Parshas Re'eh 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Aug 7
- 2 min read
למען תזכר את יום צאתך מארץ מצרים כל ימי חייך ... (טז-ג)
R’ Moshe Feinstein zt”l notes something remarkable: The Torah commands us to remember the day of Yetzias Mitzrayim. But we have another mitzvah of זכירה as well. The mitzvah of "זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק" - albeit with two differences between the two. Remembering Amalek is a chiyuv on us once a year. Additionally, we must lein it from a Sefer Torah. R’ Moshe goes on to shed light on why there are these two variances. זכירת יציאת מצרים serves to remind us of the myriad miracles Hashem performed on our behalf. It serves to fortify our emunah in Him. For that we don’t need a Sefer Torah; but the reminder is needed daily. One of the lessons learned from remembering Amalek is how, without the Torah, any one of us can, chalila, fall so terribly low. It is therefore obligatory to be read from a Sefer Torah. If it would be a requirement to do so daily, its lesson might lose poignancy and its ‘hergel’ might lead to laxity. This mitzvah was therefore publicly performed only once a year.
Perhaps we can offer two additional machshavos. First, since יציאת מצרים is so fundamentally central to our day to day existence, we had to make recalling it easier to accomplish. Had it needed a Sefer Torah, there would be times that one cannot avail himself of one and would miss that critical opportunity. That must never happen. Thus, wherever a person is, at least twice daily, we remember it. Secondly, Amalek was an attack on the Jewish nation as a whole. Hence, we read from a Torah in a public forum, declaring our loyalty to Hashem and our conviction to eradicate Amalek. יציאת מצרים, on the other hand, was an onslaught on each and every individual Yid, and each of us, on an individual level, merited a salvation and must reciprocate with emunah and hakoras hatov. And therefore, all of us - young and old, men and women, wherever we are and whenever the time is - have a chiyuv to constantly remind ourselves of the miracles that occurred.
May we be zoche to, once again, behold such miraculous events, bringing much needed yeshuos for our nation, בפרט ובכלל.