Purim completes the deed Amalek blocked

איתא בגמ' שכפה עליהן הר כגיגית בקבלת התורה.

It is brought in the Gemara that He held the mountain over them like a barrel at the receiving of the Torah.

The Sefas Emes opens with the famous Gemara that Hashem suspended Har Sinai over Bnei Yisrael like an upturned cask, as if compelling them to accept the Torah.

מכאן מודעא רבה.

From here there is a great protest (moda'a rabba).

The Gemara says this coercion gives Bnei Yisrael grounds for a "great protest" — a legal claim that the acceptance was not fully voluntary.

ואמרו הדר קבלוה בימי אחשורוש ע"ש.

And they said: they accepted it again in the days of Achashverosh — see there.

The Gemara resolves this by saying that in the days of Achashverosh, at the time of the Purim miracle, Bnei Yisrael re-accepted the Torah willingly and out of love.

א"כ נראה כי כל מה שהוצרך לכפות עליהם ההר ושיהי' מודעא הכל גרם אותו רשע עמלק דכתיב בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדון את האלקים כו' ואותו הרשע הפסיק אותנו באמצע כמ"ש אשר קרך בדרך.

If so, it appears that all that was needed — to hold the mountain over them and that there be a protest — was caused by that wicked one, Amalek; as it is written, "when you bring the people out of Mitzrayim you shall serve God…," and that wicked one interrupted us in the middle, as it is written, "who happened upon you on the way."

The Sefas Emes explains that the need for coercion at Sinai was itself caused by Amalek. The redemption from Mitzrayim was meant to flow straight into serving Hashem at the mountain, but Amalek "happened upon" Bnei Yisrael on the way and broke the continuity, leaving the acceptance incomplete and forcing the element of compulsion.

ולכן הי' צריך להיות ע"י כפיה.

And therefore it had to be by way of coercion.

Because Amalek had interrupted the natural flow, the kabbalas haTorah could not be wholly willing and required the element of force.

הגם שכבר הקדימו נעשה לנשמע כמו שהקשו התוס'.

Even though they had already preceded "we will do" to "we will hear," as Tosafos asked.

Tosafos already raised the difficulty: if Bnei Yisrael had eagerly declared "na'aseh v'nishma," why was coercion needed at all? The Sefas Emes answers that the issue lay in the completion of the acceptance, not its beginning.

אכן כתיב ויפתוהו בפיהם כו'.

However it is written: "and they enticed Him with their mouths…"

The pasuk speaks of Bnei Yisrael "enticing" Hashem with their mouths — words that were not fully matched by completed deeds.

ובוודאי לא שייך לפתות הבורא ית' במילי בעלמא.

And surely it is not possible to entice the Creator, may He be blessed, with mere words.

One cannot literally deceive Hashem with empty speech, so the pasuk must point to something deeper about the relationship between word and deed.

אך דיש ברית הלשון וברית המעור כמ"ש לעיל בפ' זכור דזה ראשית וזה אחרית בחי' מילולא ועובדא.

Rather, there is the bris of the tongue and the bris of the flesh, as written above in Parshas Zachor — this one is the beginning and this one is the end, the aspects of "word" (milula) and "deed" (uvada).

There are two covenants: the bris halashon (of speech) and the bris hama'or (of milah, the deed). Speech is the beginning of an undertaking and the deed is its completion — "na'aseh v'nishma" began with the word, but the perfecting act remained.

ובפיהם הי' נגמר התיקון.

And with their mouths the tikkun was being completed.

On the level of speech, the rectification was indeed brought to completion — their words of acceptance were whole.

אך להיות גמר המעשה בשלימות.

But for the completion of the deed to be in perfection.

The remaining challenge was to bring the deed — the final act of the tikkun — to full perfection, not merely the word.

בזה הטיל שאור אותו רשע.

Into this, that wicked one cast leaven (se'or).

It is precisely at the completion of the deed that Amalek injected his "leaven" — the yetzer hara, the "leaven in the dough" — to spoil the finishing of the tikkun.

וז"ש ובלשונם יכזבו לו ושמעתי מפי מו"ז ז"ל כי כל דבר שאינו נגמר להיות דבר של קיימא לעד נקרא כזב כמו מים המכזבים.

And this is the meaning of "and with their tongues they were false to Him." And I heard from my grandfather, of blessed memory, that anything which is not completed so as to be an enduring, everlasting thing is called "false" (kazav), like "deceptive waters."

The Sefas Emes cites his grandfather: "kazav" (falsehood) means not lying, but incompleteness — anything that does not endure permanently. Like a stream that dries up ("deceptive waters"), an undertaking left unfinished is called "false."

אשר לא יכזבו מימיו כו'.

"Whose waters do not fail."

By contrast, a true and lasting thing is like a spring "whose waters do not fail" — it endures and does not run dry.

וכמו שהי' פרעה ומצרים קליפה המסתרת בעורף קודם פתיחת הדעת והלשון.

And just as Pharaoh and Mitzrayim were a klipah (shell) concealing at the "nape," before the opening of the daas and the tongue.

Pharaoh and Mitzrayim were the klipah that blocked Bnei Yisrael from behind — at the "oref," the back of the neck — before their daas (understanding) and their power of speech were opened at the redemption.

כמו כן יש קליפה המסתרת גמר הדעת.

So too there is a klipah that conceals the completion of the daas.

Corresponding to that earlier shell, Amalek is a klipah that obstructs the final completion of daas — the perfecting of the mind and the deed.

וז"ש והסר שטן מלפנינו ומאחרינו.

And this is the meaning of "and remove the satan from before us and from behind us."

We pray for removal of the obstructing force both "before" (the beginning, Mitzrayim) and "behind" (the completion, Amalek) — two shells blocking the two ends of the tikkun.

ובזה הגמר עומד עמלק.

And at this completion stands Amalek.

Amalek's specific station is at the point of completion, where he strives to prevent any undertaking from reaching its lasting perfection.

ולכן בכל עת שיש מחיית עמלק יש קבלת התורה וז"ש וקיבל היהודים אשר החלו כו'.

Therefore, whenever there is the blotting out of Amalek there is an acceptance of the Torah; and this is the meaning of "the Jews undertook (and accepted) that which they had begun…"

Once Amalek is erased, the obstacle to completion is gone, and a renewed kabbalas haTorah becomes possible. The Megillah's words "asher hechelu" — "that which they had begun" — show that Purim completed what had earlier only been begun.

כי בפורים הי' גמר תיקון העשי'.

For on Purim there was the completion of the tikkun of action.

Purim, with the downfall of Amalek (Haman), accomplished the final tikkun ha'asiyah — the perfecting of the deed that had been left incomplete since Sinai.

וכן אמרו בגמרא אסתר סוף כל הנסים.

And so they said in the Gemara: Esther is the last of all the miracles.

The Gemara calls the miracle of Esther the final one to be recorded — fitting, since Purim represents the completion and sealing of the whole process.

ימ"ש האיכא חנוכה.

The Gemara challenges: but is there not Chanukah (which came later)?

The Gemara objects that Chanukah occurred after Purim, so how can Esther be called the "last" of the miracles?

ומשני ניתן ליכתוב קאמרינן.

And it answers: we mean the last that was given to be written down.

The Gemara resolves that Esther is the last miracle that was permitted to be inscribed in Tanach — the last one made permanent in writing.

פי' שיש נסים העושין רשימה וחקיקה בלבות בנ"י כמ"ש זכרון בספר.

The explanation is that there are miracles that make an imprint and an engraving upon the hearts of Bnei Yisrael, as it is written, "a remembrance in a book."

The Sefas Emes explains the deeper meaning of being "written": certain nissim engrave a permanent mark upon the hearts of Klal Yisrael — "zikaron basefer" means a lasting inner engraving, not merely ink on a scroll.

ובאמת זו הכתיבה הוא אות ברית מילה.

And in truth this "writing" is the sign of the bris milah.

This permanent engraving upon Bnei Yisrael is the os bris milah — the everlasting sign of the covenant carved into the body.

דכמו דיש אותיות חקוקין וחצובין בפה.

For just as there are letters engraved and hewn in the mouth.

Just as speech produces letters that are "engraved and hewn" through the organs of the mouth — the bris halashon.

כן בברית מילה.

So too with the bris milah.

The bris milah is a parallel "engraving" — the lasting inscription of the covenant in the flesh, the bris hama'or.

והוא גמר הכתיבה.

And it is the completion of the writing.

The bris milah is the final, completing "writing" — the deed that seals and makes permanent what speech had begun.

ונקרא חותם.

And it is called a "seal" (chosam).

This completing engraving of the bris is termed a chosam — a seal that finalizes and confirms the covenant.

ספ"ר. גי' ש"ם.

"Sefer" (book) is the gematria of "Shem" (Name).

The numerical value of "sefer" equals that of "Shem" — hinting that the "writing in the book" is bound up with the revelation of Hashem's Name through the covenant.

הוי"ה ושד"י.

The Names Havayah and Shakai.

The Sefas Emes points to two Divine Names — the Shem Havayah and the Name Shakai — as bound up in the seal of the bris.

שזה הוא בברית מילה הוי' מלגאו שד"י מלבר כמו במזוזה:

For this is in the bris milah: Havayah within and Shakai without, just as in the mezuzah.

In the bris milah the inner Name Havayah is concealed within while the Name Shakai is revealed on the outside — exactly as in the mezuzah, where "Shakai" is written on the back and Havayah within. The completed bris thus seals the indwelling of Hashem's Name in Bnei Yisrael.

Summary: The coercion at Har Sinai and the need for a renewed acceptance were caused by Amalek, who interrupted the redemption "on the way" and cast his leaven into the completion of the tikkun. Word (na'aseh) is the beginning, like the bris of speech; the deed is the end, like the bris milah. Amalek stands precisely at the completion, leaving things "false" — i.e., not enduring. Therefore whenever Amalek is blotted out there is a renewed kabbalas haTorah, and on Purim the tikkun of the deed was finally completed and sealed — the everlasting engraving of the covenant and Hashem's Name within Bnei Yisrael.