Parshat Ki Teitzei
“You shall have a full and honest weight, [and] a full and honest ephah measure, in order that your days will be prolonged on the land which Hashem, your God, gives you. For whoever does these things [deceptive measurement], whoever perpetrates such injustice, is an abomination to God, your God” (Deuteronomy 25:15-16).
Immediately following this commandment to be honest in business matters is the commandment to wipe out the memory of Amelek, Israel’s arch enemy: “You shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt, how he happened upon you on the way and cut off all the stragglers at your rear, when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear God. Therefore, it will be, when God your God grants you respite from all your enemies around [you] in the land which God, your God, gives to you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. You shall not forget!”
Rashi comments that if a person (or by implication the Jewish people) is dishonest in business matters with false weights, they should worry about facing an enemy like Amalek, who sneaks up and relentlessly pursues them. Other than the fact that these two mitzvot are juxtaposed one immediately after the other, the question is – what is the deeper connection between these two mitzvot.
When Amalek attacked Israel soon after leaving Egypt it followed Israel’s bitter complaint to Moses, and by extension to God, of a lack of water. God tells Moses to take his staff and hit the rock in Chorev and to bring forth water which Moses did successfully. This incident ends with Moses calling the place Massah and Merivah, which in Hebrew means “testing and contention,” and Israel saying: “Is God among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7). The very next verse reads: “Amelek came and battled Israel in Refidim.”
On the juxtaposition of these two incidences Rashi comments that God [as it were] said to Israel – I am always among you and ready to provide all your needs, and you ask if I among you or not? By your life a dog will come and bite you and you will cry out to Me and then you will know where I am!
This Rashi is an anthropomorphic way of tying these two events together, and even more so, to show how Israel’s doubt in God’s presence brought upon them the energy of Amalek. The Ba’al Shem Tov revealed this connection through a numerical equivalent. The word Amalek in gematria equals the word suffek, which means “doubt.” Israel’s lack of faith and expression of doubt in God in a spiritual sense created their own archenemy.
It is further explained in Chassidut, based on the above teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, that Amalek represents in an individual that inner voice which sheds doubt on one’s ability to accomplish, to be successful or to even trust one’s own intuition and moral compass. It is the voice of failure, low self-esteem and doubting the authenticity of one’s core being.
When individuals, organizations, movements or nations deal dishonestly with others in business and other matters, it plants distrust and doubt that undermines relationships and all of society. Jewish tradition teaches that of all of the sins of the generation of the flood, the nail in the coffin, so to speak, was that people stole from each other and were dishonest in all of their dealings. Honesty in business is a fundamental principle in the Torah. Failure to live by these principles creates enemies on many different levels, threatening the individual and in some cases all of Israel.
