By Joseph Shulam.
For me, this Shabbat has one of the most interesting Torah portions – Shabbat Zachor – This Shabbat contains the eternal command for the children of Israel to remember what Amalek did to them!
Our reading starts with the Torah portion’s first word: Tetzaveh—”Command!” A strong word in the Hebrew Bible, it is from Exodus 27:20 – 30:10.
The Haftarah (the reading from the prophets is from the book of Esther 7:1-10; 8:15 -17, and the additional reading for historical reference is from 1 Samuel 15:2 – 34.
The reading from the New Testament is from the Gospel of Mark 6:14-29.
These readings are exciting and especially important in this Shabbat – March 8, 2025. When we add the Haftarah reading from the prophets, there is a convergence of star events from the period of the Exodus from Egypt and the diaspora of Iran (Persia) and the present war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran (Persia across the two rivers in Mesopotamia the Euphrates and the Tigris both of these rivers are in ancient Babylon.
The convergence of these biblical texts and the events in Israel and the Middle East since October 7, 2023, with the war in Gaza and the terrorists and the story from 1 Samuel 15:2-34 cannot be an accident. For me, the events’ time and similarities are beyond chance. There must be more to this than a random chance. This Shabbat is called in Hebrew “Shabbat Zachor” – “Shabbat of remembrance.”
I must confess that it is hard for me these days to stay away from doing a Zoom meeting from the Torah and the ancient biblical texts that will be read on March 8, 2025, in every synagogue and bring those ancient events to Zoom into our very present and immediate events in Israel and the Middle East. But, I must not give in to my weakness of mixing the biblical narrative with today’s news. My temptation is to plug into the biblical narrative the names of today’s world leaders. It is interesting that some of the same countries still have the same desired aspirations to annihilate Israel and the Jewish nation. It is interesting to see that God is even today blessing Israel. Even though we are still a tiny nation, with God’s help, we can withstand the much bigger, richer, and more powerful nations than little old Israel. It is back to the David and Goliath paradigm.
From the text in Exodus, I want to focus on God’s command to Israel to build the Menorah and place it in the Tabernacle to have light 24 hours per day. My first observation is that wherever the presence of God is, there is also always light. (Exodus 27:20-21)
The consecration of the priests (Exodus 28). This idea is that those who serve the people and God have to be consecrated by both God and the people of Israel. I see our present political situation after three elections in less than two years. I see in the Israeli parliament that political wars have allowed our enemies, the very descendants of Amalek, without morals and the same DNA as the ancient enemies of Israel and God, to raise their heads to again have the same desire to annihilate and delete the Jewish nation. I can’t help but connect the dots and understand that nothing on God’s earth is accidental, and everything has a purpose in heaven.
I connect this consecration described in Exodus with our elections, for the members of the Israeli parliament have the same function but without God in the picture. There has not been one parliament election since the 6-day war in June of 1967 that has mentioned God by any party. God and Truth and Goodness and Brotherly love have not been mentioned, nor unity and honest cooperation without discrimination and racist attitudes.
The Middle East is hungry for a different mode of sharing and speaking. The people in the state of Israel are hungry and dreaming of a leader, a politician that promotes brotherhood and national unity and appreciation and respect for the thousands of families who have sacrificed their children and fathers and brothers to fight a holy war against the godless enemies who kill babies with their hands and rape and abuse innocent children with brutality worst than the Nazis of World War II.
It is interesting that right after the description of the consecration of the priest for the service in the rituals of the Lord’s Tabernacle, we find God instructed Aaron, the High Priest, to build an altar and a lamp stand. God commanded Aaron to place the priests and anoint them with oil to make them kosher for the service of the Lord in the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was built with donations from all of Israel. Each one in Israel gave from what they had, and each gift was used in the Tabernacle. God didn’t evaluate the people of Israel by how much they gave and participated in building the Tabernacle. He looked not at the value of the gifts of Israel but at the relative ability of each to offer.
The lampstand placed in the Tabernacle was to light the place day and night. The altar of incense was to make a pleasant environment for the priests and the people who would come to pour out their hearts before the Lord.
The priests intercede for the people, much like how leaders today must act as moral guides in times of war. Atonement is necessary because there is also no confession of sin in a place where there is no atonement. There can be no peace where there is no confession of sin and evil.
I sense that this Shabbat’s Torah Portion and the prophets’ reading are especially in place so that we can be at peace with each other inside the state of Israel. Maybe once again, our parliament will promote peace and righteousness among all the population of Israel so that we can be what God designed us as a nation to be: the light of the world, the light of God’s dwelling in the middle of the camp of Israel.
• Israel, as a nation, continues to stand as a light in the Middle East, facing forces of darkness (Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran).
• Like the priests who fought spiritual battles, Israel today is engaged in both physical and spiritual, internal and moral battles.
• The necessity of atonement is a reminder that even just wars must be fought with moral clarity.
I want to end this Jerusalem prayer list with a reading from the prophets. We read from the Torah King Saul’s mistakes of disobedience to God’s command to kill Agag, the King of Amalek. When Samuel, the prophet, came and saw that Israel did not obey God and left Agag alive in disobedience to God’s command, he first symbolically and then physically took the kingship that God gave Saul.
God commands Saul to annihilate Amalek, fulfilling a command from Exodus 17:14-16: “I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” Amalek was Israel’s first enemy after the Exodus, attacking the weakest and most vulnerable (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). God’s command to remember what Amalek did to the children of Israel is not only an issue of hate and politics. It is a divine war against the very existence of God’s people. This war was a political and divine judgment against a nation that embodied cruelty and evil.
Samuel the prophet reminds King Saul and the people of Israel that “To obey is better than sacrifice… because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23) Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran exhibit the same cruelty as Amalek, targeting civilians, taking hostages, and celebrating brutality against unarmed women and children, young and old alike.
From the beginning of the book of Esther, we encounter Haman, the descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalek that King Saul spared.
We must remember that God is a bookkeeper; these books record everything we do and even what evil we think. The book of Esther is not very long, but it is a fascinating story with a mysterious hidden God who, like in a Greek tragedy, functions from behind the scenery. Invisible God, but very much there in the middle of all that is happening. There are many significant things to learn about how God works within the pagan world, like Persia, which was in the days of Esther and oftentimes today.
Learn from the book of Esther how God works not only in Israel but with all of humanity, and remember that God is not only the God of Israel but also the God of the whole earth. Haman planned genocide against the Jews, much like modern Iranian leaders who call for Israel’s destruction. The king orders Haman’s execution on the gallows he built for Mordechai. A royal decree allows Jews to defend themselves (Esther 8:11-12). See how fate, like a revolving sword, sometimes turns against the very people who wish to harm and destroy the innocent and sanctified children of God and strikes back at the evil and cruel leaders of countries that plan and desire to harm God’s people. The hanging tree planned for Mordechai the Jew ended up being used for Haman and his ten sons!