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Shabbat Shalom.
After about an hour’s drive, heading south from Nairobi on our first day working with the Maasai tribe in Kenya, we arrived at a small one-room church in the middle of the bush. The single light bulb, dangling from the metal roof, was charged by a generator outside and shone on the beautiful faces of about 50 teenagers from the surrounding villages. My wife, Anya, and I were brought in and introduced with the following pronouncement:
“This is Elie and Anya. They are Jewish…They are Jesus’ tribesmen.”
I have to admit I really did not know what to expect in that pregnant pause after they said we were Jewish.
This was mid-April 2013, just days after the Boston Marathon bombing. And the world felt a bit on edge.
When they followed up saying that, as Jews, we were Jesus’ tribesmen, I felt a sigh of relief. Immediately I thought to myself, “This is much better than if they said: ‘This is Elie and Anya. They are Jewish AND THEY KILLED JESUS.”
In today’s world, 11 years later, I think I would have been much, much more scared. We see what’s happening around us: the anti-Israel and antisemitic acts perpetrated on campuses, two incidents of rocks thrown through windows displaying “Boston Strong. Israel Strong” signs in Newton. Imagine what it’s like living in other places.
Many of us feel unmoored, uneasy, and, at times, unsafe. Who can we turn to? From where or whom can we find shelter and strength?
And tonight we will read Megillat Esther. Perhaps this year the story of Esther feels a bit different. Perhaps it hits a bit closer to home. Perhaps thinking about Haman’s genocidal decree against the Jew’s, or the killing done by the Jews (albeit in self-defense) gives you chills.
Today, in our maftir aliyah, which we read just moments ago, we recall how Amalek – Haman’s ancestor – attacked the Israelites in the desert.
Right after breathing the air of freedom, having just been liberated from Egypt and crossing the Sea of Reeds, the Amalekites surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear.
אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ ׇ כּל־הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיךָ וְאַתָּה עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ
The Torah then tells us:
תִּמְחֶה אֶת־זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם לֹא תִּשְׁכָּח׃
“Blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”
This line with its seeming contradiction “Erase the memory AND Don’t forget” has always troubled the commentators and been fodder for many, many sermons.
So let me add one more to the mix.
What are we to do at a time, and in a world that feels all too similar to our maftir reading today about Amalek and our megillah tonight about Haman?
It barely feels like we need the command to remember that there are people who seek our destruction.
So what do we need to remember this Shabbat Zachor? Let me briefly propose 3 things:
1) Remember and Don’t forget to Stand Tall – even when God’s protective presence feels far away.
The megillah of Esther famously does not mention God anywhere. It takes place at a time that feels, for many, eerily similar to our own when God’s protective presence seems far away.
The Torah reminds us in the Book of Shmot that even Moshe – who spoke to God directly – feels distant from God at times.
When Moshe asks God: ׃ הְרֵאני נא את כבֶדָך Let me see your glory, God says no, but commands that Moshe “stand sturdy on the rocky mountain,” and God will shield Moshe with God’s hand as God passes by.
R. Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, who wrote from the Warsaw Ghetto, draws on these verses in Shemot and teaches, “Even when we experience God’s hiddenness and endure physical and spiritual troubles, we should not allow into our hearts the thought that we are really hidden from God…” {1}
He then quotes from Shemot, “And you should stand sturdy on the rocky mountain,” and teaches about this verse, “one can be strong and resolute even at a time of hiddenness.”
Zachor, al tishkach: So too, in all the moments when we feel that God is hidden from us, R. Shapira teaches that we are commanded to stand sturdy on the rocky mountain and take strength.
2) Remember and Don’t forget that we do have allies.
The order of events in the book of Shmot, where the story of Amalek’s attack on the Israelites is first told, seems jumbled. But, as many of the traditional commentators point out, this is purposefully done to teach us an important lesson.
The narratives of Exodus chapters 17 and 19! align very well. In chapter 17 we read about Amalek’s brutal attack in a place called Rephidim, and then chapter 19 begins “Having journeyed from Rephidim, the Israelites entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai in front of the mountain.”
Chapter 18, however, describes how Yitro, Moses’ NON-Israelite father-in-law, meets Moshe in the wilderness, where the Israelites were already encamped at the mountain of God.
The Torah interjects the flow of the narrative, telling how Yitro graciously helps Moshe establish a fair and responsible judicial system for the Israelites. Yitro even offers a sacrifice to the God of Israel and eats with Moses, Aaron and all the elders.
Rabbi Shai Held of Hadar explains that: “A people that has been brutally oppressed by one nation and then mercilessly attacked by another might well conclude that it has no friends, allies, or well-wishers. Descendants who read about these events might be tempted to conclude similarly. But the Torah wants to preempt this line of reasoning by reminding us that not all non-Jews are Amalek. Not everyone hates the Jews. Indeed, Yitro serves as a paradigm of the non-Israelite who can seek the well-being of Israel and acknowledge the greatness of its God.”
Zachor, al tishkach: We, too, must remember that in the aftermath of Oct. 7, while many of us felt scores of allies become silent (at best) and antisemitic (at worst), we do still have allies and supporters who wish peace and blessing for the Jewish people and Israel.
3) Remember and Don’t forget that we can’t let Haman win
In chapter 3 of the megillah, when Haman introduces his plot to annihilate the Jews, Haman calls the Jews מְפֻזָּר וּמְפרָֹד scattered and separated.
Why does he use both of these words?
Some commentators explain it to mean that the Jews were scattered among the nations and separated from each other.
Many of us take pride in the fact that there are thriving Jewish communities all over the world. We love visiting synagogues and recognizing the words of the services when we travel to far away lands. However, more and more we see that we are becoming separated from each other: religiously, politically, and over the importance of Israel.
This, of course, is not a source of pride. We are turning away from each other, and we must act in ways that bring us back together.
The Chatam sofer, one of the leading Orthodox rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century, explains that the mitzvah of giving mishloach manot – gifts to other Jews in our community, which originates in the megilah, is an act of defiance to Haman. Haman said that we are separated from each other, but we give mishloach manot as an act of unity and togetherness. {2}
Zachor, al tishkach: We may be dispersed, but we must not be divided.
As we read about Amalek this morning, and when we read about Haman tonight, We must remember:
– We have the strength to stand tall even when God’s protection feels distant;
– We have – and must continue to make – allies, even when it feels others have turned their backs;
– We cannot let Haman win, we must work towards unity.
When the fate of the Jews in sushan was reversed, the megillah tells us – ׃ לַיְּהוּדִים הָיְתָה אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה וְשָׂשׂןֹ וִיקָר The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor.
We recite this line every week during havdalah at the end of shabbat, and we add… כן תהיה לנו ! May it be for us as well!
Shabbat shalom.
{1} I’m grateful to R. Avi Strausberg for pointing me to the R. Shapira sources and framing.
{2} Thanks to R. David Russo for pointing me to Responsa Chatam Sofer OC 196