One of the hardest mitzvos to relate to and appreciate, especially since it is virtually impossible to actively fulfill it, is the mitzva of destroying Amalek. This mitzvah of destroying amalek as well as the mitzva to remember Amalek is mentioned at the end of this week’s Torah portion of Ki Setzei.
The Torah gives us a positive mitzva, “Remember what Amalek did to you…” (25:17). The Medrish Tanchuma makes a remarkable statement on this pasuk “The Jews said before Hashem, ‘Master Of The World, You tell us to remember what Amalek did, to us it was done and to You it was not done? We are forgetful, and You don’t forget, therefore You should remember.’ That’s what the pasuk means when it says, ‘Remember Hashem, for the offspring of Edom, the day of Yerushalayim’ (Tehillim 137:7).”
This sounds quite chutzpadik; we are commanding Hashem to remember Amalek, the descendant of Esav, who is Edom, just because we are frail-minded human beings who tend to forget? If Hashem gave us a mitzvah there must be a reason behind it! How can we have the audacity to say ‘You should remember because you are All-Remembering and never forgetful whereas we are forgetful;’ what kind of excuse is that?
However, the Kol HaRaMa”Z, HaRav Moshe Zev MiKalbel, explains the medrish that “since one generation goes and another generation comes, and the second generation doesn’t feel what happened to the first generation, whereas Hashem (who is above time) everything is before Him in the present.”
Just because we weren’t there, it is part of history, but for Hashem there is no history. Hashem was, is, and always will be. Hashem is constant and above time; but why does that exempt us and allow us to claim to Hashem (Zichor, which is command form in Hebrew grammar) that He should remember, and not us?
The truth of the matter is that we are not exempt from this mitzvah; however we have an excuse, that it is part of human nature, the way Hashem created us. Therefore there is a rightful claim that we have towards Hashem; this concept is called hiskatnus hadoros, the depreciating of each generation. The best way to depict what this concept means is through the holocaust. Anyone who actually lived through the horrors of the holocaust, even surviving the death camps, truly understands, appreciates, and for the most part lives by the slogan of “never again!” Their children, the generation who lived with the survivors and possibly heard firsthand accounts about the horrors of their lives, and lived with the direct repercussions of what happened, can surely relate to the feeling of “Never again!” The grandchildren, and maybe even the great-grandchildren who merit to meet and visit their grandparents, and might even hear stories, can relate somewhat to what they lived through. But it is of course not the same as actually being there, or even growing up in the house of a survivor. But certainly the great-great-grandchildren, the generation who most likely never have met anyone from the holocaust, and the generations after that, are so far removed from what happened and its lessons. that it is just a history lesson. It happens to relate to our ancestors, just like the Crusades or Spanish Inquisition. What happened to the call of “Never again!?” With all its emotion and energy? The answer is hiskatnus hadoros, Hashem created us within the framework of time. We do our best in the moment, but as time goes on, and generations pass, we can’t relate to a cause in the same way as the previous generation did, because we weren’t there. We get weaker and weaker each generation.
So too with Amalek. The generation that was present during the attack of Amalek, and even the generations after that, had to still deal with a vicious enemy, all the way up to Haman. So, they could certainly relate to the mitzvah of remembering Amalek. But as the generations continued and Amalek “went underground” so to say, it has become harder to relate to this mitzvah, and what the reminder is for. It is true that the dictum of hiskatnus hadoros explains why we have a hard time with this mitzvah. However this medrish is teaching us that we have a right and maybe even a duty to turn towards Hashem with faith and trust in Him and say, with all our belief, that we cannot relate to the mitzva. We are weak and frail human beings who have the burden of time on our shoulders, but You, the Almighty, who is above and beyond time, You remember the devastation caused by Amalek and their descendants. Hashem in fact was “in a sense, afflicted on Himself” greatly affected by Amalek’s attack, as it says in Beshalach “‘For the hand is on the Throne of G-D: Hashem maintains a war against Amalek, from generation to generation'” (Shemos17:15). The Throne of G-D, כס ק-ה, is spelled without an alef; Throne should be כסא. Hashem’s Throne, won’t be complete until Amalek is completely wiped out from this world. Therefore, the purpose of this mitzvah, according to this medrish, is to strengthen our emuna and bitachon, to turn towards Hashem, and to seek His help acknowledging that we are imperfect beings.
In this fashion may we merit the conclusion of this week’s parsha, “It shall be that when Hashem, your G-D gives you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land Hashem, your G-D, gives you as an inheritance to possess it, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the Heaven – you shall not forget” (Devarim 25:19)!
The mitzva of remembering Amalek is a platform for reinforcing emuna and bitachon, belief and trust in Hashem.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Dovid Shmuel Milder