Titzaveh/ Zachor

Titzaveh/ Zachor

This  week, the Shabbath before Purim, the tradition has us fulfill the commandment to remember Amalek.  We remember that they attacked us in our fatigue, both physical and spiritual and we are commanded to erase every thought of the accursed tribe. I am commanded to remember some tribe that I can no longer identify.  A people that no longer exists.  I am commanded to erase a null set. 

There is a tradition  that Amalek represents (baseless) antisemitism. [ I would argue that all antisemitism, like any racism, is baseless. ].  I have no trouble understanding antisemitism.  My experience with it: a few comments, a punch or two when I was a child - these are very mild.  Worth mentioning only because of their role in strengthening my bond to the Jewish people.  My parents, and my murdered grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins....they are the victims of the antisemitism worth remembering.  This Amalek I can recognize and curse.  Is it the wrong Amalek?  Are all the Amaleks one? 

It is important to me not to misidentify the evil tribe. They are  not confined to a particular nation or language, although the concentration of Amalekites may have been extraordinarily high in Germany and Poland and Ukraine and Lithuania...  It is the people unified by their willingness and desire to kill and torment the weak, exhausted, defenseless people.  Not just Jews, but all the sojourners. 

My parents called our victims of the Holocaust korbonoth- sacrificial offerings.  The main parsha for this week, Titzaveh, deals with the initiation of the altar and its attendant priests. The animal sacrifices of the Torah conveyed the drama of death, especially death without worldly benefit. They can never match the impact of the holocaust.  Perhaps, in the next temple, animal sacrifices will be replaced by  film documenting the concentration and death camps. 

Let us celebrate our survival

Happy Purim