Remembering Amalek

Shabbat Zakhor | Purim | Holidays

Remember what Amalek did to you by the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; how he met you by the way, and struck at your rear, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around, in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess, that you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget it.

Deut. 25:17-19

The Performance of Memory (Dr. Avinoam Patt): Zakhor in the context of Amalek reinforces the importance of the victim’s voice and the role of the persecuted and the oppressed in recording their history both during and after collective trauma. 

Amalek (song lyrics) (Rabbi Jan Uhrbach): Song lyrics connecting Haman and Amalek as the personification of evil

Memory: Judaism’s Lifeblood (Dr. Ismar Schorsch): The centrality of memory in Jewish practice

“Do Not Forget.” (Rabbi Marc Wolf): Remembering Amalek recalls all genocide and it is up to us to intervene

Remembering to Forget (Rabbi Andrew Shugerman): Connecting the paradoxical commandment from Deutoronomy with the Purim Story

Taming the Beast of Extremism (Dr. Ismar Schorsch): Grappling with the exhortation against Amalek in light of the Hebron massacre

What We Are Asked to Remember (Rabbi Yehoshua Aizenberg): Exploring the history of Argentine Jews through the commandment to Remember Amalek