The Amalek Consciousness
Shabbat Zakhor
Shabbat Zakhor
Nadav Berger
On the Shabat before Purim, we fulfil the mitzvah of Zakhor, remembering Amalek, by reading the passage about this archetypal enemy in Deuteronomy 25:17-19. From a surface reading of this passage, however, it is hard to understand why this mitzvah should be performed only once per year. Indeed, the Rambam, in his Sefer Ha-Mitzvot, understands the mitzvah of Zakhor to be active every day. What could it mean to fulfil this mitzvah every day? And why are we remembering the evil that one long-dead nation committed against us? Is there another way we can think about the mitzvah of Zakhor?
Read the full dvar Torah below.
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