Filed under: Thoughts of the Week
This week’s portion paralleled events in our lives as we went forth to deliver our son to his first year of college. We were at Sharei Tzdek, my wife’s parents’ synagogue in Amherst, New York for the Torah reading. That congregation reads the entire Torah portion, with detailed commentary by their rabbi, before each reading. Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19 was the portion of the week.
Our family have discussed the concluding section of this reading, about blotting out the name of Amalek from the families of the world. We thought it gave a strange message of remembering to forget Amalek, a tribe that attacked the weak and old at the end of the travelling tribes as they were escaping from Egypt and in the desert. Descendants of Amalek were said to be among the evil of the world – from Haman in the Purim story to Hitler in the last century.
I have read that some find that this section – Deuteronomy XXV, 17 – 19 – describes the first recording of ethnic cleansing in history. Since Amalek no longer existing as a nation, one might say that there are elements of these brutal, brutish people in all nations, even within oneself. Yet, Amalek continues to be remembered and evil continues to exist. The prior sections of the reading dealing with relationships between people – being fair in business, rules on fighting if conflicts do flare, taking care of the widow and children, kindness to animals – may provide the only strong response to human evil. Building a just world may bring light to the darkness of base evil and not caring about each other.
The haftorah for this fifth reading of consolation was from Isaiah LIV, 1-10, one of the shortest readings in the year. The reading compares the Divine’s relationship to Israel as a beloved barren wife. The Divine is universal and will not destroy the world again as with a flood.
Our two oldest sons returned to UCONN, one middle son decided to go to the University at Buffalo so that we would not even just drop in to visit him. He thought that we was leaving our community forever, except for short visits. He plans to be a world-travellers but was not sure of what he would study. His grand-parents live in the same town, so we will see him often. When he went forth, we started a new life. When he left us, we returned to an emptier home and a new phase of our lives. Let it be a life free of evil and filled with compassion for others and ourselves.
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