This coming Shabbat, called "Shabbat Zachor," people go to synagogue in the morning to hear the Torah reading about Amalek, and about how important it is to remember what he did and continues to do to us.
Rabbi Elisha Vishlitzky wrote words that are truly a personal prayer, about Amalek — our cruel external enemy — and also about the Amalek that is our enemy within:
"Amalek is a force of division, heresy, and sadness. He seeks to do several things to us:
- To separate reality from the One who guides it, as if everything is coincidence.
- To weaken our certainty and find room for doubt and despair.
- To disconnect the different parts of the Jewish people from one another.
- To cool the relationship between Israel and God.
- To sabotage the bond between the Jewish people and their land.
Therefore, Shabbat — a day of unity — is the fitting time to read about the blotting out of Amalek, from a place of unity:
We will purify our hearts, and through that, purify the world. We will erase Amalek's deception, the husk, the lies and hypocrisy — and specifically through the struggle against Amalek, the goodness and holiness within us will be revealed."
Amen. Shabbat Shalom.
