How to Fight Evil

The “road map” to Middle East peace for like trying to get to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco using a map of Manhattan. Imagine if El Al decided (because it has been despised for decades) to change policy. 

If you were to stare evil in the eye, what would you see? What are its character traits? What are its origins?
What is the difference between Al Qaeda vs. Akeida?

Amalek stands out as the greatest villain and his murderous intentions have had many anti-Semitic heirs. “In every generation, Amalek rises to destroy us, and each time he clothes himself in a different nation.” (Me’am Loez, Devarim)
What are the origins of such a character?
Amalek’s parents: “Timna was a concubine to Elifaz, son of Esav, and she bore Amalek to Elifaz.” (Gen. 36:12) 
Timna’s family: “ Lotan’s sister was Timna.” (Gen. 36:22)
Lotan’s status: “These are the chiefs who came of the Horites: the chief Lotan, the chief Shobal, the child Ziboen, etc.” (Gen. 36:29)
Midrash: Timna sought to convert to Judaism. The Patrirachs refused to accept her. Ss she became a concubine to Elifaz instead: “It is better to be a maidservant to this nation than to be a princess in any other nation.”
A puzzle: Timna’s actions seem righteous. Why would they result in a child who is the very paradigm of evil?

The greatest evil in our time is undoubtedly manifested by suicide bombers.
Data by Washington Post: Suicide bombers conducted 658 attacks around the world last year…dozens of countries in five continents, killed more than 21,350 people and injured about 50,000 since 1983.”
Their logic: The more people you kill, the more you demoralize the infidel because the infidel is too weak to tolerate the shedding of blood.
On the surface level, the psyche of a suicide bomber seems to be a spiritual one, to get closer to the G d that they’ve constructed. But on closer analysis, it becomes obvious that theirs is the lowest form of selfishness.
They believe that in our world it is impossible to have infinite pleasure. This can only be attained in their world to come.
These suicide bombers are born in the actions of their ancestress, Timna. They are not martyrs.
Our patriarchs selflessly gave of themselves to reach out and teach monotheism. They eagerly taught converts. If they rejected Timna, it was out of their perception that her motives were insincere.
Timna was not searching for G d, but rather for her personal aggrandizement. Her actions were not about G d, but about self. Had Timna truly wanted to serve G d, she would not have ‘settled’ for Esav’s family.

In the era of Redemption, evil will be eradicated; but not Amalek. “G d shall be at war with Amalek for all generations.” (Ex. 17:16)  The greatest evil is evil acted out in the noble name of G d.

Is evil real, with substance and power? Or is it no more than the absence of truth, a vacuum of darkness? If it is real, then how could G-d have allowed it in His world? But if it is only darkness, how is it possible for darkness to defy light?
In Torah the metaphor for evil is darkness, the absence of truth. Like darkness, evil has no power of its own. From where, then, does it derive the power to cause so much pain in the world? From us.
Examples: The snake and Eve; Moses was afraid, etc.

“Remember what Amalek did to you…he encountered you on the way and cut off those lagging to your rear…he did not fear G-d…you must obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget.” (Deuteronomy 25)
Amalek’s danger is not his ability to kill. Cars kill more..
Cars do not seek to destroy us. Amalek does. And every time they do, they make us doubt…our security, ourselves, our friends, our G-d. The numerical value (gematria) of amalek = safek (doubt). When we lose faith, we lose everything. It is then that Amalek is able to attack us.

How can we defeat Amalek? Torah gives us three commandments: (1) We must wage war against Amalek, i.e., we must destroy them. (2) We must not forget what Amalek has done. (3) We must remember.
(2) and (3) seem to be the same thing.

(1) Destroy it.  (2) We must never forget the suffering that we endured (always be on our guard). (3) That alone is not enough. We must remember that we survived and flourished. We must focus our minds on the source of our power to defeat Amalek. We must remember that our power is real, theirs is not.
Once we have found evil’s secret, we know how to deflate it. It is not a simple solution, because we have already nurtured evil to the point that it thrives and grows each day.
But fear of, or negotiating with evil only gives it more power. Infinitely more powerful than doubt is the power of memory, to unearth the indestructible faith that resides in the core of our souls, in the G-d of goodness and life. (Story; Rebbe and gun: Your toy doesn’t impress me.)
We can destroy Amalek: But only if we remember to remember. (Two wolves in my heart.)