The Shabat that precedes Purim - and Purim Katan - we commemorate the commandment of "remembering Amalek" by reading a special portion of the Torah that describes that commandment. In our time it has not been difficult to remember Amalek, for he, wearing different uniforms and guises, has ravaged us and destroyed Jews in the millions. Yet, the commandment, and perhaps even more importantly, its necessity and moral message, has escaped the notice of many Jews.
Jews live in a just and fair world, according to God's view of things. We, with our finite eyes and minds, on the other hand, perceive this world to be in the main unfair and unjust. We therefore ignore Amalek and always assign him the role of being the aberration in world society, the exception to the rule, the mad murderer whose presence and behavior is always unforeseen and unavoidable. However, the Torah does not quite agree with this description of Amalek's presence in our midst. Amalek, and its evil, thrive on the shortcomings of good society, so to speak. The rabbis mention, and Rashi quotes, the concept that Jews cheating on weights and measures allow Amalek to spawn and grow and eventually appear in its destructive force. If a good people, a good society, tolerates wrongdoing, corruption, cheating, dishonesty and shameful behavior, then the bacteria of Amalek has a fertile feeding ground from which its evil capacities will be nurtured.
In our time, the major killers belonging to Amalek - Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot -all were allowed, and even encouraged, to continue to practice their barbarities because of the tolerance, the "appeasement" extended to them by well-meaning, good people. If honest people wink at cheating, simply because they mistakenly believe that it does not affect them directly, Amalek certainly feels justified in cheating. If human life is not held dear in good societies, and is subject to newly invented rights (right to my own body, right to die when and as I wish, etc.), then Amalek, on a frighteningly grand scale, will view human life as cheap and certainly secondary to political and national concerns.
The rabbis taught us that the city of Sodom was destroyed, not because of its millions of bad people, but rather due to the absence of ten good people in its midst. Good people would have spoken up, would have been an example to others, would have introduced a different moral climate into that city, and therefore they would have saved Sodom from destruction. Amalek can be prevented and combated by the presence of uncompromising good in society. It is the vacuum of the absence of good that allows Amalek to arrive on the scene and flourish.
This is perhaps one of the links that connects the Torah reading of Tetzaveh to Shabat Zachor. In Tetzaveh, the Jews were bidden to prepare pure, beaten, clear olive oil to light the wicks of the great candelabra in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. The light of the great candelabra represented Torah - "Torah is light" - and that pure and holy flame warmed and illuminated Jewish and general society for all the centuries since Sinai. That light was the symbol of good in its pristine and undaunted essence. The light, in order to be effective and acceptable in the holy Temple and Tabernacle, had to be fueled by "good" oil - pure, beaten, sanctified for its holy purpose. That is the only oil that "works" in the long run. Oils that are corrupted with other ingredients, that are not dedicated or meant for use in exclusively good and productive purposes, are never going to produce the necessary light for human society to live by and see with. It is only the holy light of human goodness, fueled by the purest and holiest of motives - the oil - that is the true antidote to Amalek's venomous activities.
As trite as it sounds, good defeats evil every time, if good is really and intrinsically good. Ersatz good, weak good, compromising good, politically correct good - all are unable to deal with Amalek on a permanently successful basis.
Shabat Zachor, therefore, comes to remind us of the standards to which we are held - to be a good people, a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. By living up to those standards we automatically "remember Amalek" and struggle successfully against his penetration into our society and lives.
Shabat Shalom.
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Rabbi Berel Wein is a noted scholar, historian, speaker and educator admired the world over for his audio tapes/CD's, videos and books -- particularly on Jewish history. Visit www.rabbiwein.com for a complete catalog and information.
Jews live in a just and fair world, according to God's view of things. We, with our finite eyes and minds, on the other hand, perceive this world to be in the main unfair and unjust. We therefore ignore Amalek and always assign him the role of being the aberration in world society, the exception to the rule, the mad murderer whose presence and behavior is always unforeseen and unavoidable. However, the Torah does not quite agree with this description of Amalek's presence in our midst. Amalek, and its evil, thrive on the shortcomings of good society, so to speak. The rabbis mention, and Rashi quotes, the concept that Jews cheating on weights and measures allow Amalek to spawn and grow and eventually appear in its destructive force. If a good people, a good society, tolerates wrongdoing, corruption, cheating, dishonesty and shameful behavior, then the bacteria of Amalek has a fertile feeding ground from which its evil capacities will be nurtured.
In our time, the major killers belonging to Amalek - Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot -all were allowed, and even encouraged, to continue to practice their barbarities because of the tolerance, the "appeasement" extended to them by well-meaning, good people. If honest people wink at cheating, simply because they mistakenly believe that it does not affect them directly, Amalek certainly feels justified in cheating. If human life is not held dear in good societies, and is subject to newly invented rights (right to my own body, right to die when and as I wish, etc.), then Amalek, on a frighteningly grand scale, will view human life as cheap and certainly secondary to political and national concerns.
The rabbis taught us that the city of Sodom was destroyed, not because of its millions of bad people, but rather due to the absence of ten good people in its midst. Good people would have spoken up, would have been an example to others, would have introduced a different moral climate into that city, and therefore they would have saved Sodom from destruction. Amalek can be prevented and combated by the presence of uncompromising good in society. It is the vacuum of the absence of good that allows Amalek to arrive on the scene and flourish.
This is perhaps one of the links that connects the Torah reading of Tetzaveh to Shabat Zachor. In Tetzaveh, the Jews were bidden to prepare pure, beaten, clear olive oil to light the wicks of the great candelabra in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. The light of the great candelabra represented Torah - "Torah is light" - and that pure and holy flame warmed and illuminated Jewish and general society for all the centuries since Sinai. That light was the symbol of good in its pristine and undaunted essence. The light, in order to be effective and acceptable in the holy Temple and Tabernacle, had to be fueled by "good" oil - pure, beaten, sanctified for its holy purpose. That is the only oil that "works" in the long run. Oils that are corrupted with other ingredients, that are not dedicated or meant for use in exclusively good and productive purposes, are never going to produce the necessary light for human society to live by and see with. It is only the holy light of human goodness, fueled by the purest and holiest of motives - the oil - that is the true antidote to Amalek's venomous activities.
As trite as it sounds, good defeats evil every time, if good is really and intrinsically good. Ersatz good, weak good, compromising good, politically correct good - all are unable to deal with Amalek on a permanently successful basis.
Shabat Zachor, therefore, comes to remind us of the standards to which we are held - to be a good people, a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. By living up to those standards we automatically "remember Amalek" and struggle successfully against his penetration into our society and lives.
Shabat Shalom.
--------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Berel Wein is a noted scholar, historian, speaker and educator admired the world over for his audio tapes/CD's, videos and books -- particularly on Jewish history. Visit www.rabbiwein.com for a complete catalog and information.