Shabbat Zachor: Blot Out; Don’t Forget–Memory and Moving On |
This Shabbat is not only Parshat Tetzaveh; it is also Shabbat Zachor. The reason it is called that is because we read a passage from Deuteronomy and the haftarah from I Samuel 15:1–34. The two texts relate to the necessity of remembering Amalek and never forgetting what he did to us.
“Remember—זכור– what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt—how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore, when your God יהוה grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that your God יהוה is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget--לא תשכח !” (Deuteronomy 25:17–19).
Notice the paradox. We are told to blot out the memory—and simultaneously commanded not to forget. Erasure and recollection live side by side. What that means is that we are commanded to remember Amalek—and also never to forget what he did to us when we were at the lowest time of our lives. The command is not only historical; it is emotional. It asks us to recall vulnerability, to remember what it feels like to be weary and exposed.
I am sitting here in my new home–having slept very well—looking around at my familiar furniture. I took too much. Much of it is replete with memories. My daughter and son-in-law went all out and arranged the furniture that the movers brought, and everything is in its place. It will probably take me months to reorganize and make it livable to my standards, but I am full of gratitude to them.
Unlike the people of Israel, I am not at my lowest point. I am appreciative of having arrived safely and having everything fall into place. This retirement home is like a hotel. On the table greeting us was a bottle of wine, a box of chocolate, and a bathrobe with the insignia of the home. I did not stagger into this next chapter depleted and afraid. I arrived welcomed.
Unlike the people of Israel wandering for forty years and grumbling all the time, I am making do. I did not slink out of Egypt taking nothing with me except the clothes on my back and what the Egyptian women gave them from the kindness of their hearts. I was sent on my way with love—from my community and my closest........