Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, dean of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar, spoke at a special gathering about the war with Hamas.
"According to the simple explanation, there is no longer this nation, Amalek. But halakha (Jewish law - ed. says that anyone who hates Israel and wants to destroy the Jewish nation is considered Amalek," Rabbi Ginsburgh said. "This is how the Brisker Rav ruled."
Amalek, he said, "changes its name. In the previous generation, it was not called Amalek, it was called, 'Nazi.' Now, with us, we have a lot of enemies, but the accepted name for Amalek today is really Hamas."
He added in that in gematriya - a system which gives numeric value to each Hebrew letter - the word, "Hamas," is equal to the words, "v'ani evtach bach," which translate to, "I will trust in You."
"Therefore, now, we will sing this even more powerfully than before - 'v'ani evtach bach,' and each person who says these words eliminates one Hamas terrorist," he said. "From everything we have said now, we can create an operation - especially for the soldiers, who will sing, 'v'ani evtach bach,' with the simple intention - they can fulfill it while singing."
Rabbi Ginsburgh added, "If you, here, are a yeshiva dean or give Torah classes, when you say, 'v'ani evtach bach,' you need to kill one of the leaders of Hamas. But sometimes it's just luck that even a simple person will score a direct hit on the leader of Hamas, of the snake."