ZACHOR

Neil Naft, 3 March, 2001

In considering what to say this morning, I had initially thought of concentrating on one topic within the Maftir. But as I began to check sources, I found more and more interesting facts and interpretations that I would like to share with you. I'll talk about them first, and then my relationship with these verses.

By listening to today's Maftir, you have fulfilled a Mitzvah. But it is not just any Mitzvah, it is a Torah Mitzvah. We are obliged to complete most Torah readings through Rabbinic interpretation. But Zachor must be read from a Sefer Torah and this is an obligation of the Torah. I'll talk about its meaning a bit later, but first, let's look at some of the practices that have arisen because of this Mitzvah.

First, we read Zachor twice each year, once in Parsha Ki Tiseh, and once on the Shabbat before Purim. Why? We are told to Remember what Amalek did to you… and the Talmud says that on average, one's memory lasts for 12 months. After that, we would need a reminder. We would be OK in reading Zachor only once, except in leap years. For that reason, we read it a second time, on the Shabbat before Purim, when we read about Haman, Amalek's descendant.

We are admonished to remember, and many of our sages feel that the commandment of Zachor is only fulfilled by speaking. Thus, in some congregations, everyone reads along quietly from their Chumash, while in most, like ours, a Shaliach or agent can read for the community who can then simply listen.

This leads to another common practice. A boy who is not yet of Bar-Mitzvah age is generally not called to the Torah for Maftir on Parshat Zachor. For since he is free of the obligation of mitzvot, he cannot enable others to fulfill their obligation through him.

Because t is so important to hear parshat Zachor, in some shuls they read it again at Mincha for those people who did not manage to hear it in the morning. As well, on this Shabbat, some communities will carry the Torah out of the sanctuary to hospitals and even prisons, so that everyone has the opportunity to fulfill the Mitzvah of hearing these verses.

Let's leave the practices that have arisen in conjunction with this Parsha, and go back to the meaning of it. It has to be very important for us because here we are in the month of Adar when we celebrate the joy and happiness of Purim on the one hand, and then have to remember to blot out from existance an entire people - men, women, children, even their livestock, and yet we don't even know who these Amalekites are. Why bother?

The destruction of Amalek is central in the national existence of Am Yisrael. Chazal, based on the Pasuk at the end of Parshat B'shalach, tells us that G-d's throne is not complete until Amalek's name is destroyed. This means that the ultimate purpose of the Torah, G-d being revealed to the entire world, cannot happen until the name of Amalek is eradicated from this world. As well the Rambam, in the first Halachah of the Laws of Kings and their Wars, states that there were three Mitzvot that the nation was commanded upon entry into Eretz Yisrael. The first mitzvah was to appoint a king, followed by destroying the seed of Amalek, followed by building the Beit Hamikdash. From this Halachah we see how the Mitzvah of eradicating Amalek plays a central role in the national obligations of the Israelite Nation.

How can we understand this today? If we go back to the Rambam, once again in the Laws of Kings and their Wars, he refers to the Mitzvah of destroying the seven nations of Canaan. He writes that no memory of these nations exist anymore. This is because the king of Assyria tried to assimilate all the nations into each other so that their national identities would be lost. Canaanites, while they may be out there, are impossible to identify. This should be true about the nation of Amalek as well. However, when the Rambam codifies the Halachah of eradicating memory of Amalek he does not tell us that the seed of Amalek can not be identified today like he did in the previous Halachah about Canaan. So where does that lead us?

From the school of Rav Chaim Soloveitchik came the following suggestion. The nation of Amalek is not only a genetic family. Rather, they represent an idea, the idea being the destruction of Israel and the removal of G-d's name from the world. For this reason, Parshat B'shalach ends off by saying that there is a war between G-d and Amalek in every generation. Whether the genetic seed of Amalek exists today or can be identified today is irrelevant. As long as there are those who want to eradicate Am Yisrael and to remove G-d's name from earth then the battle must continue.

And where is this battle? We can easily identify battles throughout our history. We read in today's Haftorah of Agag, there was the Pharoah of Egypt, there is Haman, Nebuchadrezzar. We suffered through the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion from England, the pogroms of Russia and the Holocaust. How similar are each of these battles?

Their commonality can be found, interestingly, in the numerology of Amalek's name. Ayin, mem, lamed, kuf is equal to 240. 240 also happens to be the gematria of the word "sufek," which means "doubt" in Hebrew. So Amalek is anything that causes doubt in the minds of Jews. But doubt in what?

The answer to this question comes from pointing out that the name Amalek also equals the words, "el acher" (aleph, lamed, aleph, ches, raish), which means "other god." In other words, Amalek creates doubt in G-d. Rashi explains that Amalek even causes a "split," in the Ineffable Name of G-d, which is another way of saying that nature gives the impression that it works independently of G-d.

If Amalek is then an idea, a concept, rather than a physical people, we also have to ensure that we destroy the Amalek within ourselves. Our own self doubt can do as much damage as those others who set out to destroy us. Amalek can grow within the spiritual void left by our own intellectual doubt. When you're looking for a way out, doubt can go a long way to free you from moral responsibility.

To win the battle against Amalek and avoid the spiritual and physical destruction that follows in his wake, we have to re-commit ourselves to intellectual-honesty, to examine and re-examine what we believe in and why we do, and what we doubt, and where the doubt stems from. This examination can lead to the true answers and lead us to a fulfillment of today's mitzvot - Zachor - remember. Lo Tishtach - do not forget. My Bar Mitzvah aside, today marks the 5th anniversary of my coming up to the Bima to lain Torah. My decision to do this was made while I was sitting Shiva for my father. While looking through some old papers, my sister and I happened upon an invitation to my father's Bar Mitzvah in 1928 - Parsha Zachor.

My father was an unpretentious, unassuming man who went about his life with a quiet competence. He did not stand out in any crowd, but one. For he was gifted with a wonderful, powerful singing voice. He enjoyed nothing more than to lead the davening at morning services, or to lain Torah - which he had begun doing at age 6.

As a child in school choirs, I was usually asked to just mouth the words, and friends and family groan when I try to sing along with the radio. But I could think of no more fitting tribute to my father than to learn his Parsha and to stand in his shadow on the Bima.

I would like to share with you the advise he gave me when he listened to me practicing for my own Bar Mitzvah. I took it literally then, and only recently came to more fully understand it. He said, "Don't sing like you're hungry; sing like you mean it." There is much to remember. There is much I will not forget. Shabbat Shalom