Who is Amalek?

Our goal is to eradicate evil in order to bring holiness into the world.

By SHERRI MANDEL
Painting by Pepe Fainberg (photo credit: PEPE FAINBERG)
Painting by Pepe Fainberg
(photo credit: PEPE FAINBERG)
WE CAN no longer identify Amalek with any nation, yet I know that my son Koby met him. The great American rabbi Yosef Soloveitchik wrote that Amalek is the satanic enemy in each generation that seeks to destroy the Jewish people. In 2001 Koby and his friend, Yosef Ish Ran, went hiking near our home in Tekoa in the West Bank. They were 13 and 14, having fun, cutting school.
Amalek attacks the weak and the powerless, those who straggle, those who are no threat. Koby and Yosef were isolated, savagely beaten to death with rocks. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat claimed that the killings were revenge for the death of a Palestinian child by the IDF.
In the Zakhor Torah portion, we are commanded to remember to banish the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. What does it mean to remember to banish a memory? German rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch interpreted this verse to mean that even the memory of evil will one day be extinguished. In my understanding, this means that the terrorists, who have schools and streets and parks named after them in the Palestinian territories, will not just be destroyed but their culture of hatred and evil will disintegrate and be forgotten. The power of good will be that strong.
In the Torah we are told that God maintains a war against Amalek, from generation to generation. We partner with God in this war to eradicate Amalek.
But who is Amalek? In the Torah, Amalek is the one who has the audacity to attack the Israelites who have just come out of Egypt with signs and wonders. He is the nation that mocks and scorns and dismisses and delegitimizes the Jewish story, denying the grand truth of God’s redemption of the Israelites.
It is important to note that the commandment to destroy Amalek is not an isolated event but part of the Jewish people’s divine mission. The Talmud includes it in a sequence of commandments that the Jewish nation is supposed to fulfill after settling the land of Israel: appointing a king, destroying Amalek, and building the Temple.
Amalek cannot abide the Jews or the Jewish story – the ongoing process and promise of God’s redemption of the Jewish people. He will do everything in his power to destroy us, including killing as many innocent people as he can. During the last week of January, Hamas, for example, ran a camp for 17,000 Palestinian teenagers in Gaza to teach them warfare in order to become the nucleus of a “liberation army.” A Hamas official, Khalil al-Haya said, “We raise the new generation on resistance and not security coordination with Israel.” Resistance, in this case, means the intentional murder of innocents as well as soldiers.
Amalek’s strategy of vengeance begins with the Jews but always expands to include others, as was evident in the recent killings in Paris.
Of course, the notion of eradicating an entire enemy disturbs us. As the Torah tells us, King Saul could not bring himself to destroy Agag, the Amalekite king. Shmuel had to do so.
Where is our compassion? We are brought up in the age of therapy, of rehabilitation. We should bring the enemy to the negotiating table, bring sweets and understanding, meditate together. But the Torah tells us that Amalek cannot be rehabilitated.
Many of us cannot accept the nature of this evil and try to rationalize it. If only Amalek had more money or jobs or dignity or the West Bank. If only we didn’t draw cartoons of his prophet that insult his honor. If only the terrorist enemy didn’t suffer from despair – or humiliation, then Amalek would behave and make peace with the Jewish people.
The Torah tells us no.
The Jewish job in the world is to seek moral clarity: the ability to distinguish between good and evil and, moreover, collectively call evil by its name, and to teach the world to do the same.
Not to dismiss or forgive, not to pardon. Many sympathetic people would like me to forgive my son’s killers. Often when I lecture, people ask me do you forgive your son’s killers? No, I don’t.
Some things cannot be forgiven. Some enemies need to be destroyed. One of the marks of being part of the Jewish people is realizing that in every generation we as a nation have to fight Amalek. Allying ourselves with the Jewish people requires aligning ourselves with that painful reality.
Yet, it is important to note that the act of destroying Amalek does not have to destroy us, morally or ethically or psychologically. We do not have to become bitter or hateful or vengeful – if we realize that our goal is to eradicate evil in order to bring holiness into the world, to realize the sacred promise of God’s redemption.
Sherri Mandell is the co-director of the Koby Mandell Foundation, which runs programs for bereaved families. She is the author of a memoir, ‘The Blessing of a Broken Heart.’ She can be reached at sherrimandell@gmail.com