Community Magazine March 2014

16 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Join us for an exclusive dining experience 1267 Coney Island Ave Brooklyn, NY 11230 718-375-3999 miracle, but on the day after the miracle. (It should be noted that the Jews of Shushan waged battle for two days – the 13 th and the 14 th – and rested on the 15 th . In commemoration, it was established that cities with walls, which resemble Shushan, celebrate Purim on the 15 th of Adar, and this is why Purim is celebrated in Jerusalem on the 15 th .) Why was Purim established on the 14 th ? Would it not have been more appropriate to commemorate the Jews’ miraculous victory on the 13 th , the day when it occurred? The answer to this question lies in a deeper understanding of the “rest” experienced by the Jews of that time on the 14 th of Adar. The Ongoing Struggle Against Amalek Our tradition teaches that every nation here on Earth has a corresponding angel in the heavens, from which they derive their power and force. (The only exception is the Jewish people, who are under Gd’s direct protection and supervision, and thus do not require any angels.) The most famous of all these angels is the yetzer hara – the evil inclination within each and every one of us – and it serves as the heavenly emissary of one of the most infamous nations. Haman is referred to in the Megilah as “Haman the Aggagite,” because he descended from the wicked nation of Amalek, which was led by a king named Aggag. Amalek was the first nation to launch an attack upon Beneh Yisrael after the Exodus, a story which we read, appropriately enough, as the Torah reading on Purim morning. After the miracles of the Exodus, the nations were terrified of Beneh Yisrael , until Amalek came and initiated a war against us, seeing to expose our vulnerability. After Beneh Yisrael ’s miraculous victory, Gd proclaimed that He wages an eternal battle against Amalek, and commanded us to eradicate the nation of Amalek from the face of the earth. Rabbi Moshe Alshich (Tzefat, 16 th century) commented that Amalek’s heavenly angel is the yetzer hara . The wicked nation, which dared to attack Gd’s special nation just weeks after the Exodus, is represented by the wicked angel which works relentlessly to lead us to sin and betray our Creator. And thus we are able to fulfill the mitzvah of eradicating Amalek each and every day of our lives, even though the nation of Amalek disappeared millennia ago. Whenever we wage war against our evil inclination – every time we overcome temptation and withdraw from sinful behavior; every time we overcome our natural laziness and get out of bed to pray; every time we overcome our egotistical instincts and help someone in need; every time we feel angry but manage to forgive – we have fulfilled this mitzvah . We have dealt a harsh blow to the yetzer hara , the spiritual angel of Amalek. The battle against Amalek thus never ends, because the yetzer hara never relents, and we bear an ongoing obligation to fight back.