Chukas 2022

1“Blessed is God blessed be He”, He is the God who rewards those who He loves and who fear Him.

2“It was a well dug by princes” (Num 21:18) . This Pasuk refers to Abraham, who washed the feet of the three visitors and gave them water to drink. Because Abraham behaved in this generous and humble manner, his descendants merited the well of the rock during the forty years of travel in the wilderness.” (Seder Eliyahu Rabbah, ch. 13)

3“And the Canaanite King of Arad, the dweller of the south, heard that Israel had come the way of Haatarim. And he waged war with Israel and took a captive.” (Num 21:1)

4Esau spoke to Amalek his grandson, saying to him, “I have tried to kill Jacob and have been unsuccessful. Use your abilities to exact my revenge (for Jacob’s stealing the blessings which were rightly mine) from Jacob’s descendants. When they stumble in their behavior, that is when you must pounce. “

5In Refidim, they questioned whether or not God was with them; immediately, “and then came Amalek”, Amalek was able to attack. Similarly, following the death of Aaron (in our Parsha); “and the Canaanite king heard, and waged war. That king was actually Amalek, disguised as a Canaanite. He instructed his people as follows: “We know that if we approach them as Amalek they will pray to their God to save them from the enemy Amalek and He will save them. Instead, adopt the look and language of the Canaanites. When they pray to be saved from the Canaanites their prayers won’t be effective. Amalek then learned the language and dress of the Canaanites in order to fool the Israelites. They then came upon the Jews to destroy them. The Jews saw upon their enemy the face of Amalek and the dress and language of Canaan. They knew not what to do or how to pray, so they made a pledge that if God would save them, all that was conquered would be donated to the Mishkan. God was merciful and saved them. (Midrash Yelamdeinu: ibid.)

6“The voice is that of Jacob and the hand are of Esau.” (Gen 27:22) Jacob deceived his father using a disguise to obtain his blessings. In this week’s Parsha, Esau’s descendants used similar tactics in their attempt to destroy Jacob’s children.

7We see in these two parallel stories that God rewards and punishes the descendants of our Avot for many generations, and long into the future. Abraham’s good deed resulted in the famous Beer Shel Miriam. Jacob’s deceit resulted in an attack by Amalek! It is therefore incumbent upon us to seek to atone for the mistakes of those who preceded us, while at the same time appreciating and thanking those great people for their great legacy of good deeds.

8Dedicated to the memory of Joel Shulman A’H