All the “stories” in the Torah are archetypal by nature, meaning their
significance is eternal to each person in each generation. The core energy and
lessons of these stories reappear in countless different guises and circumstances and
relate to the individual, to the people of Israel and to the whole world.
The end of this Torah portion recounts what Amalek did to the Jewish people as
they came out of Egypt. It is this very portion we read on the Shabbat before Purim
in synagogues all over the world. This is a concrete example of how the same energy
of Amalek reappeared in Haman, a descendent of Amalek, nearly a thousand years later.
Today the physical nation of Amalek is not clearly recognizable, yet the Rabbis
teach that any person or nation who actively seeks to wipe out the Jewish people is
the manifestation of Amalek. Tragically, in the last hundred years or so we have seen
many different faces of Amalek: Hitler and the Nazi killing machine, the threats of
Saddam Hussein, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hizbbala, and the recent development of atomic
weapons in Iran. They all share the same design of mass extermination of Jews and the
elimination of Israel in the Middle East.
In the section about Amalek it states: “Remember what Amalek did to you on the
way when you were leaving Egypt…and he struck those of you who were hindmost, all the
weak who were at the rear when you were faint and exhausted…” (Deuteronomy 25:17).
During the last two hundred years and twenty five years a slow trickle of Jews began
returning to the Jewish homeland. From the students of the Baal Shem Tov and the
Vilna Gaon in the late 1700’s, to the first and second aliyot in the late 1800’s and
early 1900’s, the trickle began to turn into a steady stream. By the time of World
War II the ingathering of the exiles was a serious movement. After nearly two
thousand years of exile the Jewish people were coming home, leaving the Egypts of
their time.
It was then that Hitler and the Nazi regime struck at those straggling in the
rear, those who were faint and exhausted“ from the long and bitter exile. Although
Amalek and Hitler took their terrible toll, each was defeated in their purpose.
The portion ends with the proclamation not to forget to wipe out the memory of
Amalek from under the heaven. It is a sad and bitter reality in the world that there
are some enemies you can make peace with and there are other enemies one can only
utterly defeat, for they know no compromise in their goal of wiping out the Jewish
people. This lesson speaks to the Jewish people today as clearly as then, and in fact
due to the scourge of Islamic terrorism around the world is a lesson the world will
ultimately have to confront as well.
