Hey Fleisher Rebbe,
How’s life? Thanks for the weekly droshes, great, keep it up! Also, I have
a question in anticipation of Shabbat Zachor – how can one remember and also
blot out the memory of Amalek? And is the only link to Purim the fact that
Haman is supposed to be an Amalekite?
love to hear what you have to say
l’shalom
Greg
Hey-
Before I begin to answer your question
<
> Haman is supposed to be an Amalekite?>>
could you clarify what link you are talking about?
Purim was possibly an upperclass novella of nostalgia
among the returnees to Jerusalem longing for the
glorious days of the past. The link to Haman ha-Agagi
is almost certainly a reference to Amalek (Agag, the
king that Saul didn’t kill in I Samuel 15). However, I
would guess that is more to make the story seem more
epic than to be the ‘only link’.
“you must blot, yes, blot out the memory/zecher of
Amalek” (Exodus 17:8-16)
“remember, do not forget, what Amalek did to you”
(Deut. 25:17-19)
I would say these two verses contradict and are the
source of our troubles. I will attempt to study it in
greater detail in the near future. The bottom line is
like Rabbi Meir in TB Berakhot, that we should pray
for the destruction of sin, not of sinners (10a). I
would read two verses as “we must bring about a day
when there is no injustice of ‘Amalek’ and there is no
need to remember it, but in the meantime, remember
that evil exists and combat it.”
[http://www.wujs.org.il/activist/activities/programmes/heritage/beruriah.shtml]
also see
http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/5756/tetzaveh.shtml
http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/5754/pekuday.shtml
later
-Benjamin
My question about the link was the link between Amalek in Ex. and Deut. and
Purim – ie. why we read Parshat Zachor just before Purim, but your answer
hints at something else – you said that Haman was linked to Agag
intentionally but that was just to make the story juicier, so why the link
between Amalek and Purim – because they’re always out to get us?
marbim b’simcha
Greg
Hey-
If you read the JTS links I ihad ncluded, you’ll see
that Purim is almost like teshuvah and rectification
of all previous Jewish behavior [Saul's behavior in
particular, i.e. they didn't despoil the Persians].
see for how Purim and Zachor are part of the general
preparation for the redemption of Pesach
http://members.aol.com/minskee/Batmitzvah/Dvtorah3.htm
Some opinions in the Talmud even see Purim as a second
Matan Torah (giving of the Torah) since Sinai was
forced (‘accept these or die’ in one midrash), here it
was “kiymu ve-kiblu, they established it and they
accepted it”, with the rabbis reading as the people
establishing the holiday and heaven accepting it.
see “The Jews accepted and they undertook” (ibid 9:27)
http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/parsha/chrysler/archives/tetzave.htm
see how Aish connects Germany to Amalek similar to how
the Megillah does. The difference, of course, being
that the Jews triumphed over Haman in the end.
http://www.aish.com/holidays/purim/the_hitler_haman_connection.asp
< linked to Agag
> intentionally but that was just to make the story
> juicier, so why the link> between Amalek and Purim -
because they’re always> out to get us?>>
I wouldn’t say ‘juicier’, but that Judaism operates on
resonance. On the one hand, Ma’aseh Avot Siman
le-Banim (the deeds of the forefathers are signs for
the children), and on the other it is our duty to
‘complete the world’ and fix the things our
forefathers left broken (Avot 2:15-16). So, by linking
Haman to Agag and to Amalek, we create a kind of
bigger picture of historical evil versus historical
good or (dis)obedience to the divine ethic.
see
http://uahc.org/goandstudy/volume2/nfty/n4.shtml
p.s. remember it say “remember, do not forget, what
Amalek DID” and “blot, yes blot out the
MEMORY/MEMORIAL of Amalek”, Zecher Amalek is his
memory and his deeds and his ways. Had the text said
Zera’ Amalek, only then would we be ‘justified’ in the
often quoted acid test of fundamentalism to kill even
an Amalekite baby.
okay, back to work and shabbat shalom!
I’ll probably send a cleaned up version Sunday or
Monday. I”m going to DC in the meantime.
-Benjamin
–the following site is about Purim around the world
http://www.shofar.org/shalom/941q_purim.htm
–see Klein on Purim to refresh the halakhic basis
http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/diduknow/jrpguide/16_part4.shtml
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