Remember What Amalek Did and the Mockery of the Covenant

Pesikta Rabbati 12:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"Remember what Amalek did to you" (Deuteronomy 25:17). When Amalek came to make war with Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in the book" (Exodus 17:14). Moses said: Master of the universe, of the righteous it is written that they have a memorial. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: by your life, the memorial of the righteous is to give them reward in the world to come, and the memorial of the wicked is to exact punishment from them and to blot out their name. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: I command you to keep two remembrances — "Remember what Amalek did" and "You shall blot out the memory of Amalek" (Deuteronomy 25:19). Know that if you do not remember them and read of them each year, I will return you to the bondage of Egypt. Another explanation of "Remember": this is what is written, "He shall remember the iniquity of his fathers to the LORD" (Psalms 109:14). It does not say "the iniquity of his father" but "of his fathers." You find that the wicked Esau did not sin against Israel alone but against many: he sinned against the Holy One by burning the Torah and the Temple; he sinned against Israel by killing, burning, and exiling; he sinned against his brother, saying, "Let the days of mourning for my father draw near, and I will kill Jacob my brother" (Genesis 27:41). Why did Amalek fall by the hand of Joseph's descendants and Saul of Benjamin? Because Joseph repaid his brothers good for evil, while Esau repaid Jacob evil for good. Joseph guarded his mother's honor; Esau sought to harm his mother. Joseph affirmed the resurrection of the dead — "God will surely remember you, and you shall carry up my bones" (Exodus 13:19) — while Esau denied it, saying, "Behold, I am going to die" (Genesis 25:32). Therefore the one falls by the hand of the other. "He oppressed your stragglers" — what is "he attacked your rear (vayezannev)"? It is the language of cutting off. Just as Amalek's grandfather cut off the sign of the covenant and threw it heavenward, mocking and blaspheming, saying toward heaven, "In this You delighted — here, it is cast to You" — so they did again. Therefore, said the Holy One, blessed be He: My children, you need only read the portion of Amalek each year, and I count it for you as though you had blotted out his name from the world.

Themes

AmalekDivine JusticeEsther

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