Haman, Hitler, and modern Amalekites

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal

SAN DIEGO–When most Jews hear the words, “Remember – do not forget!” they think of the Holocaust. Survivors and members of the Jewish community recite these words as an oath to the six million Jews who perished during the Shoah. We pledge not only to remember them and preserve their Jewish way of life, but to do our utmost to make sure genocide and crimes against humanity never happen again.

The words, “Remember – do not forget!” did not originate in the wake of the Shoah but come from the Torah.

On Purim we read the Megillat Esther. This year the Megillah will be read this Saturday night and Sunday morning. During Shabbat services on Saturday morning we will read a special maftir (final Torah portion) from the Book of Deuteronomy. The maftir tells the story of the desert tribe of Amalek attacking the weary Israelites from the rear. The weak, elderly, women, and children, rather than the able-bodied men, were their first victims.

Amalek did not wage a fair fight. Therefore, Moses instructed the Israelites: “When the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heaven. Do not forget!” (Deut. 25:19)

The words, “Remember – do not forget!” come from the first and last two words of this maftir.

Over the years Amalek has served as the prototype for all anti-Semites. In the Scroll of Esther, Haman is described as being a physical descendent of Amalek. Amalek, however, has many spiritual decedents as well. Hitler, of course, is a prime example. In our day, the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a modern day Amalekite, as are the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas.

Some people are afraid of rattling the feathers of modern day Amalekites and believe that condemning them only increases their power. However, pandering or ignoring them does much more harm. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once famously said: “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

Back in the desert, Moses warned the Israelites that they must remember the vile deeds of Amalek and be vigilant, lest such evil raise its ugly head again.

Even thousands of years later our generation is well served, too,  by the Torah’s injunction to stand fast against arrogance, terror, and hatred: “Remember – do not forget!”