War on Amalek as revealing the hidden Name

יד על כס יה מלחמה לה' בעמלק.

"A hand upon the throne of Kah: Hashem has a war against Amalek [from generation to generation]" (Shemos 17:16).

The Sefas Emes opens with the verse pledging Hashem's eternal war against Amalek, and the cryptic phrase "kes Kah" (the throne of the Divine Name). He will explain the war against Amalek as bound up with the bris milah and the revelation of Hashem's Name.

כתיב ה' אלקיך מתהלך כו' להצילך כו'.

It is written: "Hashem your God walks [in the midst of your camp]... to save you" (Devarim 23:15).

This verse, which speaks of Hashem walking in the camp to deliver Bnei Yisrael, is stated in the context of guarding against immorality in the camp — linking Divine protection to the holiness of the bris.

כי עיקר המלחמה על ברית מילה. כמ"ש שזרק מילות כלפי מעלה.

For the essential war is over the bris milah, as it is said that [Amalek] threw the [severed] foreskins of circumcision upward, toward Heaven.

Chazal relate that Amalek mockingly hurled the foreskins of the circumcised Jews upward against Heaven. This shows that Amalek's true war is specifically against the bris milah — the sign of Bnei Yisrael's covenant and holiness.

כמ"ש במ"א כי עמלק הוא הערלה דחפיא על ברית ולפי שעיקר המלחמה בכאן חתם הקב"ה שמו להצילך.

As I have written elsewhere: that Amalek is the orlah (foreskin) that covers over the bris; and because the essential war is here, the Holy One, blessed is He, sealed His Name [upon Bnei Yisrael] "to save you."

Amalek corresponds to the orlah — the covering that conceals the holiness of the bris. Precisely because the decisive battle is fought at this point, Hashem inscribed His own Name upon Bnei Yisrael as a protection, "to save you."

וזה כס י"ה. כי חתם י' באיש וה' באשה.

And this is "kes Kah" — for He sealed the yud in the man and the heh in the woman.

The Sefas Emes cites the teaching of Chazal that Hashem placed letters of His Name in man and woman: the yud in "ish" (man) and the heh in "ishah" (woman). Together they form "Kah" — the Divine Name imprinted upon Bnei Yisrael, hinted at in the verse's phrase "kes Kah."

והערלה מכסה זה השם. שאינו יכול להתגלות. כשיש ערלה.

And the orlah covers over this Name, so that it cannot be revealed while the orlah is present.

The orlah — and Amalek, which it represents — acts as a covering that conceals the Divine Name imprinted in the Jew. As long as the orlah remains, the holy Name within cannot shine forth.

כמ"ש שאין השם שלם עד שימחה שם עמלק.

As it is said, the Name is not complete until the name of Amalek is blotted out.

Chazal teach that both Hashem's Name and His throne remain "incomplete" until Amalek is erased. Amalek's existence is itself the concealment that prevents the full revelation of the Divine Name.

וכמו כן בכל נפש מישראל קודם הסרת הערלה השם מכוסה.

And likewise, in every Jewish soul, before the removal of the orlah, the Name is covered over.

The same dynamic plays out within each individual Jew: until the orlah is removed through circumcision, the Divine Name imprinted in him remains hidden and unrevealed.

וע"י מילה ופריעה מתגלה השם. כמ"ש ז"ל מ"ל י"ה פר"ע י"ה.

And through milah and pri'ah (the two stages of circumcision), the Name is revealed — as Chazal expounded: "mal" [equals] yud-heh, "pra" [equals] yud-heh.

The two acts of bris milah — the cutting (milah) and the uncovering (pri'ah) — each reveal the Divine Name. Chazal find this in a gematria/notarikon: both "mal" and "pra" correspond to "Kah," indicating that circumcision uncovers the hidden Name.

להצילך הסרת הערלה בחיתוך.

"To save you" — the removal of the orlah by the cutting.

The Sefas Emes maps phrases of the verse "Hashem walks... to save you... to deliver your enemies before you" onto the stages of circumcision. "To save you" corresponds to milah, the initial cutting away of the orlah.

ולתת אויביך לפניך בעור הפריעה.

"And to deliver your enemies before you" — by the uncovering of the pri'ah.

"To deliver your enemies before you" corresponds to pri'ah, the further uncovering — defeating the "enemy," the concealing force of Amalek/orlah, more completely.

אח"כ והי' מחניך קדוש שמתגלה קדושת השם.

Afterward, "and your camp shall be holy" — for the holiness of the Name is revealed.

Once the orlah is removed in both stages, the verse's conclusion — "your camp shall be holy" — is fulfilled: with the covering gone, the holy Divine Name shines forth and sanctifies the camp.

ולכן ולא יראה בך ערות דבר לשמור אות ברית קודש. כיון ששמו ית' חתום בך.

Therefore, "let no unseemly thing (ervas davar) be seen in you" — to guard the sign of the holy covenant, since His Name is sealed upon you.

The verse's demand to keep the camp free of immorality is really a charge to guard the bris kodesh, the sign of the covenant. Because Hashem's Name is imprinted in the Jew, he must protect that holiness from anything unseemly that would conceal it again.

ועיקר הזכירה בברית מילה. ועמלק היפוך הזכירה.

And the essence of zechirah (remembrance) is in the bris milah; and Amalek is the opposite of remembrance.

The bris milah is the locus of "remembrance" — the abiding awareness of Hashem's Name within. Amalek, by contrast, is the force of forgetting, the antithesis of this remembrance, which is why the mitzvah is to "remember" what Amalek did and to blot out its memory.

וכמו כן זכור בשבת שמתגלה הקדושה לפי דסט"א ערקת בשבת קודש.

And likewise "zachor" (remember) on Shabbos, when the holiness is revealed — since the sitra achra (the other side) flees on the holy Shabbos.

The same theme of "remembrance" and revealed holiness appears in the command "zachor" regarding Shabbos. On Shabbos, the forces of impurity flee, so the concealment lifts and the holy Name shines forth, just as it does through the bris.

וז"ש חז"ל שעמלק נזכר על שולחן ריקה שהרי זה תלוי בזה כשיש זכירה בזמן ובנפש אין לסט"א זכר שהוסר הערלה מעל ברית קודש:

And this is what Chazal said, that Amalek is "remembered" [i.e., gains power] at an empty table — for the two are interdependent: when there is "remembrance" in time (Shabbos) and in the soul (the bris), the sitra achra has no remembrance/foothold, for the orlah has been removed from upon the holy covenant.

The Sefas Emes ties it all together. Chazal say Amalek finds a foothold at an "empty table" — one devoid of holiness and remembrance. The principle is reciprocal: where there is true zechirah — both in time (the holiness of Shabbos) and in the soul (the bris that reveals the Name) — Amalek and the sitra achra have no "memory," no grip at all, because the concealing orlah has been stripped away from the holy covenant.

Summary: The Sefas Emes explains the eternal war against Amalek as a struggle over the bris milah. Amalek corresponds to the orlah, the covering that conceals the Divine Name (yud in man, heh in woman) imprinted in every Jew, leaving Hashem's Name and throne "incomplete." The two stages of circumcision — milah and pri'ah — strip away this covering and reveal the holy Name, fulfilling "your camp shall be holy." The bris is the seat of "remembrance," and Amalek is the force of forgetting; so wherever there is true remembrance — in time through Shabbos, and in the soul through the bris — the sitra achra loses all foothold and the holiness of Hashem's Name shines forth.