Sefer Amos; Perakim 1-6 Perek Summaries
Perek 1: The perek follows a repeating pattern of denouncing the nations (Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon) for having committed the three cardinal sins as well as one other sin.
Perek 2: A continuation of the pattern established in the first perek. The nations denounced here are Moav, Yehudah, and Israel. Bnei Yisrael are given an extra bashing for disloyalty to the G-D who took them out of Egypt
. Perek 3: A bunch of analogies for our disloyalty to HaShem and the impending destruction that will follow.
Perek 4: A warning to the wives of the nobles, who drove their husbands to seek money unfairly to fund their luxurious lifestyles.
Perek 5: Bnei Yisrael have fallen. A call for them to get up and seek HaShem. Insincere korbanos do not do the job.
Perek 6: The overconfident and haughty are not in HaShem’s good books. DVAR TORAH: The pasuk in perek 5 (pasuk 2) reads ‘she has fallen and will no longer rise, o virgin of Israel.’ It is referring to the spiritual plunge of the Bnei Yisrael. The gemarra brachos (4b) gives this pasuk a facelift. The gemarra quotes the Bnei Eretz Yisrael, who read this pasuk as ‘you have fallen and will not continue to fall any longer; get up, o virgin of Israel.’ From where did the gemarra get the idea to seemingly completely change the meaning of the pasuk?? Perhaps we can suggest the following. In perek 10 of sefer Daniel, Daniel is fasting due to a vision of destruction, and the angel Gabriel comes to him to reveal to him about the end of days. Daniel falls on his face and has no strength, until the angel says to him ‘be strong and be strong’ and makes Daniel get up to his feet. As Rabbi Reisman explains, this is a mashal for galus in general. In galus, even though times are bad, we are not just supposed to lie flat on our faces wallowing and consoling ourselves that Moshaich is coming. We have a job to do here in galus – to show our commitment to HaShem even through the bad times. When the angel pulled Daniel to his feet, he was saying that galus is a time to be upright and to achieve something; it’s not a time to lie down. This will help us understand our above gemarra. The gemarra knew that there is no point in the pasuk telling us that Bnei Yisrael have fallen (on their faces). Because galus and punishment in general has a purpose, we are not supposed to be passive and flat on our faces; we are supposed to use the galus and yissurin to rise up and achieve something spiritually (see footnote [1] for practical example from Tanach). Thus, HaShem would not have made it that we have fallen to such an extent that we cannot get up again – for that would contradict the entire point of galus and punishment. Therefore, the pasuk cannot be telling us that Bnei Yisrael have fallen to such an extent that they cannot rise. Rather, one must read the pasuk in a positive and constructive light; that we will not continue to fall, and (just like Daniel) we should rise to our feet. [1] Thus, one can receive reward for having learnt the correct lesson from the punishment. For example, Shimshon asked HaShem for the merit of one of his eyes that were poked out, despite the fact that the eyes being poked out were a punishment for running after Delilah’s physical beauty. How could he ask for reward for the punishment of a sin? Precisely because Shimshon was asking for the reward for having successfully gained from internalising the punishment and its lessons
