In Your Hands

By Rabbi Joshua (handily known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In memory of my mother, Yoninah bas Tzvi Hirsch, whose thirty-fifth yahrtzeit occurs this Thursday, 13th of Shevat. May her memory be a blessing.

During the war against Amalek, Moshe lifts his hands high in front of the people. When his hands were raised, the Jewish people prevailed, and when his hands were lowered, Amalek prevailed. The rabbis explain, that Moshe’s raised hands were the indicator of the people subjugating themselves to God, in the face of the environment created by Amalek, who is described as not fearing God. Interestingly, the Torah tells us that at one point Moshe’s hands became heavy, so Aharon and Chur brought him a stone to sit down on, and they lifted his hands. Why did Moshe need to sit down, if only his hands were heavy? The Netziv answers, that Moshe was ten amos tall according to the Talmud, and so without Moshe sitting down they would not have been able to reach his hands.

Another, more prosaic, answer, that I heard from Rabbi Meir Juzint, zt”l, is that a leader sometimes needs to lower himself, to reach the people and inspire them with the fear of heaven. In face of the atmosphere of the denial of God generated by Amalek, Moshe, in inspiring the nation to fight the war of Hashem, needed to reach down to their level, to provide that inspiration.

The Torah, in describing the position of Moshe’s hands during the battle, says that they were with him in faith – literally “his hands were faith.” Rav Eliezer Waldman explains that Moshe expressed emunah through his hands. My teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveichik z"l, says that the word “leha’amin”, to believe, is in the hiphil, or causative form, in Hebrew, because one who truly believes brings others to believe as well. This is what Moshe did during the battle against Amalek.