If we look backwards into last weeks parsha, Beshallach, we see that a scant few days after we crossed through the sea, there is already trouble. At Mara, the Children of Israel begin what is to be a repeated cycle throughout the forty years in the desert -- a tremendous high; the high of revelation, prophecy and Divine Sweetness followed closely by a rebellious urge and a complaint against G-d and Moses. The pinnacle of the complaining and apparent lack of faith is the conclusion of last week's parsha. At Massa and Meriva, the Children of Israel again complain about the lack of water, even after G-d has provided them with water, manna and quail. A summary is given in explanation of Moses' naming of the site when he says, "Because of the strife of the Children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord in our midst or not?" The Midrash interprets this phrase, playing with the word - b'kirbeynu - here translated as 'in our midst;' the word can also be translated as 'in us,' (or 'in our guts'). The Midrash says that the Children of Israel reasoned, "If the Lord is in us, if G-d can read our thoughts, then we will know that this is not just Moses' work and we will believe." The question, the doubt, "Is the Lord in us, in our midst?" leads to the attack by Amalek.
If we look again at the words of the Torah and Midrash, we can read the phrase in the Torah thusly: "Is G-d in me? Is G-d in my guts? Do I have a neshama elohit (a Godly Soul)?" When we doubt, when we are suspect of ourselves, of our souls as impressions of the Divine, then doubt strikes not only at our faith in G-d, but also at our faith that we are divine, that we are special. This allows the greatest destruction to enter, to attack our bodies and our faith, the Amalek within all of us.
Reb Chaim of Volozhin asked: how was it possible for the same people who just a few days earlier rebelled and questioned if G-d was among them to reach the level of saying "naaseh vnishma (we will do and we will listen)" so quickly? Reb Chaim interpreted the words "Vayashev Moshe Et Divray Haam El Hashem (Shemot 19:8)" to mean that Moshe attributed the fact that the people were able to say naaseh vnishma to a miracle of Hashem. By his own nature, man would not be capable of such a transformation; it could only come about through the kindness of Hashem. Their acceptance of the Torah just days after they rebelled against Hashem was a supernatural event (reprinted from mj-ravtorah@shamash.org ,a collection of Divrei Torah of Rav Yosef Dov Soleveitchik).
Rebbe Nachman explains in Torah 6:4: "Now when a person wants to walk in the pathways of repentance, they must be baky (expert) in halacha (Jewish law). This demands that they have two types of expertise: baky b'ratzo (expert at 'running') and baky b'shov (expert at 'returning'). This is 'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine (Song of Songs 6:3).' 'I am my beloved's' is the aspect of ascending; and 'my beloved is mine' is the aspect of descending." The Rebbe has chosen Song of Songs deliberately; intrinsic to marriage, to the connection of Am Yisrael and G-d, the wedding ceremony called matan Torah (the giving of the Torah), is the idea that if you stumble, if you doubt, I, your beloved, G-d, will pick you up.
Says G-d: I know you were doubting; the only time that it really came to a head was when you doubted that we are linked, that I am a part of you and you of Me. "Is G-d in me?" So comes Amalek and says if you really think not, then I am going to get you. But Reb Chaim reminds us that G-d can make miracles happen even if you are at a place of shov, of descending. As long as you keep in mind that you and G-d are one then your beloved, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, will be there for you and pick you up.
This back and forth is in all of us. There is doubt, times of less and more faith. We must always remember that intrinsic to the giving of the Torah, to our chuppah with the Holy One was the helping hand of the Divine, pulling us in even when we are far away. This helping hand is always present, more and less revealed, we must only look at our wedding band, the Holy Torah, and remember that our Beloved waits to catch us when we fall.