Lashon Ha’ra and Amalek
Many people have the practice of reciting after Shaharit each morning a list of זכירות, commands mentioned in Tanach that require us to mention certain events. Among these are four commands that are formulated with the expression זכור את:
זכור את היום הזה אשר יצאתם ממצרים (“Remember this day on which you left Egypt”)
זכור את יום השבת לקדשו (“Remember the day of Shabbat, to make it sacred”)
זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק (“Remember that which Amalek did to you”)
זכור את אשר עשה ה' אלוקיך למרים (“Remember that which Hashem your G-d did to Miriam”)
The formulation זכור את shared by all these commands suggests some connection between them, and we therefore need to try to understand how these requirements all relate to one another.
The relationship between the obligation to remember the Exodus from Egypt and the obligation to remember Amalek’s attack on the Jewish People is quite clear. The miracles of Yetziat Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt) demonstrated the truth of Hashgahah (Providence), that G-d exerts complete control over the world and over every detail of our lives. Amalek sought to oppose this belief. Our Sages compare Amalek’s brazen attack on Beneh Yisrael to a person who jumped into a tub of scalding water in order to cool it off for others. The entire world was awed at the miracles performed for Beneh Yisrael during the Exodus, and truly sensed G-d’s existence, and Amalek set out to “cool” this belief. This is why the Torah refers to Amalek’s attack with the phrase אשר קרך בדרך – “which cooled you along the way.” Amalek’s goal was to extinguish the flame of faith and inspiration that was ignited by the miracles of Yetziat Mitzrayim. We are therefore commanded to remember the Exodus, which teaches us of G-d’s absolute control over the world, and to remember the story of Amalek, the need to oppose the efforts to deny the concept of Hashgahah.
Upon further reflection, this is also the relationship between the other two זכירות – the command to remember Shabbat, and the command to remember the punishment suffered by Miriam for speaking lashon ha’ra. Shabbat is observed זכר למעשה בראשית – to remember that G-d created the world, and also זכר ליציאת מצרים – to remember the Exodus from Egypt. Our observance of Shabbat reminds us that Hashem created the world and that He continues to govern and control every aspect of the world on an ongoing basis, constantly. And thus the command to remember Shabbat parallels the command to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim, as both involve the need to constantly reinforce our belief in Hashgahah.
By the same token, the command to remember the story of Miriam, which demonstrates the severity of lashon ha’ra, parallels the command to remember Amalek.
The pasuk says in Tehillim (12:5) in reference to people who speak lashon ha’ra: אשר אמרו ללשוננו נגביר שפתינו אתנו מי אדון לנו – “…those who said: We shall empower our tongues; our lips are ours – we have no master.” Rabbenu Yonah, in Sha’areh Teshuvah (3:201), explains that people speak lashon ha’ra because they feel that their mouths are entirely in their possession, that although their limbs are subservient to G-d’s will, their tongues have no “master,” and are fully under their control. Lashon ha’ra is thus equated with heresy, as it stems from a denial of Hashem’s control and authority over the faculty of speech. Just as here in the United States people subscribe to the belief in the “freedom of speech,” people who speak lashon ha’ra feel that speech is free of any control, and we can do with our mouths anything we like. This constitutes a denial of the fundamental belief in Hashgahah, the belief that Hashem is fully aware and fully in control of absolutely everything in our lives, including our speech.
In this sense, the command to remember what happened to Miriam parallels the command to remember Amalek. We must be reminded of the gravity of lashon ha’ra, a sin rooted in the ideology of Amalek, which rejected the belief in Hashgahah.
Interestingly enough, the Gemara in Masechet Megillah (13) comments that there was nobody who spoke lashon ha’ra like Haman, a descendant of Amalek. He painted a negative picture of the Jews, depicting them as strange, disloyal and harmful to the empire. He launched a campaign of anti-Semitic propaganda, very similar to the propaganda spread by the Nazis ימ"ש, who, as we know, originate from Amalek. The Gemara tells of how Haman spread lies about how the Jews threatened the country and therefore needed to be eliminated, similar to the lies spread by the Nazis about the Jews in their time. Haman pointed out that if a fly would fall into a Jew’s cup of wine, the Jew would simply remove the fly, but if Ahashverosh would touch the wine, they would spill it out. This is true, as we are forbidden from drinking wine (that is not מבושל) if it was handled by a gentile, but this is not because we despise non-Jews or regard them as subhuman; rather, this is a safeguard against idolatry and assimilation. Haman had the power of lashon ha’a – of using his tongue for slander and for tarnishing people’s reputations. This is the power of Amalek, which stands in contrast to Yetziat Mitzrayim and Shabbat, which teach us of Hashem’s control over everything in the world, including our speech.
This is the connection between the four commands of זכור את. We must remember Yetziat Mitzrayim and Shabbat, which remind us of the belief in Hashgahah, and we must also remember to resist the forces that represent the antithesis of this belief – the ideology of Amalek, and the sin of lashon ha’ra.
The Megillah tells us that after feasting for 180 days, Ahashverosh then held a special seven-day feast for the people of Shushan, and on the seventh day, כטוב לב המלך ביין – “when the king’s heart was happy from wine,” he called for Vashti. The Gemara comments that clearly, Ahashverosh was “happy from wine” well before this 187th day of feasting. This pasuk, the Gemara explains, must therefore be understood differently. It refers not to King Ahashverosh, but rather to the King of the universe. This seventh day was Shabbat, and although the Jews of Shushan sinned by participating in the royal feast, nevertheless, the King was “joyous” over their observance of Shabbat, their speaking words of Torah and singing words of praise to Hashem as they feasted. It was Shabbat that redirected their focus towards Hashem, and it was in the merit of Shabbat that they were saved from Haman’s decree. Haman, the power of Amalek, rose against them, but they defeated him in the merit of Shabbat, which represents the antithesis of Amalek.
And thus Shabbat is a time when we ought to be especially vigilant in our efforts to avoid lashon ha’ra. Although lashon ha’ra is a grave offense any day of the week, Shabbat is especially designated as a time to reinforce our awareness of, and belief in, G-d’s Providence, and it is thus a time to reinforce our commitment to avoid lashon ha’ra, which constitutes a denial of this fundamental tenet.
The theme of “remembering” is relevant to Shabbat in an additional sense, as well.
The Torah commands in Sefer Devarim, השמר לך פן תשכח את ה' אלקיך – “Guard yourself, lest you forget Hashem your G-d.” Rabbenu Yonah (Sha’areh Teshuvah, 3:27) explains this command as requiring us to have Hashem on our minds at all times, as this awareness will lead us to yir’at Shamayim and humility. The story is told of the Hafetz Haim who was riding in a carriage, and the driver let his horses eat other people’s food. The driver asked the Hafetz Haim to tell him if he saw anybody looking, and the Hafetz Haim immediately told them there was somebody. The driver looked around, did not see anyone, and so let his animals continue eating. The Hafetz Haim again told him he was being watched, and again the driver looked around and saw nobody. After this repeated itself several times, the driver grew suspicious, and he asked the Rabbi why he kept saying somebody was watching. The Hafetz Haim explained that Hashem watches us always, at all times, and this is something we need to be mindful of throughout the day, each day. When we live with this mindset, we conduct ourselves on a much higher standard, as we remain cognizant of the fact that we are not alone, and we are always being watched.
On Shabbat, we experience a special, heightened awareness of Hashem’s presence in our lives. Shabbat is the time when we pay special attention to G-d and His involvement in all our affairs, and this naturally affects our behavior and speech. For this reason, as well, our standards of speech must be higher on Shabbat. As our awareness of Hashem is raised to a higher level, we conduct ourselves on a higher level.
Let us utilize Shabbat as an opportunity to refine our conduct and our speech, to make a special effort to raise our standards and elevate the level of our speech, and this will have a profound impact that will continue to inspire us throughout the week.