Dear TBZ community:
זָכ֕וֹר אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֥ה לְךָ֖ עֲמָלֵ֑ק בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶ֥ם מִמִּצְרָֽיִם
Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt—
אֲשֶׁ֨ר קָֽרְךָ֜ בַּדֶּ֗רֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּ֤ב בְּךָ֙ כָּל־הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִ֣ים אַֽחַרֶ֔יךָ וְאַתָּ֖ה עָיֵ֣ף וְיָגֵ֑עַ וְלֹ֥א יָרֵ֖א אֱלֹהִֽים
how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear.
וְהָיָ֡ה בְּהָנִ֣יחַ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֣יךָ ׀ לְ֠ךָ מִכָּל־אֹ֨יְבֶ֜יךָ מִסָּבִ֗יב בָּאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יְהוָֽה־אֱ֠לֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵ֨ן לְךָ֤ נַחֲלָה֙ לְרִשְׁתָּ֔הּ תִּמְחֶה֙ אֶת־זֵ֣כֶר עֲמָלֵ֔ק מִתַּ֖חַת הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם לֹ֖א תִּשְׁכָּֽח
Therefore, when the LORD your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!
Zachor, Remember. This is the name we give to this shabbat. The Shabbat before Purim we read these three verses from the Torah, as a special Maftir that instructs us to remember what Amalek did to the people of Israel. Our collective memory as a people is directed to remember the enemy that attacked us at a time of vulnerability. To remember Amalek -- a symbol of evil that we, the Jewish People, encounter again and again in our fight for redemption and freedom.
These three verses of the Torah call us to blot out the memory of Amalek under the heavens and too many times these verses have been dangerously understood as a call to destroy and kill our enemy in acts of revenge and punishment.
We read Zachor every year just before Purim, and the connection clearly leads to the chapters in the Megillah when the Jewish people kill Haman and his family -- destroying their enemy. The Purim holiday holds complexities -- a celebration of liberation and redemption and the killing of our enemies.
Our tradition teaches us that this special maftir is the only one that we are obligated to hear, in person, as it is read from a Torah scroll. But, what happens in a year, like this year of Covid, in which many of us will not be able to hear this Torah reading in person?
Rav Ovadia Yosef’s students in the daily halachic ruling that they write, in memory of their teacher, wrote this week, that those who can not hear the Torah Reading in person because of Covid, should follow the ruling of Sh’at Ha’dchak, a time of emergency: We can transfer the obligation of hearing Zachor, to the shabbat of parshat Ki Tzetze, when we read this verses as part of the regular Torah Reading, during the month of Elul.
When the reading happens in Elul rather than right before Purim, an interesting thing happens to the context of these three verses of Zachor. Instead of reading them as a call for retribution for our own suffering in the hands of our enemies, we are invited to read these verses in the context of teshuvah and introspection.
Inspired by this, I invite us to read this passage as follow this year:
Zachor, Remember the evil that exists in your midst. The evils of inequality and racism and systemic hatred.
Reckon with the past, reckon with human’s greediness and selfishness, reckon with the injustices that have become a part of our world.
Reckon with your own responsibility in the injustices that we easily and usually decide to blame others for.
Don’t forget, don’t move forward, and think that once things feel a bit better that you are doing better, or that since governments have changed and new leadership is moving us forward that you can forget the past and forget that pain is still all around us.
Amalek, the evil, that still exists attacks us when we are the most vulnerable עָיֵ֣ף וְיָגֵ֑עַ famished and weary.
Amalek attacks the most vulnerable.
Don’t forget, don’t forget the most vulnerable.
Yes, we can blot out Amalek --by fighting against injustices, by fighting for a society that is equitable, and by fighting for a world that empowers the most vulnerable rather than leaves them behind.
Don’t forget -- Zachor - Remember -- because when we forget the suffering, the pain, the evil, we become numb, we don’t see beyond our own existence and we stop being partners of God in this world.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones..
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom,
