Комментарий к Шмот 17:16

ויאמר AND HE SAID — i. e. Moses said.

FOR THE HAND UPON ‘KEIS Y-AH’ (THE THRONE OF THE ETERNAL). “The hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, is raised to swear by His throne that He will maintain [a state of] war and enmity against Amalek forever. Now what is the significance of the word keis, and why does it not say kisei [as usual]? Furthermore, even the Divine Name is divided into half!⁴⁸²The Tetragrammaton consists of four letters, while here only the first two letters are mentioned. [The answer is that] the Holy One, blessed be He, swore that the throne will not be perfect and the Name will not be full until He will blot out the name of Amalek the son of Esau.⁴⁸³Amalek was a grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:12). And when his name will be blotted out, then will G-d’s Name be full and the throne perfect, as it is said, The foe — they are destroyed; perpetual ruins.⁴⁸⁴Psalms 9:7. [This refers to Esau,⁴⁸⁵In our Rashi: “Amalek.” of whom it is said, And he kept his wrath for ever.]⁴⁸⁶Amos 1:11. Their very memorial is perished.⁴⁸⁴Psalms 9:7. What is written after that? And the Eternal is enthroned for ever.⁴⁸⁷Psalms 9:8. Thus you see [that after Amalek’s memory has perished], G-d’s Name is full. He hath established ‘kis’o’ (His throne) for judgment.⁴⁸⁷Psalms 9:8. Thus you see that the throne will be perfect.” Thus far the language of Rashi, and it is a Midrash of the Sages.⁴⁸⁸Tanchuma, Ki Theitzei 11.
Some scholars⁴⁸⁹Mentioned in Ibn Ezra in the name of Rabbi Yeshuah. explain the verse as meaning that “when there will be a ‘hand,’ [i.e., king, as explained further], upon the throne of the Eternal,⁴⁹⁰The expression found in this verse before us. the Eternal will have war with Amalek, and so shall it be from generation to generation.” The purport of this is that when there will be a king in Israel sitting upon the throne of the Eternal,⁴⁹⁰The expression found in this verse before us. he shall wage war against Amalek, thus alluding to Saul, the first king [of Israel]. And so shall it continue from generation to generation, that every king of Israel shall be duty-bound to fight with them until their name will extinct.
The following is also a Midrash of the Gemara,⁴⁹¹See Seder Bo, Note 204. as found in [Tractate Sanhedrin] in the chapter of the High Priest:⁴⁹²Sanhedrin 20b. See also Maimonides’ “The Commandments,” I, pp. 202-203. “By saying, The hand upon the throne of the Eternal: the Eternal will have war with Amalek from generation to generation, Scripture intimates that the Israelites must first appoint a king over themselves [before they are to annihilate the offspring of Amalek], for the throne of the Eternal refers only to the king, as it is said, Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Eternal.⁴⁹³I Chronicles 29:23. Ramban thus brought proof to the opinion of those scholars mentioned above, who interpret this verse as containing a hint that the reckoning with Amalek is to be deferred until there will be a king in Israel. In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, this is correct.
And by way of the Truth, [that is, the mystic lore of the Cabala, the verse is to be understood as meaning] that the Hand, [i.e., the attribute of justice], which is upon the throne of Y-ah, and which is the war from the Eternal, will continue with Amalek from generation to generation, for the high attribute of justice will pursue his extinction forever from generation to generation. The Midrash of the Sages [mentioned above] concerning “the full Divine Name” and “the perfect throne” allude to this [interpretation by way of the Truth].
Now the reason for the punishment of Amalek, i.e., why punitive measures were meted out to him more than to all other nations, is that when all the nations heard [of G-d’s visitation upon the Egyptians], they trembled. Philistia, Edom, and Moab and the inhabitants of Canaan melted away⁴⁹⁴Above, 15:14-15. from before the terror of the Eternal, and from the Glory of His majesty,⁴⁹⁵Isaiah 2:10. whereas Amalek came from afar as if to make himself master over G-d. It is for this reason that it is said concerning him, and he feared not G-d.⁴⁹⁶Deuteronomy 25:18. Besides, he was a descendant of Esau and related to us,⁴⁹⁷As a relative he was obligated to show kindness towards us. Instead, he behaved very cruelly: he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost, all that were enfeebled in thy rear, when thou was faint and weary (ibid.) a passer-by who meddles with a quarrel not his own.⁴⁹⁸Proverbs, 26:17. Amalek had no reason to fear attacks from Israel, as they were not bent on taking his land. Amalek’s interposition was thus “meddling with a quarrel not his own.”
Yithro

ויאמר כי יד על כס י-ה, Moses explains the reason and purpose of his prayer being the fact that G’d Himself had sworn an oath to remain at war with Amalek from generation to generation. If G’d is at war with that nation, we as G’d’s representative on earth, must certainly also be at war with that nation. It is what our sages referred to when they said that three commandments cannot be fulfilled until the Jewish people are securely settled in the land of Israel, 1) appointment of a king; 2) destroying the last vestiges of Amalek; 3) the building of a permanent Temple. Moses therefore had prayed for the time when these three hallmarks of Jewish history could be attained. (Sanhedrin 20)

כי יד על כס ק-ה, “for as long as a hand had been raised against the throne of G’d, etc.” according to Rashi this is in the nature of an oath by G’d. Some commentators view it as a prediction, i.e. as long as a “hand” is raised against the throne of G’d disputing His right to rule the world, G’d is forced to wage war against Amalek. This will continue in this manner until, eventually, Israel will utterly destroy Amalek and wipe his memory from the slate of history.

The hand of Hashem. . . Rashi is resolving several issues. First, he says, “The hand of Hashem,” because the unidentified hand mentioned in the verse seems to mean Moshe’s hand. Second, he says, “Is raised,” to convey that Hashem’s hand is not always on His Throne [as the verse seems to mean]. Rather, His hand is momentarily raised toward it, similar to: “For I shall raise My hand to Heaven. . .” (Devarim 32:40). (See Kitzur Mizrachi.)

V. 16. ויאמר, er gab ihm diesen Namen und sprach damit aus, dass usw. oder: er sprach dies, weil usw. — כס kommt nicht wieder vor. Es ist offenbar das nicht vollendete כסא, so wie י׳ nur ein Teil des Gottesnamens ist. Es ist offenbar, wie die Weisen es ausgesprochen: לא השם שלם ולא הכסא שלם עד שיאבד זכרו של עמלק, so lange Amaleks Ruhmgedächtnis lebt, ist weder Gottes Thron noch sein Name vollständig. Nur in der Natur, aber nicht in der Menschenwelt herrscht Gott, nur höchstens über die Natur, aber nicht über die Menschenwelt wird Gottes Herrschaft anerkannt, so lange nicht die Menschentat sich Gott unterwirft, und so lange das Ideal der Menschengröße die Gewalt und nicht die Gott huldigende Vollbringung seines Sittengesetzes ist. Allein Mosche spricht es hier aus: Die auf Gottes Thron waltende Macht — so unausgebaut auch noch der Thron und so unvollständig auch noch erkannt sein Name — heißt nichts anderes, als: Krieg für Gott, d. h. für seine volle Anerkennung, wider Amalek von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht. Der Inbegriff der Gotteswaltung in der Geschichte ist nichts anderes, als Kampf wider Amalek bis ans Ziel der Zeiten.

ויאמר כי יד על כס י-ה, he (Moses) said: “as soon as G–d’s hand on His throne will become firmly established throughout His universe, He will go to war against Amalek. The word יד describing an active monarchy is found in Samuel I 15,12,. I have heard in the name of Rabbi Aaron Halevi of blessed memory who questioned that the subject of the word יד here is Amalek, seeing that it says: ”I will surely wipe out.” How could Amalek have said this of himself? On the other hand in Deuteronomy 25,19, Moses commands the people in the name of the Lord that once the time has come when there is no more antisemitism, instead of letting bygones be bygones, the Jewish people are charged with seeing to it that even the mention of the name Amalek will be eradicated once and for all. Personally, I do not see a problem there at all. In our portion we discuss times when Amalek raises its hand against Israel. At such a time we need G–d to defend us against him. In Deuteronomy, it is presumed Amalek is raising his sword against the Temple, G–d’s home on earth. When the residence of the Lord is in danger, it is G–d’s people, we, who have to rise up in its defense. Jerusalem is called the throne of G–d. His throne is not secure as long as there is still any descendant of Amalek alive on this earth. We read in Psalms 9,8: וה' לעולם ישב כונן למשפט כסאו, “but the Lord abides forever; He has set up His throne for judgment.” This is the reason why the dead are unable to praise the Lord (Psalms 115,17) seeing that being dead they cannot battle Amalek. This is why David continues in Psalm 118 with: לא אמות כי אחיה ואספר מעשי ה' וגו', “I do not wish to die, as I want to be able to tell of the great deeds of the Lord, etc.”

כי יד על כס יה, “for as long Israel will possess the power to appoint to sit on the throne of G-d;” we know of a similar though strangely sounding formulation, from Chronicles I 29,23: וישב שלמה על כסא ה' למלך תחת דוד אביר“Solomon successfully took over the throne of the Lord as king instead of his father David.” The verse describes conditions when it will be possible to wage G-d’s war against Amalek.

כי יד על כס יה BECAUSE THE HAND IS UPON THE THRONE OF JAH — the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, is raised to swear by His throne that He will have war and enmity against Amalek to all eternity. And what is the force of כס — why does it not say as usual כסא? And the Divine Name, also, is divided into half (יה is only the half of the Tetragrammaton)! The Holy One, blessed be He, swears that His Name will not be perfect nor His throne perfect until the name of Amalek be entirely blotted out. But when his name is blotted out then will His (God’s) Name be perfect and His throne perfect, as it is said, (Psalms 9:7) “The enemy is come to an end, he whose swords were for ever” — and this refers to Amalek of whom it is written, (Amos 1:11; the paragraph is a prophecy against Edom — Esau — the father of Amalek) “he kept his wrath for ever”. The verse in the Psalm continues: “and thou didst uproot enemies, their very memorial is perished”, What does it say immediately after this? (Psalms 9:8) “But the Lord (the Divine Name as given here is the Tetragrammaton) shall now remain for ever” — you see that the Name will be perfect (after Amalek is entirely rooted out as is mentioned in v. 7); “He establishes his throne (כסאו not כס) in righteousness” — so you see that His throne will then be perfect (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 11).

יד, the word יד normally translated as “hand,” in this instance refers to power, Royal authority.” We know of a similar example for the meaning of that word from Samuel I 15,12, where the prophet Shmuel was advised of Shaul’s arriving at Mount Carmel, and he prepares for this by erecting a יד, for him, i.e. an altar. The words there are: והנה הוא מציב לו יד. In Samuel II 8,3 we also find the word יד used in this sense when David built an altar. [Not the traditional understanding of the word by most commentators. Ed.] The word כסא usually is used as a symbol of power, Royal Power.[If this is so, the word יד in the same line cannot mean the same, of course. Ed.] A different interpretation: the verse means that as long as nations, or especially Amalek, see in Jerusalem and what its stands for its spiritual nemesis, there will be an ongoing war between G-d and His representative on earth, Israel; מלחמה לה' בעמלק, “a state of war between G-d and Amalek; this phrase is what the liturgist has in mind when he wrote in his poetic prayer recited on the Sabbath preceding the reading of Parshat zachor on the Sabbath preceding Purim.־, commencing with the words: אלוקים אל דמי לך, “do not be silent o G-d”; the author queries G-d’s relative inactivity versus Amalek although He has dealt more harshly with other adversaries throughout history. [There are only few congregations in which this liturgical poem is recited nowadays in the synagogues. It is lengthy and the language requires assistance by commentaries as provided in the prayer book known as otzar hatefillot. Ed.] G-d’s answer is that until Amalek attacks G-d directly, not just His people, it is our task to deal with him, once he does the latter, G-d personally will wipe him out, This is why when Titus destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem G-d dealt with him, whereas at this stage it was our task to fight him. According to Jeremiah 3,17 Jerusalem is called G-d’s throne.