There's a place for you with us at Beth Shalom Evil Must Be Fought Until It Is Destroyed RABBI MORTON YOLKUT Come for Shabbat . . . stay for the holidays . . . by Simchat Torah you'll never want to leave. THE METROPOLITAN AREA'S NEWEST SYNAGOGUE SANCTUARY Established, strong and staying in centrally-located Oak Park DAVID A. NELSON SAMUEL L. GREENBAUM Rabbi y Cantor PHONE: 547-7970 I A Progressive Conservative Synagogue CONGREGATION BETH SHALOM 14601 West Lincoln Road Q Oak Park, Michigan 48237 G (313) 547.7970 ATTENTION: Metro Area College Students! 1739-1 MetroHillel is having FREE LUNCH PLEASE FILL OUT AND MAIL THIS FORM TO: MetroHillel, BBHF, 667 Charles Grosberg Religious Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202 NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP PHONE SCHOOL For more information call 577-3459 and ask for the Rabbi, Sandy or Carol. 50 FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1990 Special to The Jewish News A t the end of this week's Torah portion, we read the command- ment Zachor, to always remember the vile act of Amalek, which attempted to destroy Israel in its infancy. "You shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek" is the eternal command of the Torah to our people. It is a most difficult com- mandment to understand and apply. Many are disturbed at the thought that the Torah, which teaches love and mer- cy and preaches kindness and forgiveness, could also com- mand us for all eternity to destroy and avenge. How can we reconcile love of neighbor with an eternal vengeance against another people? To understand this perplex- ing commandment we must first understand who Amalek was and what he represented in Jewish ideology. Amalek was the nation that traveled hundreds of miles from its own borders to launch an un- provoked, vicious and coward- ly attack against the Jewish people. Amalek was never in danger from an Israelite at- tack. It was not even situated in the line of march which Israel was taking to reach the Promised Land. Nevertheless, it launched this cruel and abortive attack! Why? Simp- ly because Amalek wanted to prove to the world that Israel and its God, that liberty and human dignity were inconse- quential; that they could be destroyed. It was thus a clash of two distinct philosophies of life. Israel represented the forces of freedom and decen- cy, of dedication to divine ideals and observance of di- vine commandments. Amalek represented evil and brutali- ty, brute force and slavery. It personified the diabolical principal that might makes right that there is no divine ethic and that no matter how evil, anything goes, if you can get away with it and it suits your purpose. Amalek was pure and unadulterated evil personified in a nation. This is why the Torah asks us to wage an eternal battle against Amalek and its ideology. You cannot appease the forces of evil. You cannot pretend that it does not exist. Morton Yolkut is rabbi of Congregation B'nai David. You cannot turn the other cheek. Evil must be fought. It is an eternal struggle because evil appears in many guises and in every period of time. From the days of Haman to the era of Hitler, from Amalek of yesteryear to Sad- dam Hussein of today, this ubiquitous struggle has con- fronted mankind. Judaism teaches us to be eternally vigilant and to fight against the forces of evil in this world. "You shall blot out the memory of Amalek," is ad- dressed to all of us. Everyone must be involved. Loving Shabbat Ki Teze Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19 Isaiah 54:1-10. one's neighbor does not in- volve tolerating evil or accep- ting genocide. Evil must be fought until it is destroyed. Unfortunately, there is no other way. The words of the philosopher Edmund Burke have a special urgency for our time. "All that is necessary for evil to triumph," he wrote, "is for good men to do nothing." Indeed, there are select moments in history that we are called upon as Jews, and as members of the human fraternity, to confront the forces of evil and darkness in this world with a direct response. For a long time, un- til the establishment of Israel in 1948, Jews by and large shied away from such confron- tations. The results were devastating and demoralizing to our people. Today, however, we will not permit history to repeat itself. And when our tradition and our humanity tell us that we must make our stand then we shall do so in spite of the moralistic criticism of our an- tagonists. And then, like our teacher, Moses, we shall con- front the modern version of the ancient Amalekites and help transform this world in- to one worthy of God's redemption. ❑ SYNAGOGUES 1"'" SZ Hosts Starlight Shabbat Congregation Shaarey Zedek will hold its annual "Starlight Kabbalat Shabbat Service" 7 p.m. Sept. 7 in the synagogue courtyard. Rabbis Irwin Groner, William Gershon and Chuck