Overcoming Amalek

One of the lessons that we are supposed to take away from Purim is that there are no coincidences in life. Mordechai did not just happen to overhear Bigtan and Teresh plotting to kill the king. Achashverosh did not just happen to have trouble sleeping hours before Haman was going to come to his house and tell him to hang Mordechai. Achashverosh did not just happen to ask for his Book of Chronicles to be read, and it did not just happen to come to the page about where Mordechai saved his life. Every moment of life is drenched with hashgachat Hashem. Our job is to see through what appears to be natural events and attribute them to Hashem. When the Jews left Mitzrayim , all the nations were trembling in fear from them. Amalek, however, went and attacked. The pasuk says "אשר קרך בדרך" – they happened upon you on the road. The Mefarshim tell us Amalek did not want to believe that it was Hashem who took them out of Mitzrayim. They did not want the world to fear the Jews. They attributed Yetziat Mitzrayim to natural occurrences, to happenstance, and they acted upon their belief and attacked the Jewish People. The Torah tells us, our battle with Amalek is מדור דור –in every generation. We will only be able to overcome Amalek physically after we overcome them spiritually. We must strengthen our emunah in Hashem's involvement in the world and in our individual lives. This is the time of year when there is extra Siyata d'Shamaya in the air for us to strengthen ourselves with. A woman emailed a story which happened to her mother, who we'll call Mrs. Greenstein, a few years ago. Mrs. Greenstein is a nurse who works in a hospital in Israel. One day on her way out of the hospital, she received a phone call from a young woman. This young woman had a severely handicapped baby. The baby was a few months old and taking care of him was very complex. The young mother needed to go back to work and was looking for a babysitter who would be able to care for her baby throughout the daytime hours. Mrs. Greenstein explained to the woman all the medical details of what this would entail. When she hung up the phone, her first thoughts were, how would she ever find someone qualified enough to take care of that baby? Only someone with experience and extensive knowledge of how to care for such a child would be suited for that job. Someone like that is most probably hired already in a different job. Mrs. Greenstein then looked at the time and realized she had just missed the bus that she usually takes home. She got on the next bus, hoping to find a quiet place in the back to rest after a long day. She was about to fall asleep when a lady that she knew sat down right next to her. Mrs. Greenstein knew this lady worked in a home for handicapped children. They hadn't seen each other for a while so they spoke for a bit, catching up on each other's lives. The lady mentioned that she recently stopped working and was looking for a new job. Mrs. Greenstein immediately connected her to that young mother and, a few days later, this woman started her new job babysitting for that handicapped infant. Amalek would say this was nothing but a few coincidental events. But we say, look at this amazing hashgacha ! That babysitter was probably the only qualified person in their city capable of doing that job. Hashem arranged for that young mother to think of calling Mrs. Greenstein at that time. Then He put Mrs. Greenstein on the second bus instead of the first. Then He put the babysitter in the seat right next to her to connect her to that new job. These stories are happening countless times a day. It is up to us to recognize Hashem's involvement in each one of them and attribute all of life's happenings to Him.