There is one Torah reading for which there is universal consensus that it is Torah mandated:
זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם/Remember what Ameleik did to you on the way when you were leaving Mitzrayim.
There are six remembrances that almost all siddurim record as mandated to be remembered each and every day. Remembering Ameleik is among them.
Sounds like it must be pretty darn important to remember what Ameleik did to me. To me? You mean to the Jewish people, right? No, to me; to me, personally. True enough that the Torah sometimes uses second person singular to refer to a group. However, in that same verse where it says לְךָ/to you in second person singular, it also says בְּצֵאתְכֶם/when you -- in second person plural -- were leaving Mitzrayim. True enough that Ameleik wants nothing less than the annihilation of the Jewish people. True enough that Ameleik is not satisfied for a Jew to recant his religion.
None the less, this is most assuredly not a call for some sort of Orthodox Jewish version of Holocaust Remembrance Day. My proof? To answer that, we need one more key bit of information: there are actually 10 remembrances that a Jew should express to remember each day. Among them is a directive to remember what Bilaam and Balak did to us. Bilaam and Balak also wanted to destroy the Jewish people. Bilaam and Balak were also not contend do have Jews recant; nothing but today annihilation would do. What happened when they tried? HaShem stepped is with a shockingly and unprecedented heavy hand. HaShem not only quashed their plans, He actually manipulated Bilaam to say and do things that Bilaam did not want to do. Chazal describe it is similar to putting a bit in the mouth of a donkey to force it to go where the driver wants. Apparently, then if HaShem wants to protect us from even the most maniacal, demonic plan of genocide, He simply stops it.
Why the difference in Divine response? I'll give you a simple analogy. If your four year old keeps wanting to touch that boiling pot that you keep warning him, "Hot!"... at some point, you let him touch it. You make certain that he can't be really damaged, but you let him touch it. Why? So he'll learn. Not to learn that he has to listen to you because you are his parent, but he has to learn to listen to you because you love him and are telling him about reality so he can live safely and thrive. Now let someone come after your kid with that same hot pot. "Oh, no you don't! You are not touching my kid! How dare you even think to!"
Bilaam and Balak attacked us. HaShem protected us. Amaleik was only able to attack those who had loosened their grip on Torah. This is something that each individual Jew is meant act on each and every moment of his life: You are a child of HaShem. No one and no thing can touch you. If you get hurt, it is because you have ignored the reality about which HaShem has warned you.
Remember Ameleik means to remember that you are true royalty: 'בנים אתם לה/you are the children of HaShem. Now live up to who you are.
זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם/Remember what Ameleik did to you on the way when you were leaving Mitzrayim.
There are six remembrances that almost all siddurim record as mandated to be remembered each and every day. Remembering Ameleik is among them.
Sounds like it must be pretty darn important to remember what Ameleik did to me. To me? You mean to the Jewish people, right? No, to me; to me, personally. True enough that the Torah sometimes uses second person singular to refer to a group. However, in that same verse where it says לְךָ/to you in second person singular, it also says בְּצֵאתְכֶם/when you -- in second person plural -- were leaving Mitzrayim. True enough that Ameleik wants nothing less than the annihilation of the Jewish people. True enough that Ameleik is not satisfied for a Jew to recant his religion.
None the less, this is most assuredly not a call for some sort of Orthodox Jewish version of Holocaust Remembrance Day. My proof? To answer that, we need one more key bit of information: there are actually 10 remembrances that a Jew should express to remember each day. Among them is a directive to remember what Bilaam and Balak did to us. Bilaam and Balak also wanted to destroy the Jewish people. Bilaam and Balak were also not contend do have Jews recant; nothing but today annihilation would do. What happened when they tried? HaShem stepped is with a shockingly and unprecedented heavy hand. HaShem not only quashed their plans, He actually manipulated Bilaam to say and do things that Bilaam did not want to do. Chazal describe it is similar to putting a bit in the mouth of a donkey to force it to go where the driver wants. Apparently, then if HaShem wants to protect us from even the most maniacal, demonic plan of genocide, He simply stops it.
Why the difference in Divine response? I'll give you a simple analogy. If your four year old keeps wanting to touch that boiling pot that you keep warning him, "Hot!"... at some point, you let him touch it. You make certain that he can't be really damaged, but you let him touch it. Why? So he'll learn. Not to learn that he has to listen to you because you are his parent, but he has to learn to listen to you because you love him and are telling him about reality so he can live safely and thrive. Now let someone come after your kid with that same hot pot. "Oh, no you don't! You are not touching my kid! How dare you even think to!"
Bilaam and Balak attacked us. HaShem protected us. Amaleik was only able to attack those who had loosened their grip on Torah. This is something that each individual Jew is meant act on each and every moment of his life: You are a child of HaShem. No one and no thing can touch you. If you get hurt, it is because you have ignored the reality about which HaShem has warned you.
Remember Ameleik means to remember that you are true royalty: 'בנים אתם לה/you are the children of HaShem. Now live up to who you are.
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