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Megillat Esther: An Introduction
Insights To The Megilla
Audio Megilla ReadingDo You Believe In Miracles?
Faith & Commitment
The Hidden Nature Of G-d Jewish Unity
Women Heroines: Esther & Purim
Jews & Antisemitism Behind The Mask: Insights Into Purim
The Sabbath immediately preceding Purim is called Shabbat Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembrance: remember what the wicked nation Amalek (Haman's ancestor, teaches the Midrash) did to the Jewish people when they left Egypt, having initiated a heartless and devious attack against Israel from the rear armed against the weak and the sick, the women and the children.
On this Sabbath, an extra Torah scroll is removed from the Ark for the reading, and after the normal procedure of calling up seven people to the Torah, the second scroll is then opened to the section in Deuteronomy dealing with Amalek.
Interestingly enough, the Amalek battle appears in one other section of the Torah, early in the Book of Exodus, and in fact on Purim morning we read this section in addition to the Book of Esther. Here the Amalek passage closes a narrative sequence that opened with the crossing of the Red Sea and culminated with Moses striking the rock at Horeb:
"And then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Refidim. . . And it came to pass, when Moses lifted up his hands that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed. And G d said to Moses, 'Write this for a memorial in the book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly blot out ("emche") the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven' . . . And Moses built an altar . . . and he said . . . the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." (Exodus 17:8-16)
Here the Amalek attack appears in its historical context. But this is not so in Deuteronomy, where the reference to Amalek appears in the closing verses of a portion rich with commandments, all in all twenty-seven positive and forty-seven negative commandments covering the entire range of the Jewish experience. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Torah gives us the final commandment: "Remember what Amalek did to you by the way, when you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you by the way, and smote your hindmost, all that were feeble in the rear, when you were faint and weary, and feared not G-d. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your G-d has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which the Lord your G-d gives you for an inheritance, to possess it, that you shall blot ("timche") out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, you shall not forget.' (Deuteronomy 25:17-19)
A number of fundamental questions are raised by these passages. Firstly, the latter passage in Deuteronomy seems far more appropriate than the one in Exodus. This second passage gives many more details about the attack in question - whereas the first passage merely stresses Moses' hands held aloft in prayer. Why wait until Deuteronomy for details seemingly more appropriate in the earlier passage?
Second, since the commandment is to blot out the memory of Amalek, what do its two different forms signify? In Exodus, the word is "emche", G d telling Moses, "I will blot out the memory of Amalek", while in Deuteronomy, Moses tells the people "timche" , "you will blot out Amalek". Who will actually do the job?
Third, when the Israelites are told by Moses in the Deuteronomy passage to erase the memory of Amalek the sequence is puzzling: ". . . it shall be when the Lord your G-d has given you rest from all your enemies . . . you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek." (25:19) If anything, the remembrance of Amalek must be blotted out before G-d has given us rest from our enemies, not after. If we've already been given rest from our enemies, why do we then have to bother with Amalek. And if Amalek is still our enemy, then what kind of rest is it?
Finally, why a special Sabbath for 'remembering Amalek' when in only a few days time, we'll be celebrating the festival of Purim that records the destruction of the infamous Jew hater, Haman, descendant of Amalek? Why must we single out an additional Sabbath on which to "Remember Amalek"?
To properly consider these questions, let's first turn to Maimonides' Laws of King. This is the context wherein he first codifies the commandment regarding the destruction of the seven indigenous nations in the land of Canaan and concludes that this directive is now obsolete since "their identity has been lost." (Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, forcibly confounded all the peoples he captured (Brachot 28a)). Yet in the very next halakha, when Maimonides separately codifies that we have to destroy Amalek, he does not mention a word about their identity having been lost (Chapter 5, laws 4 &5).
On this basis, my revered rebbe and teacher, Rav J.B. Soloveitchik zt"l quoted his illustrious grand-father Rav Haim of Brisk who distinguished between the physical nation of Amalek that once lived near Canaan (and who has since been confounded by Sennacherib) identified with Amalek, whose goal is to destroy Israel and her unique message for the world. This latter Amalek exists in every generation - and must be continuously destroyed.
With this in mind, our two passages make more sense. The verses in Exodus describe a physical Amalek attacking a defenseless, vulnerable people for no apparent reason. Their aim was nothing less than total genocide. Thus threatened, the Israelites had to counter-attack immediately. And together with waging battle must be genuine prayer. And so the message in this passage is about war and prayer. "And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed." We must do everything in our power to destroy the nation who rises to destroy us, but the Almighty promises that He will finish the job for us. "I will blot out Amalek", says the Almighty,
But Amalek is not merely a specific nation at a specific moment of Jewish history. It is the idea that Israel is not a unique and eternal nation, with the mission of perfecting the world with ethical monotheism; it is the attempt to destroy the Torah of Israel and thereby the special quality, the very national essence, of Israel. Hence the spiritual heirs of Amalek include the Nazis, the Soviet Communists, and Islamic fundamentalists.
And if Amalekism is a concept which defies the uniqueness of the people of Israel - it can rear its ugly head from within the Jewish nation itself. We are often our own worst enemies, with "those who would uproot and destroy us emanating from our own very innards".
From this perspective, the passage in Deuteronomy which we read on the Sabbath before Purim may be dealing with the Amalek concept rather than the Amalek nation - and may subtly be emphasizing the Amalek self- destructiveness which comes from within our very own ranks.
Remember what Amalek did to you by the way (baderekh, by the road, by the direction) when you came out of Egypt.- note that the text does not state "when you were on the way to Israel!" The Israelites will always be vulnerable to Amalekite propaganda from within when they lose sight of their national goal of Jewish Statehood, and its accompanying ideal "from Zion shall come forth Torah and the word of G-d from Jerusalem". In this Biblical instance they were on their way out of Egypt - but they had not yet begun to direct their sights towards Israel.
"How he met you by the way ...(asher korkha baderech)". The words korkha (met you) shares linguistic characteristics with the word mikreh, meaning chance or "accident". Whoever sees events in history as happenstance or fortuitous and does not believe that Israel's destiny is Divinely directed leaves himself open to Amalekite influence. The word korkha also is related to kor (cold), teach the Hassidic commentaries. The Israelite ardor for G-d and His Torah had already cooled off - and so they were ready to give up on their own uniqueness.
"And they cut off all those lagging to the rear, and you were tired and exhausted". People never tire from dedicated work, from even rigorous activity on behalf of a clear goal. When one loses a sense of purpose and significance, then ennui, bored tiredness and even exhaustion sets it. Without the will to succeed, Israel will lag behind - and set the stage for its own defeat.
"And you were tired and exhausted . . . and didn't fear G-d". Without a sense of Divine destiny at your center, you will cease to be what you were supposed to become, Yisrael will have been vanquished and Amalek will have succeeded. "Therefore it shall be when the Lord G-d has given you rest from all our enemies round about . . . that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek." Even if and especially when you are finally living in the land of Israel, at rest from your enemies, that you are most likely to be vulnerable to Amalek's blandishments. "We want to be a nation like all other nations", you say to yourselves at every opportunity. We yearn for material success and physical enjoyments We are interested in relaxation rather than repentance, in Madonna rather than Maimonides. We're living in the Post-Zionist Age which chooses Hong-Kong over holiness!
That's why the segment in Deuteronomy says "You must blot out the memory of Amalek". The destruction of this concept of Amalek, especially when it has emerged from within our own people and our own leadership, can only be done by ourselves; it has nothing to do with G-d. We must rediscover our own uniqueness, our singular destiny. We must re-enter the Divine covenant!
Is it any wonder then, that this command to destroy Amalek is not so much within the historical context of the going out of Egypt as it is within the sacred context of Biblical commandments! And it is most fitting to read the passage on Shabbat - the day set aside for us to experience redemption, to taste G-d's ultimate plan for us and the world, to secure the physical peace and spiritual harmony which we must teach all of humanity to appreciate. Indeed, one of the first Friday evening zmirot (songs) we sing around the Sabbath table make references to our waiting "B'vinyan Ariel (in the building of the Temple)," - in the building and not for the building. On the Sabbath, we are actually in G-d's Temple, we become transported to that world of perfection which we must strive to bring about for everyone. We are commanded to blot out the Amalek within ourselves specifically on Shabbat - for without having experienced the vision Shabbat we will never succeed against the insidiousness of Amalek's seduction. "More than Israel has remembered the Sabbath, the Sabbath has taught Israel to remember."
(Written by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chancellor and Dean of Ohr Torah Stone Colleges and Graduate Programs and the Chief Rabbi of Efrat, Israel. )
