Remember… What?

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At the outset, I am going to hazard a guess that the following interpretation of the relevant Biblical verses is grammatically erroneous, and also, most likely, textually and theologically inadequate and unsupportable.  On the other hand . . . that never stopped me before, so here goes.

Each year, on the Shabbat preceding Purim, we are obligated to hear a portion of the Torah in which the treacherous, unprovoked attack of Amalek on the nascent nation of Israel is recalled, as well as what we have been taught is the eternal commandment to extirpate the memory of Amalek.  The Haftarah of this Shabbat Zachor – Shabbat of Remembrance – deals with the Prophet Samuel’s order to King Saul that he fulfill the commandment to obliterate Amalek, and the dire consequences of Saul’s failure to do so fully.

Basic message, traditionally interpreted:  We should remember that Amalek is the eternal enemy of God and of Israel; we must never forget the mission to annihilate them.

But is that what the actual language of the Torah says?  The Torah indeed says that we must remember, and, in a manner that would enrage a teacher of freshman composition, also never forget, what Amalek did to us:

זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק בדרך בצאתכם ממצרים

Remember what Amalek did to you when you were in the midst of your departure from Egypt.

The Torah also confirms that God’s war against Amalek is eternal:

מלחמה להשם בעמלק מדר דר

And that God has resolved  to blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven:

כי-מחה אמחה את-זכר עמלק מתחת השמים.

But are we actually commanded to annihilate them?  The applicable verses say:

והיה בהניח השם אלקיך לך מכל-איביך מסביב בארץ אשר השם-אלקיך נתן לך נחלה לרשתה תמחה את-זכר עמלק מתחת השמים, לא תשכח.

And when the Lord, your God, relieves you of all your surrounding enemies, in the land that the Lord, your God, gives to you as an inheritance to possess, erase the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget.

Remember.  Do not forget. Erase the remembrance.  Do these verses not contain the most self-contradictory and impossible commandments imaginable?  Always remember to eradicate the memory.  Once you erase the memory, do you not render it impossible to remember?  If you always remember, have you not failed to eradicate remembrance?  Is God asking us to do something that is inherently impossible:  always remember and do not forget to erase the memory of what you must always remember?

That conundrum aside, the question of how to confront Jew-hatred resonates throughout Jewish history and appears particularly relevant today, as our politicians and generals promise us that they will defeat and utterly wipe out Hamas–the Amalek of the moment–at the very same time that political observers and many pundits and scholars tell us that Hamas, being an ideology, can not be eradicated, no matter how many terrorists we kill.

Right.

The Torah understands that.

Look at what the Torah actually says:  the war between God and Amalek is eternal.  God will provide a land for us as an inheritance to possess and will (may the day arrive soon) relieve us of our surrounding enemies.

And then, what shall we always remember, and never forget, to do?  Wipe out זכר עמלק, all remembrance of Amalek.  Not wipe out Amalek–God has already relieved us of our enemies for the moment and advised us that the conflict between good and evil, God and Amalek, is eternal.  No–we are to wipe out זכר עמלק–not our memory of what they did, but the murderous content of their own minds.  It is their memory, their consciousness, their indoctrination, their despicable anti-semitism, their collective memory, that we must constantly strive to eliminate from under heaven.  It is a never-ending war against lies and calumny.

In this (I admit) idiosyncratic interpretation, we are required to eternally remember that, beyond the constant physical threats, we are engaged in an eternal war with the mendacious ideologies and treacherous mythology of our enemies, Amalekites all, whether in Gaza or Morningside Heights, whose propaganda and education teach them that the Jews have no right to this–or any–homeland.

On this Shabbat of Remembrance, it is that which we must remember–to continuously fight against the ideas–the memory, the thought processes, the hatred, the animus–of Amalek regarding our people.

תמחה את-זכר עמלק מתחת השמים; לא תשכח.

The military victory–may it soon arrive–is not enough.  We must win the battle for the minds of the next generation.  And that will be even harder to accomplish.

Happy Purim!