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Parashat Beshalach speaks about two different enemies, the Mitztrim and Amalek. Who was worse?
The Mitzrim enslaved Bnei Yisrael for hundreds of years, killed their baby boys, and chased them to the Yam Suf. Amalek attacked Bnei Yisrael, when they were weak and helpless. So if you were to guess who was worse, your instinct would surely be the Mitzrim.
Yet, the Torah tells us to remember and destroy Amalek, as it says in the end of our Parashah: “Ketov Zot Zikaron BaSefer VeSim Be’Aznei Yehoshua Ki Machoh Emcheh Et Zeicher Amalek MiTachat HaShamayim,” “Inscribe this in a document as a reminder, and read it aloud to Yehoshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven”(Shemot 17:14). However, the Torah does not tell us to destroy the Mitzrim. Just the opposite, it tells us to not hate the Mitzrayim: “Lo Teta’eiv Mitzri,” “You shall not abhor an Egyptian”
(Devarim 23:8).
Why would the Torah say this?
The first answer to this question is that Mitzrayim isn’t all bad. We must not only focus on the terrible things they did, but also recognize the good. Although they enslaved us, they helped us when there was a famine during Yosef's generation as Rashi on the phrase “לֹא־תְתַעֵב מִצְרִי”explains: “ מכל וכל, אף על פי שזרקו זכוריכם ליאור. מה טעם? שהיו לכם אכסניא בּשעת הדחק” “[You shall not hate the Egyptians] completely. Even though they threw your firstborn into the Nile. What’s the reason (not to hate them)? Because they were a host for you in your time of need”.
One might then ask, “So what? Who cares that Mitzrayim helped us during the famine. Don’t you think they did a lot more bad than good?”
This brings us to our second answer. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks gives a different perspective on this issue. He quotes a Mishnah in Pirkei Avot: “כָּל אַהֲבָה שֶׁהִיא תְלוּיָה בְדָבָר, בָּטֵל דָּבָר, בְּטֵלָה אַהֲבָה. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ תְּלוּיָה בְדָבָר, אֵינָהּ בְּטֵלָה לְעוֹלָם” “If love depends on a specific cause, when the cause ends, so does the love. If love does not depend on a specific cause, then it never ends” (Avot 5:16).
Rabbi Sacks expands on this and says that this also applies to hatred. In regard to hate which depends on a specific reason, when the reason disappears so will the hate. However, hatred that has no reason lasts forever. What fueled the hatred of the Mitzrim towards Bnei Yisrael was their fear of Bnei Yisrael expanding and taking over Mitzrayim. After Bnei Yisrael left Mitzrayim, the Mitzrim had no reason to continue to hate them. As a result, the Mitzrim became less relevant in Tanach, because they are no longer a major enemy of Bnei Yisrael. Alternatively, Amalek never had a reason to hate Bnei Yisrael. As a result of this, nothing Bnei Yisrael can ever do will affect their hatred towards us. Because of their eternal hatred towards us which cannot be stopped, Amalek was a significant enemy to Bnei Yisrael throughout Tanach.
Both these answers show us that the Torah is not interested in deciding who was worse. There was no looking at the stat sheet to see who was more despicable. The Torah does not care who punched harder. The Torah cares which nation can have a positive relationship going forwards with Bnei Yisrael and which nation should forever be looked at as an undisputed rival.