Parashat Ki Tetze, Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

This week’s parasha is in memory of Jane Potts, mother of Adrienne Rosen, Myra White and grandmother of Alana and Sally Rosenwhite.

Remembering Amalek has provided a model of for Jewish survival stretching back to the Bible, reaching out to recent history.

All cultures have ways of symbolizing evil. It could be a particular figure such as a caped villain tying the damsel in distress to the railroad track. It might be a particular color, a sound, or an ominous grouping of musical notes. For Jews, evil is traditionally epitomized by the deeds of Amalek, described at the very end of Ki Tetze:

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 the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget! (Deut 25:17-19)

These words refer to an event mentioned In Exodus 17:8-13, but the details of Amalek's actions are left for this week's portion. The worst part of this encounter being the attack on the weakest in the group, those who are strategically placed at the rear so they may be protected.

While seemingly out of place with the rest of Ki Tetze, these last few verses dealing with Amalek tie in thematically with it and the many issues of social welfare raised in the Torah portion where the concern is for the weak, the stragglers, captives (especially women), slaves, the poor, and even animals.

Over the course of time, Amalek became synonymous with whatever individual or group posed a threat to Jewish survival. Through these encounters over the millennia, the commandment zachor became imbued with a transcendent vigilance.

Remembering in the Torah most often deals with the relationship between God and Israel. We are to remember all that God has done for us, taking us out of Egypt, ensuring our survival in the wilderness, leading us to the Promised Land. Remembering (zachor) is also a crucial aspect of the commandment dealing with Shabbat. God too remembers. God takes note (pakad) of Sarah, ensuring the continuity of the Covenant. God remembers (zachar) the covenant with our ancestors, takes notice of us and begins the chain of events that will free us from slavery (Ex. 2:24-5).

What are we to remember and how are we to remember? Our relationship to our past has been a crucial element in Judaism which strives to imbue history with transcendent meaning. God's purpose and will unfold through history and this is what we record in our holy works.

This approach to the past is analyzed in Yosef Hayyim Yerushalmi's masterpiece Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory where he describes the Jewish approach to history as "Divine challenge & human response." In the ancient world deities were experienced through nature; Jews encounter the Divine in time and history. We see that in our festivals which commemorate critical interactions with God rather see that in reenacting a primeval myth. It is also evident in the way God's self-description as the God of our ancestors, rather than as a god of creation.

According to Yerushalmi, we keep history alive through memory. As in all cases of remembering, it is a selective memory and we choose to remember God's intervention on our behalf. So the formative event in Judaism, the Exodus from Egypt, omits human heroes as our memory takes shape. Moses appears in the Torah but disappears in the Haggadah. There is only one hero, God.

History disappears with the Talmudic rabbis. They play with time and with characters. Thus the pastoral Isaac studies in a heavenly yeshiva, Moses visits a yeshiva in rabbinic times. They teach us that ein mukdam u-me'uchar ba'torah – there is no "before" or "after" in the Torah. As Yerushalmi points out, the rabbinic sages did not write the history of their own time; their objective was not to record event, but to explore their purpose and meaning.

In Rabbinic interpretation, history has a divine purpose; crucial to that pattern is the commandment to remember Amalek.

Naivete and amnesia always favor the aggressors, the Amalekites in particular. The Amalekites wanted to wipe out an entire people, memory and all; amnesia completes that undone job. Ingenuousness leads to lowering the guard, which encourages attempts at repetition. One of the classic evasions undergirding naivete is the claim that Amalek is long since gone. Only "primitive" people are so cruel, only madmen or people controlled by a Svengali/Hitler type would do such terrible things. The mitzvah of Zachor is a stern reminder that Amalek lives and must be fought. (Rabbi Irving Greenberg The Jewish Way p. 244)

Remembering Amalek has provided a model of for Jewish survival stretching back to the Bible, reaching out to recent history. But today, many in the Jewish community are questioning whether old models will carry us into the future. Just a month ago, a Jewish think tank put together by the Bronfman family met in Utah to ponder the question "Why be Jewish."

The ensuing discussions were wide ranging and often very personal, dealing with topics such as belief in redemption, the disintegration of communal responsibility, the appeal of ecstatic prayer and the deficiencies of existing communal structures.
Absent from the conversations were anti-Semitism, Israel and the Holocaust, the holy trinity of American Jewish identity for the past 60 years. …
"The big question this generation is asking is, 'Why should I be Jewish? How does Judaism influence my life?' The old 'peoplehood' argument doesn't resonate with them." (Sue Fishkoff, JTA Reporter's Notebook, August 3, 2007)

This according to conference organizer, Rabbi Eliyahu Stern.

Are we at a point where our tried-and-true model for Jewish survival has stopped working? Peoplehood is interwoven with historical memory; the latter cannot exist on an individual level. There is nothing wrong with personalizing the issue and attaining deep personal satisfaction from Judaism. But ultimately, Judaism is a communal covenant. Even the instructions in Ki Tetze, though they focus on individuals within a society, are meant to guarantee the stability of the entire community. Our challenge is to integrate the personal and communal, strengthening personal commitment while ensuring communal endurance. Zachor is not only what we remember but how we remember.

Shabbat shalom,
MS