Kabbalah Library

109. It is a commandment to obliterate the descendants of Amalek, since the Creator swore that He would not return to His throne until He takes His vengeance from him. Moses opened and said, “Indeed, this is why they walked in the desert and on the sea, and did not enter the Land of Israel until He took vengeance against Amalek.”

110. Who is the root of Amalek above, in spirituality? After all, we see that Balaam and Balak from Amalek of above were their souls, and this is why they hated Israel more than any nation or tongue. This is also why it is written in their names: Amalek, the letters of Aleph-Mem of Balaam and Lamed-Kof of Balak [the letters of Amalek in Hebrew].

The Amaleks are male and female. It is written about them, “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen labor in Israel.” Amal [labor] is the male of Amalek, and iniquity is his Nukva.

111. As there are four faces in Israel—Jacob, Israel, Rachel, Leah—where Israel and Leah are male and female, and Jacob with Rachel are male and female, these four correspond to the four faces in the eagle, since Jacob and Israel are an eagle, the middle line, so there are four faces to Amalek: Magic, Serpent, Labor, and Iniquity. The letters Amal [labor] are written in Amalek, and it is written about Haman, who was from the side of Amalek, “His labor shall return upon his own head.”

All the champions of Esau were from Amalek, and Amalek above is Sam. In him, too, there are four faces—labor, serpent, iniquity, deceit—which incite a person to sin against the Creator. Kesem [magic], the Kof is from Amalek, Samech-Mem is from Sam. A serpent is a god from Sam.