Somehow this mind has managed to tear itself away from the single track of its virile youth, has cleared away most of the cobwebs left from recreational pharmaceuticals, a mediocre-at-best high school education, and the years of soft deterioration at the hands of television. Somehow he even found his way to Israel. Somehow, this guy managed to wake up for morning prayers, get through all of morning gemarra, and actually stayed for the delicious treat of a bit of hassidut before afternoon prayers and lunch, despite the temptation to expand the lunch break into a full siesta. He makes every effort to stay awake, including the consumption of raw coffee grounds. His eyes blur, but he manages to listen to every word R' Blahblah is saying form the teachings of the great MaHaBlah and somehow, by some great miracle a connection is made, a realization: Light! Meaning! Purpose! Direction! Lunch. Eats like a pig. All is forgotten. A victory for Amalek. Amalek is the nation that attacked Israel in the desert, immediately after, Israel wondered, "Is Hashem with us or not?" Haman is from Amalek, they take advantage of our weaknesses. There is this thing called a mind and there is this thing called a life. We like to think they are one and the same, that a change in mind is a change in life. Another victory for Amalek. There is actually another piece missing, called da'at, which means awareness, or knowledge. It is the bridge between mind and life. As the B'Nei Yissachar puts it, it is the power of the mind to enclothe itself in the midot, or character, to bring the mind to actuality.
This is where Amalek worms itself in, in between the realization and lunch. The mind is working just fine, but Amalek either keeps the realization stuck in the red tape of the mind or, G-d forbid, allows this realization to be translated into bad character traits - allows holy pride to turn into haughtiness, holy passion into anger, fluidity into lack of identity, humility into depression. Amalek pushes us to extremes we do not need to go to, extremes that make us feel like we have failed, or that the Torah itself is wrong. For example, through this afternoon gem of hassidut we realize the importance of concentration in davening. Immediately afterward, in mincha, at the first fall of concentration we feel like we have failed. The gem is forsaken or forgotten; we're worse off than before. The truth is, "to bring mind into midot" has another meaning. Midot, character, also has another meaning - measure. Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 66 that Torah, which is life-force, must be received in measure, because Hashem's Light would overwhelm us to death if we did not receive it in measure. This life-force can give us what is called "length of days" which, in my humble opinion, means not feeling so frantic, not feeling like everything hinges on this one decision and a failure is a failure and that's the end. This attitude leads to forgetting the Torah we learned, and forgetting that there is tshuvah, repentance. Interesting that the Torahs we forget are the ones which are designed to help us stop forgetting.
I heard from R' Eliezer (though if I got it wrong it certainly is not his fault) that Haman was walking around wearing this idol, and when the Jews bowed down to him, and subsequently to the idol, he made them think that, on some level, that was it, they had sinned and it was over. He made them forget their Inner Point, the pintele yid, the place in every Jew which is unshakably G-d-loving and G-d-fearing. He made us forget that and think that we are only defined by the last action which we performed - if it was a doozy, then we are evil and might as well go to the big pig-roast over at Ahashverosh's place; or maybe the last action was a winner and we take the next moment blinded by our haughtiness. The B'Nei Yissachar writes that the way to fight this enemy, who has infiltrated our da'at, is through the counter-da'at of the commandment to remember Amalek. Through constantly remembering Amalek's presence in our minds we might at least notice his weapons and mechanisms and defend a bit more of our memories each time. This week, and especially shabbes, is a special time to remember to blot out Amalek and can give us strength to fulfill this commandment all year. Moshe Rabeinu, being the primary human representative of da'as in the world, is the main enemy of Amalek. Hashem charged him with the mission of freeing the Jews "so that they will know that I am Hashem." Knowing Hashem, though, requires wanting to know Hashem. Can you convince someone to want to know Hashem? Coming out of Egypt, at the crossing of the sea, Hashem showed even the lowest slave-woman what even Yechezkiel did not see in his highest prophecy - that Hashem is in each one of us - really truly honestly IN each of us, this pintele yid, this Inner Point which can never be destroyed because it is Hashem Himself. Hashem made us want to know Him by showing us our importance and involvement in the collective destiny. Getting to know Hashem is getting to know yourself and your Role. There is no feeling like connecting to your role, to your meaning and purpose. How is this done? With fire. It is not a nine-to-five job, it is not something you do the bare minimum of; it is something that consumes you, calls on your every strength. It is a mission that makes you get up when you have fallen, that makes you reach when you have risen. Without fire you can keep some of the mitzvot, but can you love G-d? Can you know G-d? Where does this knowledge come from? Unfortunately we have been convinced that knowledge is a mind activity. It is not - it is mindful lunch activity. It is a patient actualization of what we have learned. The Ba'al Ha'Tanya writes again and again that meditating on Hashem and His Name, or contemplating how Hashem enclothes Himself in this wonderful creation, is great and necessary, but these do not approach Hashem's Essence.
Really Hashem's essence is best known in the Mitzvot, which are called "Mitzvotav" - "His Mitzvot." In seeking mitzvot with passion we can get to the most concentrated revelations of Hashem - His Will will be done, the world will be fixed, we will be fixed, we will know Hashem more, we will know ourselves more, we will be more aware of the world, all in one action. Mitzvot are everywhere - especially at lunch. "Please, brother, can I give you some of my hummos?" I'll tell you quickly (it's 2 AM) the story of "How my life was changed by a piece of bread" which is subtitled "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold (Prov. 8:10)." I decided to hop on the 32 bus rather than wait for the 31, so I had to walk a little bit. I was behind these two religious gentlemen. One of them suddenly bent down by the side of the road and I thought "Damn, he found money. I wish I'd found it first." And then I watched as he took a piece of bread from the road and laid it on a nearby ledge - a mitzvah to give honor to bread by not letting it lie where it might be stepped on. Immediate revelation. I was suddenly on fire to seek out Mitzvot in the world, to find openings where I might fulfill a Mitzvah through which to know Hashem. The fire has cooled a bit, but I remember that moment and I am rekindled. We really do a limited number of mitzvot in a day - tzitzit, tefillin, tseddakah, wash our hands, bench a couple of times, learn a bit of Torah, call home once a week. These are no small feat, but imagine being locked in enough to see that in every situation and decision there is an option of doing a mitzvah - every word spoken, every step taken. Even to constantly fulfill "Love Hashem" "Know Hashem" "Fear Hashem" "Love your neighbor". Even be conscious of the fact that you are not stealing - are you? In this sense, shabbes is a special Mitzvah. So long as you are not breaking shabbes, you are fulfilling a commandment. You are in a constant state of being locked in to Hashem's Will. The B'Nei Yissachar writes that Shabbes is "knowledge of Hashem that is carried into time". Hashem makes Himself more known, we are happier and clearer, interacting merrily, hearing Torah, not worrying about food. Shabbes can grow on us over 24 hours, andcan withstand a fall or two. Interestingly, to remember shabbes is also a commandment in the Torah. The BY brings a midrash from Pirkei D'Rebbe Eliezer that Yisrael wanted to know how they could possibly fulfill both the commandment to remember to destroy Amalek and to remember the shabbat and keep it holy. He explains that remembering shabbes is the act of remembering that there is something more, there is a bigger picture than this moment with its passings and failures. There is something real to strive for in a week and in a lifetime that gives meaning, that guarantees that in retrospect we will see that all was for the good, even the failures. Remembering Amalek can serve to remind us that there is an enemy within us, and we can know him, and know when and how he strikes. Remembering shabbes can help us have a context for why it is necessary and worthwhile to struggle against this enemy, and to remind us of the pleasure we have known and will know again and again of the fulfillment of shabbes. We should all be blessed to see the physical destruction of Amalek once and for all time. Amen.