And Yaakov kissed Rachel’ and he raised his voice and wept

(Bereishis 29:11)

             Rashi explains that the reason Yaakov cried was because he had not brought any gifts for Rachel.  Although he had set out on his journey laden with gifts, his nephew Elifaz, Esav’s son, had waylaid him on his journey and had taken all his possessions.  Esav had instructed him to kill Yaakov, but having grown up under Yitzchak’s guidance, Elifaz could not bring himself to do it.  He stood there caught in a dilemma between disobeying his father on one hand and committing the heinous act of murdering his uncle on the other.  It was Yaakov who solved him problem by advising Elifaz to take all he had, thereby impoverishing him.  This would be considered as carrying out his father Esav’s instructions, for a poor man is considered as dead ( Nedarim 7b). 

This incident Elifaz contain a profound example of the intermingling of ‘light and darkness’.  The basis for his intended act of murder was the fulfillment of the mitzvah of honoring his father!     The very ‘light’ itself had become corrupted and distorted by the darkness.

             This then, is the meaning of the words of the prophet, Who is wise and understands all these, understanding and knows them, for the ways of Hashem are straight - the righteous traverse them and the wicked stumble upon them ( Hoshea 14:10 ).

 Rashi explains that the very same path of god which serves to elevate the righteous to make the wicked stumble.  The very same mitzvah of honoring one’s father is elevated in the hands of the righteous but becomes an instrument of murder in the hands of an Elifaz.

Chazal make a similar point with the regard to the study of Torah:  For [those who study Torah] diligently, becomes a source of life.  For those who study laxly, it becomes a deadly poison ( Shabbos 88b and Rashi ).

The very Torah that is life giving to one person becomes a deadly poison to the one who is lazy in its study rather than merely a harmless hobby.

We now understand why it was precisely Elifaz, of all Esav’s children, who was the progenitor of the wicked nation of Amalek. For the other children had only the wicked nature of Esav to propagate, which in itself could not produce the absolute evil of Amalek.  It was only an Elifaz who had studied under Yitzchak and had absorbed his teachings, in addition to the evil essence of his father Esav, who would distort and corrupt the teachings of the Torah to such an extent as to transform them into the evil colossus known as Amalek.  The essence of Amalek, then, is not merely evil incarnate, rather, it’s the fusion of evil and goodness which forms a monstrosity which is not possible to be produced by evil alone.

 When we comprehend how especially pernicious is the result of an evil feeding upon and drawing from the sources of good, we can understand the prophet Eliyahu’s exhortation to Israel, How much longer will you hesitate between two doorsteps?  If Hashem is the true God then follow Him, and if he is Baal is, then follow him ( I Melachim 18:21 ).

            “Indeed, if you believe it is Baal,” Eliyahu told them, “then serve him alone but do not combine it with the Divine.”  The worship of Baal alone is not nearly as bad as serving it with the worship of God. The ‘light’ of the Torah, when combined with Baal, dose not mitigate its evil but rather feeds and fans its flames.

The darkness of evil is not simply a lack of clarity about God’s existence.  It is rather an entity of its own, creating a lust and an urge which must be consciously overcome and overpowered.  This is not accomplished by the mere awareness of the Divine by the ‘light’ in oneself.  If a person does not uproot the bad and evil within him, then light and darkness will continue to influence him equally. This confluence of forces can lead to the most paradoxical of behaviors, for the ‘light’ fuels the ‘darkness,’ creating evil of a new dimension - Amalek!

Adapted from Sichoes Mussar

Rabbi Shmuel Katz

Yeshiva Darchei Torah