Remember

Remember - that's what Jews do: So, why the question mark? For three reasons (at least) - all of them questions: What do we remember? Do we remember? Why remember?

The Shabbat prior to Purim is known as Shabbat Zachor because, in addition to the weekly Torah portion, we read a passage, beginning: 'Remember [Zachor] what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt' (Deuteronomy 25: 17-19). We read this text just before Purim because the Book of Esther introduces Haman as a descendant of Amalek (3:1). Jewish thought, following the Torah, views Amalek as the epitome of evil. So, what did Amalek do that was so terrible? Why doesn't the Torah exhort us to 'remember Pharaoh', for example? According to Exodus chapter 17 (8-16), Amalek attacked the Israelites at Rephidim shortly after they had left Egypt, and Deuteronomy adds the interesting detail, that Amalek ambushed the fugitive slaves when they were 'famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear' (25:18). The Israeli biblical scholar, Nehama Leibowitz, draws attention to the implications of Amalek's audacious brutality: '[After the Exodus] Mankind as a whole might have taken one great step further and acknowledged the sovereignty of the God of justice and truth, but then along came Amalek and... [t]he world returned to its former rut, to its idols of gold and silver, its faith in mortal power and brute force' (Studies in Devarim, WZO, Jerusalem, 1980, pp. 255-6).

The Torah commands Jews to 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy' (Exodus 20: 8), to acknowledge God and the sanctity of God's Creation. And the Torah also exhorts us to remember the antithesis of all that is good, whole and sacred - utter profanity and evil. Both sorts of remembering are essential. If we want to ensure that goodness thrives, we have to repudiate Amalek-like radical evil: The hatred and violent abuse of 'others' - anti-Semitism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, Islamaphobia, persecution of minorities, the weak and the vulnerable. The point of remembering absolute evil, is to commit ourselves to eradicating it and acting for good. The Deuteronomy passage closes with the words, 'you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!' (25: 19) Shabbat Zachor serves to remind us that we are impelled to remember the evil we have experienced in the past in order that we may dedicate ourselves to eliminating evil in the present and in the future.