Shabbat Zachor

By NAHMA NADICH

As we prepare for Purim, perhaps the most raucous and boisterous celebration of the Jewish calendar, we pause for Shabbat Zachor. It is on this Shabbat, preceding Purim that we recite the seemingly paradoxical commandment to remember Amalek and to wipe out the memory of this notoriously treacherous tribe. Our tradition teaches us that the connection is due to the belief that Haman was a descendant of Amalek. But what is the meaning behind this strange imperative? Who was this mysterious tribe, not mentioned anywhere outside of the Tanach? Why did this tribe provoke such Divine rage, that is was singled out and marked not only for destruction but for the blotting out of its very memory?

Insights can be gained by reviewing other places in the Torah in which we are commanded to remember. As one might expect, the commandment to remember is most often found in connection with the exodus from Egypt, the Divine act of redemption that launched our journey as a free nation. We are not only charged with the passive act of remembering, we are obligated to engage in a complex and intricate set of rituals designed to relive that experience. (Stay tuned for Pesach!)

There is a compelling need for our ongoing engagement with this historical event since God’s delivery of our ancestors from bondage to freedom sealed the covenant between us. We are repeatedly commanded to remember the covenant itself, which was entered into in the days of our forefathers. In that vein, we are commanded specifically to remember the mitzvot to which we are obligated as part of this covenant, including the Shabbat.

But recalling the Exodus and God’s miraculous delivery from vengeful

enemies also serves as a reassurance to the Children of Israel during subsequent moments of terror in the wilderness.

“If you should say in your heart;
More numerous are these nations than I,
How will I be able to dispossess them?
Do not be afraid of them;
Bear-in-mind, (remember), yes in mind, what YWHW did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt…”

(Deuteronomy 7: 17-18)

Here, we are reminded of God’s acts of vengeance against our oppressors. Even when we appear to be outnumbered and overcome, we are comforted in the knowledge of God’s presence and by the memory of God’s powerful intervention in times of crisis.

But we are also commanded to remember times in our past when God is enraged with God’s own people for their obstinance and ingratitude. There is a specific commandment to remember Miriam in connection with the leprosy that she suffered, ostensibly as a consequence for speaking lashon hara.

So we learn that the Torah’s admonitions to remember can be intended to reinforce our covenantal relationship and obligation to observe Mitzvot, to reassure us of God’s presence and protection or to remind us of the terrible consequences we face when we violate God’s word. But what is the purpose of the command to remember that is so central to Shabbat Zachor?

The maftir reads,

Bear-in-mind (Zachor) what Amalek did to you
On the way, at your going-out from Egypt,
how he encountered you on the way
and attacked your tail- all the beaten-down-ones at your rear-
while you (were)weary and faint
and (thus) he did not stand-in –awe of God.
So it shall be:
When YWHW your God give-you-rest from all you enemies round about
In the land that YWHW your God is giving you as an inheritance,
To possess it,
You are to blot out the name of Amalek from under the heavens; you are not to forget.

(Deuteronomy 25:17-19)

This is the second reference in the Torah to the unbridled aggression of Amalek and to the need to avenge their unconscionable behavior. But the earlier reference, in the book of Shemot, has an important distinction. After Israel, with Divine intervention, is victorious over Amalek, God says to Moses;

...Write this as a memorial in an account
and put it in Yehoshua’s hearing:
Yes, I will wipe out, wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens!

(Exodus 17:14)

In this passage, we are given an account of military events and are assured that God will act to wipe out the memory of Amalek. But by the book of Devarim, the responsibility becomes that of the Children of Israel. In apparent justification of the startling commandment to wipe out an entire people, there is an accompanying description of Amalek’s evil nature. Why is it incumbent upon the children of Israel to actively engage in the act of destroying Amalek and blotting out their memory? What does the text tell us about Amalek and what they represent?

The text in Exodus describes an enemy that violates the basic rules of warfare with a surprise and unprovoked attack on the enfeebled and defenseless stragglers at the back of the camp. Amalek is described as not “standing in awe of God”. As we learn in other places in the Torah, this expression (yir’at Elohim) refers to a standard of morality and decency that applies to all people. In B’raisheet, Abraham expresses his fear that he will be killed in Gerar, saying,

Indeed, I said to myself:
Surely there is no awe of God in this place,
They will kill me on account of my wife

(Genesis 20: 11)

Later in B’raisheet, Joseph orders his brothers to bring back rations while leaving one brother behind, in his custody. He assures them of his trustworthiness and decency by saying;

Do this and stay alive,
For I hold God in awe.

(Genesis 42:18)

Finally, in the beginning of the book of Shemot, when the midwives were ordered by Pharaoh to put Hebrew sons to death, the text says,

But the midwives held God in awe,
And they did not do as the king of Egypt had spoken to them,
They let the (male) children live.

(Exodus 1:17)

So we see that absent Yir’at Elohim one is liable to exploit the powerless and vulnerable, whether that be a dispossessed stranger or an innocent infant. But those who stand in awe of God find the strength and courage to defy powerful rulers, and to stem the tide of human destruction.

Amalek’s behavior reflects a basic violation of universal standards of decency. Amalekites do not engage in legitimate military battle, they prey on the weak and defenseless for no apparent reason. This is not a battle that is provoked in any way. It is an attack borne of sheer hatred and malice.

The traditional commentators expand on Amalek’s evil and corruption. This attack occurred just days after the Exodus from Egypt. Despite the miracle of the Exodus, and the appearance of events so extraordinary that the surrounding peoples trembled (as we are told in the Shirat Hayam), Amalek had the audacity to move in and attack this divinely marked people. Despite witnessing these events, Amalek showed an utter disregard for the power of God in shaping history.

In being the first to attack this fledgling people, Amalek paved the way for others. Rashi points to the language employed in the description of Amalek’s encounter with the children of Israel. Asher korcha baderech (encountered you on the way) - the word korcha, from the Hebrew word kar, meaning cold. Rashi writes;

An expression of cold and heat.
He chilled you and cooled you down from boiling.
For all the nations were afraid to fight against you
And this one came and showed the way to others.
This may be compared to a bath of boiling water, which no creature can get into.
Comes along a fool and jumps into it.
Though he gets scalded, he has cooled it for others.

The precedent had been set. The children of Israel were now fair game to other aggressors. Indeed, Jewish history has taught us that Amalek was but the first of many heartless enemies bent on our destruction.

What can we learn from the contexts in which these savage attacks occurred? What made the children of Israel so vulnerable to the attacks?

The encounter with Amalek described in our maftir follows a section on the imperative to use weights and measures honestly. Midrash Tanhuma draws a connection between the two passages, with a proof text from the book of Proverbs.

M’oznei mirmah to’avat adonai
Ve’ even shelamah r’tzono.

A false balance is an abomination to the Lord;
But a perfect weight is His delight.

(Proverbs 11:1-2)

We are taught that a person who defies God by using false measures will suffer the shame of conflict with Amalek. When we are not guided by yir’at elohim and when we do not comply with universal standards of morality, we suffer grave consequences.

In the book of Shemot, Amalek attacks after a time of bitter complaining and quarreling by the children of Israel, a time so contentious that it is reflected in the name of the place where it occurs.

Vayikra shem hamakom massa u’mreeva
Al reev b’nei Yisrael
V’al nasotam et adonai laymor
Hayesh adonai b’keerbeinu im ayin

And he called the name of the place: Massa/Testing and Meriva/Quarreling,
because of the quarreling of the Children of Israel,
and because of their testing of YWHW, saying
Is YWHW among us, or not?

(Exodus 17: 7)

Perhaps these accounts precede the attack in order to underscore the vulnerability of the children of Israel that resulted from their corruption and lack of faith. The word Amalek is numerically equivalent to the word sapheik (doubt). The children of Israel first succumbed to their Amalek within, before they fell prey to their external foes. While Amalek did not heed the lessons of the history they had witnessed, it is even more shocking that the Children of Israel failed to do. They were not only witnesses to the extraordinary events of the Exodus, they were redeemed by them. Nevertheless, it did not take long for bitterness and doubt to overtake them, prompting them to question the existence of God.

Shemot Rabbah likens the children of Israel to a small child riding on his father’s shoulders, who encounters a friend of the father. The child asks the adult; “Have you seen my father?” The father replies, “You are riding on my shoulders and yet you inquire of my whereabouts? I will cast you down, that the enemy can come and master you.” So too, God said to the children of Israel, “I have borne you on clouds of glory and yet you say, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’”

What, of this painful chapter, are we commanded to remember and why? Perhaps it is the memory of our own vulnerability and helplessness in the face of godless enemies. Particularly at this time in our history, when we enjoy such unprecedented comfort and security, we must remember our earlier days, when we were homeless and alone.

The text reads, Bear-in-mind what Amalek did to you, and not remember when Amalek battled with you, alluding to something even more pervasive and evil than warfare. The assault of Amalek reinforced the internal doubt and lack of faith whose seeds were already present, even after our deliverance from Egypt. We do not dare to forget that the God-defying behavior of Amalek represents the evil of which we are all capable, when we engage in sin’at hinam (unfounded hatred) and when we exploit the powerless and defenseless.

At the same time that we are supposed to remember Amalek, we are charged with blotting out its memory. Tradition teaches that

Lo yi’hieh tikkun le’olam col z’man
Sheyisha’eir lo zecher kol she’hu
She’gam zichro yeh’yeh sakanah le’olam.

There won’t be Tikkun Olam
As long as there is any memory left
Since any trace of memory
Is a danger for the world.

One cannot underestimate the heavy toll exacted when one is preoccupied with protecting oneself from a ruthless enemy, real or imagined. As the S’fat Emet taught, God’s glory cannot be revealed in this world as long as Amalek exists.

I wish you all a Happy Purim, one in which we can celebrate the victory of our ancestors over the descendant of Amalek, and one in which we rededicate ourselves to the eradication of the Amalek within.