We have all been focused on the tragedy of the Japan earthquake, the tsunami, and perhaps the most terrifying, the potential nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant; and rightly so. However last Shabbat, anti-Semitism once again reared its ugly head. This time it took the form of two Muslim Arab terrorists entering the Fogel family home in the town of Itamar and proceeded to stab the Fogel family to death and then slit their throats. Father- Udi, mother - Ruth, 11 year old son - Yoav, four year old son Elad, and three month old girl Hadas were brutally slain. There was no burglary gone awry. There was no military operation with ensuing "collateral damage", or innocents victims caught in the crossfire of gun battle. Rather a random act of anti-Semitic violence perpetrated upon a family that was guilty of being Jewish and living in Itamar. As heinous and evil as the crime was, even more disturbing and just as evil is the aftermath of this terrorist attack and other terrorist attack. Some group claims credit; in this case Al Fatah claimed "credit" for the attack, and the Palestinians who reside in Gaza celebrate the criminals and great "freedom fighters". In Israel, this crime, like the previous anti-Semitic crimes perpetrated by the terrorist, will also be remembered in Israel. Like previous anti- Semitic crimes perpetrated by terrorists, Israel will also make every attempt to blot the terrorists out from the face of the earth.
This Shabbat, the Shabbat that immediately precedes the holiday of Purim is known as Shabbat Zachor. Two sifrei Torah are taken out and read. From one Torah, we will read the weekly Parsha (Tzav). From the second we will read the last three verses of Deuteronomy chapter 25. "Remember what Amalek did to you, on thew way when you were leaving Egypt, that he happened upon [ambushed] you on the way, and he struck those of you who were hindmost, all those where were weak at your rear, when you were faint and exhausted, and he did not fear God. It shall be that when Hashem, your God gives you rest from all your enemies all around, in the Lad that Hashem, your God, gives you as an inheritance to possess it, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heave - you shall not forget!" These three verses are read as a reminder of the fact that Haman, the evil antagonist of the Purim story can trace his lineage back to Amalek. Just like Amalek sought to destroy the Jews and had no sense of awe in regards to God, so it was with Amalek's descendant Haman. Just like we are commanded to wipe out Amalek and the evil that it represents; we wiped out Haman and his descendants in the Megillat Ester (the Purim Story).
While this explains the reason why these P'sukim (verses) are always read on the Shabbat immediately preceding Purim, the Psukim themselves raise an interesting tension when the commandment does not have a corresponding explicit physical action. If you think about it, the general rule is that positive commandments have a corresponding physical action ie: lighting Shabbat candles, making Kiddush, bringing Korbonot to the Holy Temple (and then replaced by prayer), studying Torah, blowing the Shofar to name a few. Zachor et Amalek"- remember Amalek is also considered a positive commandment. What is the explicit corresponding physical action of "remembering Amalek", or remembering what Amalek did to our ancestors as they made they way out of Egypt? The explicit physical activity is to "blot out the memory of Amalek". Remember what Amalek did but blot them out of your memory. The two ideas, remembering, and blotting out, seem to be at cross purposes. After all if we blot something out from our memory then by definition we don't remember it. This is why people go to therapy.
Rashi explains that to "blot out from the memory" means M'Ish v'ad Isha M'Ollel V'ad Yoneik, M'shor V'ad Seh - from all the men and women, children, livestock, anything associate with Amelek. Sforno, the Italian Rennaissance rabbi of the late 15th / early 16th century is even more explicit. The term Timche et Zeicher Amalek -Blot out the memory of the Amalek means to totally annihilate the evil for which Amalek represents. Only by remembering Amalek's evil deed, can we know to destroy that same type of evil when confronted by it. Perhaps we can best understand and appreciate the example of an individual who experiences cancer surgery. The scar that an individual carries with him following cancer surgery serves as a reminder that these malignant cells have been removed. In a sense, the malignancy has been blotted out or eradicated, but the scar remains to serve as a reminder and a motivator for changing one'slifestyle.
Haman and his anti-Semitism was a cancer upon the reign of Achashveirosh as well as the Jewish people. Only when the cancer is eradicated can people live their lives with some semblance of normalcy. The cancer that was this heinous terrorist act, like all those that came before, will be remembered by Israel as something that needs to be eradicated. For the evil to stop spreading, it is not enough for Israel to eradicate the evil of Haman, and the evil of the terrorist attack upon the Fogel family. Evil needs to be eradicated in the places where it is allowed to fester, and to grow. It was eliminated in Shushan, Persia and it needs to be eradicated in places where anti-Semitism remains so prevalent, in places where murderous terrorist acts are celebrated.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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