I am very excited for the opportunity to share words of Torah with you. Each week, in this spot, I look to share an idea I've found that speaks to me and that I think will resonate with you as well. This week, I share an excerpt from an article by Rabbi Jared Viders entitled ‘No Doubt About It’ about a contemporary influence of Amalek in our lives.
[...] We've all been stuck behind that hesitant stop-and-go driver. You know, the one who slows down at every intersection in the desperate attempt to clarify if this particular right turn is the one he's looking for. It's obvious he's in an unfamiliar neighborhood seeking an unfamiliar address. It's unpleasant driving behind him. It's even more unpleasant being that uncertain driver. On life's highway, we also find those in the EZ Pass fast lane, those on the highway, those in perpetual start-and-stop trying to find their destination and those who simply don't even know where in the world they are even located. So many of us are plagued with self-doubt and uncertainty. Second-guessing and third-guessing. One foot on the gas and one on the break.
Who isn't envious of those folks who are so comfortable, confident and clear in their path that they effortlessly marshal all their physical, emotional and intellectual assets uncluttered with self-doubt and unshackled from uncertainty? The difficulty associated with decision-making is often a pesky and undesirable by-product of the incertitude of his/her priorities. On the flip-side, the momentum associated with having made a decision is often an unexpected and welcomed by-product of having identified (and given expression) to those very heretofore free-floating, ill-defined, amorphous priorities.
- What should I be doing with my life?
- How am I investing my most precious asset (i.e., my time) and how could I invest that asset more effectively?
- What patterns of conduct am I seemingly entrenched in that are derailing my aspirations of being the person I truly strive to be?
- What are my dreams and what concrete steps am I taking to achieve them?
- What hang-ups are usurping my capacity for true happiness?
- Where can I improve and who can effectively advise me how to do so?
- Am I giving God nachas?
- Am I the spouse/parent/friend I aspire to be?
Amalek, our Sages explain, carries the same gematria as the word "safek" which means doubt in Hebrew. "Doubtfulness" describes the essence of Amalek - as well as the effectiveness of his stratagems to get us off our game and hi-jack our quest for clarity. In this respect, we can understand that the spiritual force of Amalek with which we struggle (both personally and nationally) until this very day - manifests itself in the doubtfulness that rears its unpleasant head in so many facets of existence.
To the extent that we can clarify our understanding of our relationship with God and what He expects of us in this world, we can take significant steps towards eradicating the evil forces of Amalek. There is no better day in the Torah's calendar to make inroads in the war of clarity over uncertainty, of confidence over hesitation, of Truth over Amalek than this Shabbos - Shabbos Zachor. As the cloudiness of Amalek dissipates against the penetrating light of the Truth, we will un-doubt-edly discover true simcha and thereby set the stage to scale the heights and plumb the depths of a Purim the likes of which we have never experienced.
Have a Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Davies
Rabbi@SOICherryHill.org
