On Thursday night, the Memphis Jewish community gathered at the JCC to memorialize Ezra Schwartz, z”l, and the many other recent victims of terror. The “Torah Trumps Terror” program was the culmination of the community’s project to learn all of Tanach and featured words of Torah and inspiration from community rabbis and leaders and the lighting of candles in memory of these victims. Thank you to Bluma Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein and the Jewish Community Partners for organizing this event. Below are the thoughts that I shared.
Peace is one of the greatest values for the Jew. Daily we say, oseh shalom bimromav hu ya’ase shalom alenu – The One Who makes peace in the heavens may He make peace on us. In Pirke Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, Hillel teaches that one of our greatest leaders and role models, Aaron the High Priest, brother of Moshe, was ohev shalom ve’rodef shalom – he loved peace and he chased after peace. We are taught that in certain cases one can even tell a lie to foster shelom bayit - peace in the home.
As lovers of peace, one mitzvah in particular jumps out at us. It is the one mitzvah that my uninitiated students always ask about and my more learned students don’t feel comfortable asking about. It is a mitzvah that, on the surface, seems to contradict a fundamental value on which the Jewish People stand. I am referring to the mitzvah to destroy the nation of Amalek, and to remember, and not forget, what they did to us when we left Egypt. The Amalekites were the first recorded terrorists in Jewish history. In the few moments that we have tonight, let us consider what exactly Amalek did to us and why we need to remember it for all time.
The Torah writes in Deuteronomy, Chapter 25, “Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt; how he met you by the way, and attacked your rear flank, all, in the back, who were weak, when you were faint and weary; and he feared not G-d.” To summarize, the Torah commands us to recall two elements of Amalek’s attack - their ambush and their attack on the most vulnerable of our people.
The Jewish people had no quarrel with Amalek! The very fact that Amalek hated the Almighty – and the Jewish people who He took as his own – so much that they would launch an unprovoked attack which they could not win is noteworthy by itself! Why does the Torah command us to recall the specifics of their violence against us?
Amalek’s attack on the weakest of our people is a measure of their cruelty. Attacking the weak has no military benefit – it is unadulterated viciousness. Remembering what Amalek did to us is a constant reminder that those who truly hate the Jewish people are capable of the most barbaric and cruel acts in support of their crusade. There is a perpetual quality to the savagery and barbarism of those who hate the Jewish People and all that we represent. We must not forget this.
Let us also examine the second aspect of Amalek’s attack – the ambush. An ambush is a military tactic. Why is it important to remember the particular strategy that Amalek used?
My Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yisroel Chait, argues that the hater, although consumed by an emotion, is capable of executing the most intelligent plan. Evil and intelligence are not mutually exclusive. Amalek determined their plan of attack, waited for the right time and executed their plan to perfection. The plan may have been evil and self-destructive – but it was intelligent. Remembering Amalek teaches that the hater is capable of creating a strategy to best to hurt the object of his hatred. Amalek is a perpetual object-lesson in dealing with those who hate us. A Jew-hater may be evil but not necessarily stupid.
Tonight’s program highlights not only our shared sense of loss but our shared sense of senseless loss. The death of innocents at the hand of terrorists is tragic. We are certainly here to memorialize Ezra Schwartz and other victims of terror. We certainly pray for peace because our nation’s quest for peace is enduring. But on a night like tonight, let us take a small step out of our national comfort zone and consider the lesson of Amalek. Those who hate us can be cruel and even calculated. Discussing the machinations of those who hate us and how depraved they can be helps us to truly understand them and to properly respond.
Shabbat Shalom.
Peace is one of the greatest values for the Jew. Daily we say, oseh shalom bimromav hu ya’ase shalom alenu – The One Who makes peace in the heavens may He make peace on us. In Pirke Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, Hillel teaches that one of our greatest leaders and role models, Aaron the High Priest, brother of Moshe, was ohev shalom ve’rodef shalom – he loved peace and he chased after peace. We are taught that in certain cases one can even tell a lie to foster shelom bayit - peace in the home.
As lovers of peace, one mitzvah in particular jumps out at us. It is the one mitzvah that my uninitiated students always ask about and my more learned students don’t feel comfortable asking about. It is a mitzvah that, on the surface, seems to contradict a fundamental value on which the Jewish People stand. I am referring to the mitzvah to destroy the nation of Amalek, and to remember, and not forget, what they did to us when we left Egypt. The Amalekites were the first recorded terrorists in Jewish history. In the few moments that we have tonight, let us consider what exactly Amalek did to us and why we need to remember it for all time.
The Torah writes in Deuteronomy, Chapter 25, “Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt; how he met you by the way, and attacked your rear flank, all, in the back, who were weak, when you were faint and weary; and he feared not G-d.” To summarize, the Torah commands us to recall two elements of Amalek’s attack - their ambush and their attack on the most vulnerable of our people.
The Jewish people had no quarrel with Amalek! The very fact that Amalek hated the Almighty – and the Jewish people who He took as his own – so much that they would launch an unprovoked attack which they could not win is noteworthy by itself! Why does the Torah command us to recall the specifics of their violence against us?
Amalek’s attack on the weakest of our people is a measure of their cruelty. Attacking the weak has no military benefit – it is unadulterated viciousness. Remembering what Amalek did to us is a constant reminder that those who truly hate the Jewish people are capable of the most barbaric and cruel acts in support of their crusade. There is a perpetual quality to the savagery and barbarism of those who hate the Jewish People and all that we represent. We must not forget this.
Let us also examine the second aspect of Amalek’s attack – the ambush. An ambush is a military tactic. Why is it important to remember the particular strategy that Amalek used?
My Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yisroel Chait, argues that the hater, although consumed by an emotion, is capable of executing the most intelligent plan. Evil and intelligence are not mutually exclusive. Amalek determined their plan of attack, waited for the right time and executed their plan to perfection. The plan may have been evil and self-destructive – but it was intelligent. Remembering Amalek teaches that the hater is capable of creating a strategy to best to hurt the object of his hatred. Amalek is a perpetual object-lesson in dealing with those who hate us. A Jew-hater may be evil but not necessarily stupid.
Tonight’s program highlights not only our shared sense of loss but our shared sense of senseless loss. The death of innocents at the hand of terrorists is tragic. We are certainly here to memorialize Ezra Schwartz and other victims of terror. We certainly pray for peace because our nation’s quest for peace is enduring. But on a night like tonight, let us take a small step out of our national comfort zone and consider the lesson of Amalek. Those who hate us can be cruel and even calculated. Discussing the machinations of those who hate us and how depraved they can be helps us to truly understand them and to properly respond.
Shabbat Shalom.
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