There have been some heated discussions on some of the rabbis’ listservs that I am on pleading for suggestions for alternative readings for this week’s Haftarah
(1 Samuel 15:1-34.) with some voices saying “I just can’t do it!” The traditional reading for Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat that precedes Purim, is the disturbing story of Samuel’s command to King Saul to wipe out every man, woman, child and even animal from the tribe of Amalek as punishment for what they did to the Israelites on their escape from Egypt. Saul loses his kingship for sparing the King, Agag, and some of the finest animals. The additional (maftir) Torah reading from Deuteronomy 25:17–19 commands us to remember what Amalek did to us and
“to blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget.” This connects us to Purim because the villain of the story, Haman (boo), is a descendant of King Agag.
So, many in the liberal Jewish world are asking how can we read these passages in the light of all that has happened? Others on the extreme right of our Jewish people are relishing in the bloodthirsty narrative, applying it very specifically to Hamas and all they have done. And many of us, including me, are somewhere in between, terrified by the extremist Israeli and Jewish voices in the world that call for annihilation and yet not willing to erase, to cancel these texts that can still have great meaning if we put them in their right context and acknowledge their power, even though they are terrifying. Oy.
The rabbis of the Talmud are clear that Amalek as a nation no longer exists. The Mishna
(Yadayim 4:4) teaches us that under the Assyrian emperor Sancheriv’s rule, the nations were all interspersed and Amalek and the seven Canaanite nations no longer exist today. This renders the command of the Maftir to blot them out as connected to memory and history and not an invitation for destruction.
Having recently returned from Israel, I am so aware of the divisions there. Some of my friends have moved dramatically to the right and others further to the left. Many are appalled by the violent, zealous rhetoric and actions of the likes of Ben Gevir and Smotrich and so many of the extremist settlers. Everyone is still reeling from October 7th and its aftermath, and the appalling cruelty and hatred of Hamas with 59 hostages still in Gaza in horrific conditions, or dead. There is legitimate rage against these terrorists and some of this rage is manifesting itself in horrible acts of revenge that cannot be condoned. Hamas are evil and call for our destruction, but it terrifies me that parts of the Jewish world can make all Palestinians into Amalek and therefore assign it as a Divine obligation to obliterate them.
The Hassidic interpretations very often see Amalek as an internal energy that is in every human, rather than a specific external enemy. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev, for instance, says: "
not only are Jews commanded to wipe out Amalek, who is the descendant of Esau, but each Jew has to wipe out that negative part that is called Amalek hidden in his or her heart. So long as the descendants of Amalek are in the world – and each of us is also a small world, so when the power of evil in each of us arises (that which leads us to sin) Amalek is still in the world – the reminder (to wipe out Amalek) calls out from the Torah." (Kedushat Levi, R. Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev). The angry impulse that many of us feel since October 7th both towards the horrors of Hamas and the denial from so much of the world to call it out, is real and understandable, but to take these texts as license to go wild with indiscriminate revenge killings, like Baruch Goldstein who murdered 29 Palestinians on Purim in 1994, is of course abhorrent. It is morally complex and I don’t claim to have the answers, but do think that there is an invitation from some of the Hassidic commentators to internalize and reflect on the ways in which this energy and force for evil lives inside each of us too. This is not to dismiss or underestimate the reality of the threat of our actual, external enemies who seek our destruction. Of course we need to take them seriously and defend ourselves, but another Hassidic commentator, the Ma’or va’Shemesh (Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Halevi Epstein) re-reads the phrase
zakhor et asher asah lekha Amalek (“remember that which Amalek did to you”) to mean
“recall that you made yourself Amalek.” The maftir Torah reading is considered an obligation for every man, woman and child to hear, so, we are going to be reading it this Shabbat not once but twice to give everyone this opportunity and we will read the passage from 1 Samuel too. As we read and hear these texts, in all their complexity, may we have the capacity to see the force of Amalek as both external and internal and have the consciousness to strive not to become Amalek, but maintain soft, loving hearts, even amidst the rage and the fear.
Shabbat Shalom
Blessings, Rabbi Marc
PS - these concepts apply to Purim and the reading of the Megillah too. The upside down world of Purim is coming and we hope that you will join us next Thursday and Friday for our
Purim celebrations.
