Weekly Message

March 7, 2025
7 Adar 5785
Parashat Tetzaveh
Exodus 27:20 - 30:10
Shabbat Zachor

Dear Friends,

Purim is less than a week away and we find ourselves grappling with a story that does not fit easily into any literary genre. It seems to be all over the place. It is a totally unrealistic story of a poorly run kingdom that runs from farce to almost tragedy, to comedy, to revenge, and ultimately to celebration. 

However, a shape begins to form within the chaotic nature of the story. We gain further perspective through the additional Torah reading for this Shabbat, a Torah reading that gives this Shabbat its name, Zachor, which means remember. 

“Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt—how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore, when your God יהוה grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that your God יהוה is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25:17-19)

These three sentences are read on the Shabbat before Purim because a line is drawn from Haman and the chaos that he engenders to the story of Amalek, who is described as having no fear of God and killing the stragglers. They are both characterized as evil. Traditionally, a line is drawn from Amalek all the way to Hitler.

And yet in the tale of Amalek the chaos is in part due to our neglect of the vulnerable: the old, the sick, the very young, those who need our protection most of all. We are left with an important question – what is it we are to blot out and what is it we should not forget?

I had the pleasure of studying this text last year with our adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah class, when we concluded that what needed to be blotted out was ignoring and neglecting the weakest among us. We did not need to remember Amalek; we needed to understand our own culpability in what happened. So yes, we could blot out Amalek. Sadly, more often than not we enshrine evil doers and remember them, while we forget our own inaction that helped them in attaining power.

We can ask ourselves, why were the weakest members of the community that left Egypt at the back of this large group of travelers?  We know the answer - because they were forgotten, because they did not matter to the community with whom they were travelling. They were unseen. It is interesting to note that not long after this incident, the order of march changed dramatically, protecting not only the elements that went into the Mishkan (the tent of meeting) but also the weakest among the people.

The stragglers died because of neglect by the larger community. If we are only for ourselves who are we… “If I am only for myself, then what am I? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" Pirkei Avot 1:14 (Ethics of the Fathers)

On Purim, we recount different types of bravery. We tell about the bravery of the individual: Vashti’s bravery in standing up to the king and Mordechai’s in not bowing down to Haman. Then we have Esther. Esther understands that to do the hardest thing of all is to stand up not only for herself but for others, and that she cannot do it alone. She reaches out to her community for support before she begins to act.

This connection between the individual and the community is key to creating a better world. What shines through is the desire for a society where the various pieces are bound together and where there is a sense of mutual responsibility. We are each different and unique; yet, there is more that binds us to one another than separates us. The laws that are articulated in the Torah and on Purim allow us to have just that conversation. We want that conversation to continue. Rather than focusing on the evil doers in our world (we could all come up with a long list), let us consider this other approach. Let us continue the conversation despite our differences and create a caring community so that no Amalek can come along and pick off the weakest and most infirm among us. This is not an easy task, but an important one and only possible when we support one another.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Linda Shriner-Cahn