On the Way to the Promised Land

One day the Teacher was explaining the significance of the confrontation between Israel and Amalek, which happened after Passover, when Israel was on their way to the Promised Land.

He then asked , "Why didn't Moses take part in this first battle that G-d commanded Israel to wage against Amalek?"

Knowing that this question was rhetorical, we remained silent and waited until he continued.

"Because Moses knew that the battle was to be fought on two levels, the spiritual level and the physical level. R. Simeon teaches us in the Zohar that Moses didn't participate in this war because it was necessary for him to concentrate on the spiritual level. This war was the most critical battle fought between the forces of light and dark; even more important than the coming battle against Gog and Magog. Not only did Amalek attack Israel on the physical level. Amalek attacked the Holy one, Blessed be he, on the spiritual level."

The Teacher continued. "It is written in the Torah that Moses sat on a stone and Aaron and Hur held up his hands. Aaron represented the attributes of Grace and Hur represented the attribute of Strength, and Moses, between the two, became the living representative of Faith. The Torah further teaches that when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. Here we are speaking of the right hand which he held above the left representing the spiritual Israel. Remarkably, when Israel ceased praying Moses couldn't keep his hand up at all! This teaches us that even when the priest spreads out his hands at the sacrifice, the physical Israel must co-operate by praying.

"What we can learn from this is clear. Israel must fight the forces of darkness on the physical level but never let that fight distract them from fighting the same forces on the spiritual level. No war can ever succeed by force of arms alone, but only by a balance in which there is perfect coordination between the spiritual and the physical."