The shabbat before Purim is known as Shabbat Zachor – Remembrance Shabbat. This is a special shabbat where we read not just from the weekly parasha (this week is Vayikra, the first section of the Book of Leviticus) and so we read a special addition from Deuteronomy 25:17-19.
It begins: “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey in leaving Mitzrayim.”
Amalek is a grandson of Esav, and thus the Amalekites and Israelites are cousin tribes. But who was his mother? The rabbinic tradition tells of his mother, Timna, as someone who tried to convert and become an Israelite, but Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all rejected her. It is because of this rejection, it is said, that she bore Amalek, who became a nemesis of the Israelites and their descendants.
As we move into Purim, a holiday where it is our obligation to question the idea of “good guys” and “bad guys,” let us remember not just “what Amalek did to us” but also what we did to Amalek. Perhaps only from a place of humility and atonement for our and our ancestors’ acts can we find true joy at no one's misery.
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
It begins: “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey in leaving Mitzrayim.”
Amalek is a grandson of Esav, and thus the Amalekites and Israelites are cousin tribes. But who was his mother? The rabbinic tradition tells of his mother, Timna, as someone who tried to convert and become an Israelite, but Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all rejected her. It is because of this rejection, it is said, that she bore Amalek, who became a nemesis of the Israelites and their descendants.
As we move into Purim, a holiday where it is our obligation to question the idea of “good guys” and “bad guys,” let us remember not just “what Amalek did to us” but also what we did to Amalek. Perhaps only from a place of humility and atonement for our and our ancestors’ acts can we find true joy at no one's misery.
Shabbat shalom,
R’ David
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