He Smote You with a Blow of the Tail

"And he smote your tail" (Deuteronomy 25:18) — he struck you with a blow of the tail. This agrees with what Rabbi Hanina bar Shalka, Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin, and Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: What did the house of Amalek do? They would cut off the marks of circumcision of Israel and fling them upward, saying, "You chose this; here is what You chose." Since Israel did not know what the nature of the membrum was, but rather "behold, they put the branch to their nose" (Ezekiel 8:17) [a gesture of contempt directed upward against Heaven]; and once Amalek came, he taught it to them. And from whom did Amalek learn it? From Esau his grandfather, of whom it is written, "Is he not rightly named Jacob [Ya'akov]?" (Genesis 25:26) — [reading the name as if] he rubbed his throat and drew out the abusive sneer.