on it, and Aharon and Chur supported his hands, one on this side and one on the other side, and his hands were steadfast [emunah] until sunset).
Why were Moshe's hands heavy? This is the same Moshe who spent three consecutive sets of 40 days each without food or water (or sleep) when he went up the mountain to speak with G-d. So now, he can't even stand up for one day with his hands in the air?! He has to sit down while others hold his hands up? What's going on here?
We think the answer is that Moshe's hands were not 'heavy' in the traditional sense of the word at all, i.e. that it was difficult for him to hold them up (like it would be for us, for example). After all, even when he was 120 years old, the Torah states that his natural strength had not abated (Devarim 34:7). And this episode took place 40 years before that! Rather, his hands were 'heavy' in the sense of 'weighty' or 'consequential,' i.e. his hands stood for something of great importance. It is similar to how someone would say to his friend when he's told something really deep or important: 'Oh wow, that's heavy, man!' And so, Moshe's hands were heavy.
How heavy? It is as we have already stated. His hands reflected or mirrored the overall state of emunah in the nation as a whole. And that's why it is explicitly stated later in that same pasuk that Moshe's hands were emunah. Not that his hands were 'steadfast' as we translated above, but rather they were literally emunah.
When the people strengthened themselves in emunah and looked toward their Father in heaven and remembered that everything only depends on emunah – everything else is just a smokescreen – then Moshe was able to raise his hands, symbolizing or mirroring this spiritual reality. But when the people wavered and saw Amalek as a real thing with independent existence in a world run by Nature, chas v'shalom, then Moshe lowered his hands. His hands functioned as a barometer, letting them know second by second exactly how they were doing. And the funny thing is, that they bounced back and forth like a ping pong ball. And don't think this is so strange, because if you have ever spent time examining your own level of emunah you already know this to be true. One minute it seems like we're flying and nothing can bring us down, and then – boom! – the next minute, we're wondering what happened. This is the eternal battle. This is the battle against Amalek. The battle against Amalek isn't a physical battle at all. It never has been. And back then, it wasn't really the war that took place on the battlefield with Yehoshua and his chosen men. Rather, the real battle against Amalek was taking place in each and every tent, and in each and every heart and mind of each and every Jew.
But if this is a correct p'shat, why did Aharon and Chur take a rock, put it beneath Moshe for him to sit on, and then proceed to hold his hands up? First of all, nobody told them to do what they did. They acted on their own initiative. Although they correctly observed the correlation between Moshe's hands and the events taking place on the battlefield, they mixed up the cause and the effect. They thought that Moshe's hands were the cause and that when he raised his hands, the battle turned in favor of the Jews, and that when he lowered his hands, the battle went in favor of Amalek. But the Mishnah says overwise. The hands of Moshe did not make or break the war. In other words, Moshe's hands were not the cause at all. They were the effect. The people's level of emunah was the cause.
Therefore, if Moshe wasn't tired, why did he sit down on the rock? He was being polite. If someone were to bring a chair for a tzaddik, asking him to sit down thinking that the tzaddik would be more comfortable sitting down, the tzaddik would sit down. Such is the nature of a tzaddik. Remember, the essence of a tzaddik is bitul, self-negation. So if you think about it, you'll now realize that Aharon and Chur's actions did not help. They actually obscured what Moshe's hands were supposed to be telling the people. Moshe had wanted that his hands would show the people how they were doing with respect to their emunah, but after Aharon and Chur artificially kept Moshe's hands up, Moshe was no longer able to raise them or lower them in response to the people's level of emunah.
And this is why the battle was so indecisive (17:14): וַיַּחֲלֹשׁ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶת־עֲמָלֵק וְאֶת־עַמּוֹ לְפִי־חָרֶב (And Yehoshua weakened Amalek and his people, with the edge of the sword). The people weren't able to get the vital feedback they needed because Moshe's hands were artificially held up. If, as many think, Moshe's hands were what caused Yisrael to prevail, then why didn't they prevail? After all, Aharon and Chur kept his hands up! So we see that Yisrael wasn't able to defeat Amalek. Isn't that astonishing? All they could do was weaken Amalek. No victory. Just a weakening of the enemy.
Therefore, this story concludes with these words (17:16): וַיֹּאמֶר כִּי־יָד עַל־כֵּס קָהּ מִלְחָמָה לַיי בַּעֲמָלֵק מִדֹּר דֹּר (And he [Moshe] said, 'For [there is] a hand against the throne of G-d, a war for Hashem against Amalek, from generation [to] generation). That's why the war has never ended, even to this day, and why it must continue. It must continue – because we cause it, iteration after iteration, over and over again. It can only come to an end when we strengthen the hand of emunah – when we learn to stop complaining and to realize that everything that happens to us is designed by Hashem for our ultimate good. If there's no water, baruch Hashem. If there's no food, baruch Hashem. If it seems like we've been going in circles for the past 40 years, baruch Hashem. If we lost our job, baruch Hashem. If our spouse gets upset with us, baruch Hashem. If our children won't talk to us, baruch Hashem. If we get sick – really sick – baruch Hashem. Just thank G-d for the current situation, know that it must be good and couldn't be any better (even though we may not understand how), and then pray for salvation without complaining.
And baruch Hashem, we are getting it this time. No other nation in the world could sing a song, essentially making it their national anthem – during a prolonged war, in the wake of terrible individual and national calamities: וָה' יִתְבָּרַךְ תָּמִיד אוֹהֵב אוֹתִי וְתָמִיד יִהְיֶה לִי רַק טוֹב >> וָה' יִתְבָּרַךְ תָּמִיד אוֹהֵב אוֹתִי וְתָמִיד יִהְיֶה לִי רַק טוֹב >> וְיִהְיֶה לִי עוֹד יוֹתֵר טוֹב וְעוֹד יוֹתֵר טוֹב וְעוֹד יוֹתֵר טוֹב וְעוֹד יוֹתֵר טוֹב וְעוֹד יוֹתֵר טוֹב וְעוֹד יוֹתֵר טוֹב וְתָמִיד יִהְיֶה לִי רַק טוֹב (And Hashem, may He be blessed, always loves me, and I will always have only good >> And Hashem, may He be blessed, always loves me and I will always have only good >> And it will get better for me, and better, and better, and better, and better, and better, and I will always have only good).
Now go sing. Don't complain. Just sing, for this is how we will merit to fulfill the mitzvah in Devarim 25:19: תִּמְחֶה אֶת־זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם (You will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven).
