Four Parshiyot

Amalek sought to demonstrate, by attacking the spiritually weak, those whom the Clouds of Glory had cast out, that the secret of Israel's power lay in their observance of the Torah and its commandments, that they possess no intrinsic sanctity.

We are responsible for providing new, novel understandings of the Torah every day in accordance with the changing times. “Each day they shall be as new in your eyes,” and by virtue of this innovation “God renews the act of creation on a daily basis.”

The return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel spells the return of the soul of Israel, lost for thousands of years in the Exile, to the Eternal People as they themselves return to the vibrancy of full-fledged natural life in the land of their birth.

The words of the verse, “First among nations is Amalek,” are coming true in our own time. An international attack is being waged upon Israel - especially upon its spirit, the Divine spirit whose practical expression is the rebuilt city of Jerusalem.

The Sin of the Golden Calf is rectified by the communal service in the Holy Temple. This is achieved via the precept of the half-shekel offering, which ascends in the form of a united Jewish people and is transformed into a “coin of fire under God’s Throne of Glory.”

1. Opposite the Tent 2. Communal vs. Individual Prayer 3. Communal vs. Individual Torah