Parshas Ki Seitzei - The Power of Joy to Defeat Amalek

"Remember what Amalek did to you... you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek" (Deuteronomy 25:17-19)

The Secret of Joy and Wiping Out Amalek

Through joy, a person is saved from all sins. The Hebrew word for joy, simchah, shares the same letters as machah (to wipe out), because through joy we wipe out Amalek, we wipe out our transgressions, and through joy we emerge from all the sins in the world. It is known that a person must be very careful to always be in a state of joy, because the moment there is even a drop of sadness, whether due to a sin or worries about parnassah (livelihood) and the like, a person is liable to fall into an even greater sin because of that sadness.

There are people whose greatest pleasure is sadness. Their entire lives are spent in a state of depression, and if you try even a little bit to make them happy, you simply annoy them, because they have never tasted the true flavor of joy in their lives.

"The general rule is that one must overcome with all their strength to always be exclusively joyful. For the nature of a person is to be drawn toward melancholy and sadness due to the damages and events of time, and every person is full of suffering. Therefore, one must force themselves with great effort to always be joyful" (Likutei Moharan, Part II, 24).

The War Against Sadness Requires Self-Sacrifice

A person enters into sadness in order to forget all the suffering they are going through. Sadness pulls them into a kind of melancholy, numbing their thoughts and paralyzing their senses. Sadness is an anesthetic that provides a false sense of "peace" and "tranquility," but it is only an illusion. On the contrary—sadness only intensifies the suffering and makes it greater.

Therefore, a person's primary spiritual work is the war against sadness, and this requires mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice), to never allow sadness to take control. Reb Noson says: To fight against despair requires self-sacrifice. Joy does not just come on its own; joy is the most difficult of all things to attain, and the greatest obstacles are placed specifically against joy. The only thing the Satan truly fights against is joy. The entire war to prevent you from being happy is the work of the Satan.

Everyone goes through insults and humiliations, trials of the body and soul. There are many reasons to be sad, and it is human nature to fall into sadness, but with joy, everything can be fixed. If a person dances and sings to Hashem, then all the abundance flows to them. There is no reason to be sad; everyone has a tremendous intellect, and everyone can achieve everything in the world, a person just needs to break out of all their sadness. With joy, we merit to turn a descent into an ascent, bringing about the sweetening of all harsh judgments and drawing down all salvations.

Subduing the Kelipah of Amalek

The main accusation and provocation of Haman-Amalek is directed against joy. He could not stand the joy of the Jewish people, seeing them dancing, rejoicing, and singing on the holidays and on Shabbos. What is Shabbos? Shabbos is joy and dancing! For six days you received food, thank Hashem you are not sick—start dancing and rejoicing. Your wife is healthy—start dancing and rejoicing. Do you have children? Start dancing and rejoicing. You haven't been blessed with children yet? In the merit of joy and dancing, you will be blessed with children. You don't have a shidduch (marriage match) yet? In the merit of joy, you will have a shidduch.

When Shabbos arrives, you need to sit with your children, rejoice with them, and sing with them with enthusiasm and passion. Do not say, "I am miserable, I am in despair, it is hard for me to be happy." What does it mean that it is hard to be happy? It is hard for everyone to be happy; it requires self-sacrifice to achieve joy. Through joy, a person subdues all the kelipos (impure spiritual forces) and is purified from all impurities. Through joy, it is possible to heal all the illnesses in the world.

A person sees that they have stumbled, that their physical body has overpowered them, that Amalek has overcome them and wants to throw them into sadness and depression—nevertheless, they must not become discouraged. They must immediately seek out friends, dance with them, rejoice with them, recite Tehillim (Psalms), and look for all kinds of advice on how to be happy. A person must know that their sins do not belong to their soul. The soul is always righteous, always pure, always holy. The only reason a person falls into sins is because they are not joyful enough.

Finding the Good Points

Therefore, it is forbidden to become discouraged by anything in the world, by any sin in the world. If you stumbled in some transgression, do teshuvah (repentance)... start to rejoice, to sing, to play music, to recite Tehillim. The main thing is not to fall into sadness, because this is the war between the soul and Amalek—the evil inclination that wants to drag you down into depression. It is not that you have become wicked, God forbid; rather, it is a battle between the Divine soul and Amalek, and you must continue the battle with joy, songs, and finding your good points.

"And therefore, by not allowing himself to fall, and by reviving himself through searching, seeking, and finding within himself some good points... through this, melodies are created, and then he is able to pray, sing, and give thanks to Hashem" (Likutei Moharan 282).

Because Amalek wants to make a person forget their good points. Amalek's war is against everyone, telling them: "You are worthless now, you have no good in you." But the tzaddikim teach us the exact opposite: You are full of good points, you are full of good! Because if you stumbled, then now you should rejoice even more. Look at the evil inclination you were given, look at the evil inclination you are dealing with every single day! And in this difficult situation, you still overcome it and perform mitzvos? You still fast on Yom Kippur? You still keep Shabbos? You still put on tefillin, which is the King's crown, and wrap yourself in tzitzis, which is the King's garment? Then it is fitting that you should rejoice more and more.

Turning the Descent into a Mission

When a person has gone through spiritual descents, they can bring the entire world back in teshuvah (repentance). They can tell people: "I went through this too, this happened to me as well," telling people: "Do teshuvah—is it hard for you? Do you not know how? Look, I was there, in the exact same place you were, and look, I did teshuvah, so you can do it too."

All the descents a person has gone through are so that they can become a guide. They were deep inside the kelipos (impure spiritual forces) and they got out, in order to show others how to get out of the kelipos. Through all the descents a person has gone through, wherever they have been, they were merely an emissary. They are just like a deep-sea diver who is lowered into the depths of the ocean to pull people out and save them.

The Noam Elimelech says: There is a kelipah (spiritual shell of impurity) that prevents the Geulah (Redemption) from coming, that prevents the Geulah from being revealed, and we must know how to break this kelipah, how to crack it open. Every person is trapped in a certain kelipah: a kelipah of lusts, a kelipah of sadness, a kelipah of "blocked mind" (spiritual constriction). If we want to subdue the kelipah, we must be in a state of joy, because it is impossible to subdue the kelipah except through joy. And when a person strengthens himself and overcomes his nature to be joyful, then all the sadness, all the exiles, and all the troubles fall away and are nullified.

Torah Insights: The Power of Unity

"Remember what Amalek did to you on the way... and he struck those of you who were trailing behind you" (Devarim 25:17-18).

The tzaddik Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa used to say: The mitzvah to "Remember what Amalek did to you," and the adjacent mitzvah to "Erase the memory of Amalek," were both stated in the singular form. There is a moral lesson in this for the Jewish people: in every generation, Amalek was only able to defeat the individual Jew who separated himself from the community, whom the Cloud of Glory would expel outside the camp (as Rashi explains, Amalek managed to harm those people—"those who were trailing behind"—whom the Cloud expelled due to their sins).

In contrast, the masses of the Jewish people who clung to one another in brotherhood and friendship were protected by the Cloud, and they did not fall into the hands of Amalek. This path must serve as a guiding principle for us and our children after us: as long as the Jewish people dwell in unity, "Amalek" (a term for the enemies of Israel) will have no power over them.

The Danger of Coldness and Despair

"Who happened upon you (karcha) on the way" (Devarim 25:18).

The word karcha (happened upon you) is related to the word mikreh (an accidental nocturnal emission), Heaven forbid, which represents the blemish of the Covenant (sexual impurity)—the primary manifestation of the Evil Inclination. Furthermore, karcha implies kerirus (coldness), meaning that the Evil Inclination cools off a person's heart, preventing him from strengthening himself in prayer. Prayer must be infused with the warmth of holiness, as in the verse, "My heart grew hot within me... I spoke with my tongue." For the Evil Inclination incites a person to sin, primarily through the blemish of the Covenant, and then it weakens his resolve to strengthen himself in prayer over this failure, since he sees that he has cried out so many times yet has not been saved, Heaven forbid.

This is the meaning of "and he struck those of you who were trailing behind you"—Amalek only overpowers those among the Jewish people whose strength is weak. And this is the meaning of "when you were faint and exhausted, and did not fear God." "Fearing God" refers to prayer, which is an aspect of awe, as it is written, "A woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised." Meaning, you are faint and exhausted and do not strengthen yourself in prayer, which is the essence of fearing God. And this exhaustion comes from the Evil Inclination itself, which weakens your resolve.

"Therefore, the Torah warned us to remember this well, for we must remember this very, very well in our hearts. The Evil Inclination's ability to overpower us through this discouragement is limitless, and we must constantly remind ourselves of the great warnings of the true tzaddikim, who cautioned us in so many ways never to despair of God's mercy under any circumstances." (Likutey Halachos, Nachalos 4:11).

A Story for the Torah Portion: A Divorce or the Husband's Death

One day, a young woman entered the study of Rabbi Eizel Charif, the Rav of Slonim, and cried out with tear-filled eyes: "A great tragedy has recently befallen me! My husband, my provider, left the house one morning, and now I am left like a shipwreck tossed upon the waters." Rabbi Eizel urgently summoned the husband and began to speak to his heart, urging him to return home and live in peace with his wife.

However, the husband rejected all of the Rav's pleas and declared with great firmness: "This woman is hateful to me, and I do not have the strength to live under the same roof with her!"

"If that is the situation..." Rabbi Eizel called out, "give your wife a get (bill of divorce) immediately, and free her from being an agunah (a chained woman)!"

The husband thought for a brief moment and then said: "I am willing to give my wife a get in exchange for a hundred rubles..."

When the wife, who was waiting in the adjacent room, heard this, she burst into bitter tears and cried out: "Where will I get a hundred rubles? I am desperately poor, and I don't have a penny to my name!" Rabbi Eizel was deeply moved by the woman's words. Without saying a word, he took Tractate Kiddushin from the bookshelf and opened it to the very first page right in front of the astonished husband's eyes.

He said to him: "Read aloud what the Mishnah says here: 'A woman is acquired (married to her husband) in three ways, and she acquires herself (is freed from the marriage) in two ways... through a get or through the death of the husband.' Now, the choice is yours to make. Which of the two ways found in the Mishnah will you choose to free your wife from the chains of marriage she is currently bound by?" The stubborn husband was terrified by the Rav's words and immediately agreed to write a get for his wife unconditionally.

The Power of Trust in Hashem

There is a story of a villager who lived with his wife for more than ten years but was not blessed with children. Some of his acquaintances told him: "The time has come for you to divorce your barren wife and marry another woman, who will quickly bless you with the fruit of the womb." However, the simple, earnest villager rejected his acquaintances' suggestion, because he felt in his simple understanding that it was improper to cause such anguish to a righteous Jewish woman.

Once, a Chassid who was one of the prominent disciples of the Maggid, Rabbi Yisroel of Kozhnitz, stayed as a guest in the villager's home. The villager poured out his bitter heart to him and asked for good advice to rescue him from his distress. The visiting Chassid said to the villager: "If you listen to my advice, rise early and go to the door of the great Maggid of Kozhnitz, who has already brought swift salvation and deliverance to many barren women."

The villager and his wife hurried to the Maggid and pleaded with him to bless them with viable offspring. The elder Maggid looked at their faces and finally declared decisively, "If you want a son, you must place fifty-two gold coins on my table—corresponding to the numerical value of ben (son)."

"Fifty-two gold coins?!" the villager cried out in astonishment. "That is a vast sum, found only in the hands of the exceptionally wealthy. Perhaps the Rebbe would be satisfied with ten gold coins?" But the Maggid stood by his demand, insisting that the man must promptly bring fifty-two gold coins, in full and exact measure.

Left with no choice, the villager returned home and began searching for coins. Eventually, he amassed a bag full of money amounting to twenty gold coins, and returned to the Maggid. "Please, let the Rebbe see how much money is in this bag!" the villager pleaded. "Let him be satisfied with the amount of gold coins I have brought this time."

"You must bring fifty-two gold coins," the Maggid repeated, "and nothing less."

The villager threw his hands up in despair and called out to his wife, "Come, let us leave here, and Hashem will help us even without the Maggid!" At that very moment, Reb Yisrael's eyes lit up, and he called out to them with a confident voice, "Go to your home in peace, for your salvation from On High is near." Not many days passed before the words of the tzaddik were completely fulfilled, for great is the power of trust in Hashem that flows from the depths of the heart.