Parshas Vayikra-Zachor: Dispelling the Darkness 5760
By Mordechai Dolinsky
This week we have the joining of Parshas Zachor which is perhaps the most important Torah reading and Parshas Vayikra, the entering into the world of korbanos. At first glance it is difficult to see a connection between the holy korbanos and the parsha of the perpetuation of the memory of the wickedness of Amalek.
The first Rashi in Vayikra explains that the use of the word ‘Vayikra’ is an expression of love and this is the manner in which HaShem communicates to our prophets; in contrast to the gentile prophets which is in just the opposite manner. The two are so radically different that one would think that the terms expressing the two forms of communication would be likewise dissimilar. Rashi explains, however, that the terminology which is used to address the other prophets is composed of the same basic letters “kuf” and “raish” –‘Vayiker”. The positive form of the word whose root is also “kuf” “raish” , that was used by HaShem to address Moshe Rabbenu and that the Malachai Hashareis use, has an “aleph” at the end, the letter with the smallest numerical value, and here it also appears in the form of a small letter. There has been much said and written about this little “aleph”. To me the obvious and simple lesson is that sometimes the smallest innuendo or the slightest subtlety can create the difference between the most positive communication and the most negative.
After all this thought and talk about “Vayikra” we now focus on Parshas Zachor, and to our great amazement the word that is used to express the atrocity that Amalek perpetrated upon Klal Yisrael is “karcha”. The exact implication of the word is not one hundred percent clear but one thing is certain, we again find this word from the “kuf” “raish” root, that is related to “Vayikra”. We now have an obvious connection between the parsha of the week and Parshas Zachor.
In all probability, with regard to this ‘mitzvah’ of wiping out Amalek, we are expected to have a tangible understanding of the wickedness of Amalek, to the degree that we are abhorred by them and feel they should be destroyed. One thing seems clear, that their wickedness is connected with a “shita”, an ideology of “sheker”, a perversion of the truth. An idealism to corrupt the world and perpetuate blindness to the truth. It is wickedness in its worst form. Every human is put in this world for personal achievement that can only be accomplished by having true values. A goal, an idealism of spreading darkness, is ruining and frustrating the purpose of mankind and the whole creation.
There is an analogy made of a frog that is placed in scalding water. It reacts by immediately springing out of the water upon contact. If, however, the frog is placed in lukewarm water and gradually the temperature of the water is elevated, although it will eventually reach the scalding level mentioned above, the frog will remain inside, even to the point of causing his death. There are terrible, warped ideas that Amalek introduces to the world in a way that makes mankind unaware of their wickedness. This might be the deep meaning of the example Rashi quotes from the Chazal of the boiling bath that nobody has the nerve to enter until someone wrongfully jumps in and paves the way for the rest—symbolically accustoming the world to atrocities.
We should have an awareness that we are drowning in a world full of these perversions of truth. We should cry to HaShem for special Divine help to see through the darkness and this wickedness should be eradicated forever. The true light and happiness will then prevail upon this earth.