Pisqa’ 2961
1
“Remember” (Dt.25:17)—
[let its story be always] in the mouth.
“Do not forget” (Dt.25:19)—
[let its lessons be always] in the mind.
2
And similarly He says:
“The peoples heard and trembled” (Ex.15:14)2
“On the way” (Dt.25:17)—
at the moment of your utter confusion.
“During your leaving from Egypt” (Dt.25:17)—
at the moment of your liberation. 3
“Who encountered you” (Dt.25:18)—
encountered actually suggests that
Amalek happened upon you
[and took advantage of the situation].
“How he attacked your rear, all the stumblers, from behind” (Dt.25:18)—
this teaches that Amalek killed only those
people who were drawn away
from the ways of the All-Present,
and stumbled from beneath
of the wings of the Cloud of Glory.4
“And you were so tired out and weakened,
and could not hold God in awe” (Dt.25:18)—
according to the measure
you measured out to Him,
did He measure out to you!
Just as you were tired and weak
“and could not hold God in awe,”
so, too, was Amalek tired and weak
“and could not hold God in awe,
[thus, in his weakness, he attacked
the weakest of Israel].5
3
“Now, it shall be, when HASHEM your God grants you respite from your surrounding enemies” (Dt.25:19)—
when no troops join against you.
“In the Land which HASHEM your God has given you as a bequest to possess” (Dt.25:19)—
that is, you will possess it by conquest.6
4
“Obliterate the memory of Amalek” (Dt.25:19).
Now, elsewhere He says:
“For I will totally obliterate the memory of Amalek” (Ex.17:14),
And then He says:
“I swear by the Throne of Yah!
HASHEM will be at war with Amalek for all generations!” (Ex.17:16)—
[there will always be a remnant of Amalek for Israel to battle
until the messianic future].7