This post is adding to ideas in the post, 'Toras Purim: Nothing Certain other than Taxes: Vayasem Achashveirosh Mas' on Divrei Chaim blog.
The word עמלק can be broken down into עמל ק. This of course is reminiscent of the Gemarah Chagigah (9a) אינו דומה שונה פרקו מאה פעמים לשונה פרקו מאה ואחד. The tumah that is Amalek is to learn only 100 times. What does this mean? What is the advantage of learning 101 times? The Arizal (שער מאמרי חז"ל) says that the angel in charge of forgetting is called מ"ס which equals 100 and by learning 101 times one moves past the malach of forgetting. What is it that one forgets when learning 100 times but remembers with learning 101 times?
The Megalleh Amukot notes that Michael, 101, is the malach in charge of remembering. By learning 101 times, one is tied to the malach of remembering which is one more than the malach of forgetting.
The Baal Shem Tov teaches that the difference between 100 and 101 times is not a difference in number but the difference if one put The One, the אלופו של עולם, in the learning of 100 times. Is one learning to connect to Hashem? If that is the learning, there is the 1 in the 100, it will be remembered, if not it would be forgotten. The Degel Machene Efraim reads this into the words of the Megillah , ישנו עם אחד, meaning, a nation that puts The one, puts Hashem into their learning. The malach of forgetting is מ"ס, meaning one can learn the maximun amount of times, 100 times but if one isn't learning with the connection to Hashem, then the Torah will be forgotten, meaning it will not permeate through the individual to transform him into a better person. לא זכה נעשה לו סם המות. The Torah actually will destroy the person. זכה נעשה לו סם חיים, one is able to connect the סם with Hashem and elevate it.
The tumah of Amalak is to cause that disconnect between learning Torah and transforming the person. אשר קרך בדרך, on the path between the mind and the heart, between the rest of the body, they come and attack, they interrupt the flow. Amalak comes when רפו ידיהם מן התורה, when the Torah is not connected to the hands, when one's gashmi is not permeated with the Torah he is studying. The Arizal continues וז"ס ויתן על פניו מסו"ה ר"ל כי הקליפה הזו רוצה לעשות הפסק למעלה. The מסוה is מ"ס and ו"ק, the break between the teachings of the Torah and Hashem. כי יד על כס קה, the last two letters of the name of Hashem are broken by the מ"ס of the מסוה. The first two letters represent the knowledge of Hashem as expressed in the Torah while the last two letters refer to the middot (see Tanya, Igeres Hateshuva.) The Torah, the knowledge is here but Amalek breaks the connection between the knowledge and transforming one's middot (see sicha 5749.)
This is why we are commanded זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלך. We must remember. Amalek, עמל ק, makes us forget the א, אלופו של עולם, that has to be added to our learning so we are commanded to remember, to add the א to our learning, to learn 101 times.
The parsha of Tiztavah is the only parsha after Shemos that des not have the name of Moshe. The Megalleh Amukot points out though that there are 101 pessukim in the parsha and the hidden letters in the name of Moshe, משה = מם שין הא, add up to 101. Even though Moshe doesn't appear overtly, he is hidden in the parsha. In addition, he notes that 101 is the gematria of מיכאל because when Moshe is hidden, Michael comes. In other words, when Klal Yisrael sinned with the agel, Hashem said now the angel (Michael) will lead them, not Hashem directly and Moshe davened that Hashem himself should lead them. But after Moshe passed, then Michael leads them. Even after Moshe is not physically here, he is not forgotten. He is embedded in the parsha. Michal is not a substitute but a way to hang on to Moshe and thereby connect to Hashem.
As noted by the Meor Einayim, the parsha of Titzavah usually falls out around 7 Adar, the day Moshe passed. The fact that Moshe is not present in the parsha but is still alluded to shows that even in the absence of Moshe Rabbenu himself, his presence is still there. In fact the connection to Moshe is greater now for it is a connection to Moshe as אתה, the essence of Moshe, not limited by the name of Moshe (see Kli Yakar, sichas Rebbe 5752.) The Maggid teaches that ואתה תצוה from the word צוותא, to be connected. How to be connected to Moshe? את בני ישראל, by learning the Torah, the letters of the Torah, א- ת. By connecting ourselves to Moshe through the Torah, putting the א of אתה into our learning, then we will sill the 101, the hidden Moshe. The the passing of Moshe is not a negative but a new לידה to be able to connect to Moshe on a deeper level.
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