COMMENTARY
On Shabbat Zachor,
Redeeming The Child Amalek?
Agag, the Amalekite king. Because
his Shabbat, known as
Saul has let one single Amalekite live,
Shabbat Zachor, the Shab-
Saul will lose his crown. While that
bat before Purim, we are
seems to be a heavy price to pay, it
commanded by God to
illustrates the importance God has
remember that it was the Amalekites
placed on having the Amalekites
who attacked and slaughtered the
destroyed.
weak and tired Israelite strag-
If you assume that God
glers on their way to Mt.
knows what he is doing, that
Sinai.
from the time of Moses
We are told that we are to
onward it has become
totally eradicate Amalek's
absolutely essential without a
descendants because of that
doubt to destroy the
unprovoked attack. Now
Amalekites, then an interest-
that's a tall order for anyone,
ing question arises: Could
leastwise for us Jews.
anything have been done
How can we possibly, if
before the time of Moses so
at all, wipe out a people;
MICH AEL G.
that Amalek and his descen-
that's called genocide. And
dants would have turned out
J AR ON
there is no question but
differently, i.e., not our arch-
Speci al to
God's commandment to
enemy?
ish
News
The Jew
annihilate the Amalekites is
There are midrashim show-
genocide. In light of our his-
ing that, based on the dispo-
tory, recent and otherwise,
sition of his parents, Amalek
genocide is unfathomable.
stood a chance of turning out better
However, the consequences for not
than he did. Amalek's father was Elip-
carrying out God's mandate are griev-
haz, the son of Esau. His mother was
ous.
Timna. She was a clan leader (quite
Consider what happened to King
unusual for a woman), the daughter of
Saul as described in the Haftarah por-
a tribal chieftain, and she took Eliphaz
tion: God tells him through the
as her consort. Their son Amalek is the
prophet Samuel to utterly destroy the
founder of the Amalekites. Although
Amalekites. This destruction is to be
Amalek's father Eliphaz was taught by
absolute with no exceptions.
Esau how to handle weapons and how
Saul carries out God's order almost
to hunt, he also was taught by his uncle
to the letter. However, Saul saves
Jacob. One can't help but think that
Jacob's teachings would have counter-
balanced any negative qualities regard-
Michael G. Jaron is a geologist/attor-
ney from Oak Park and a part-time
ing weapons and hunting that came
librarian at Adat Shalom Synagogue.
from Esau.
No Jew should take it upon him or
herself to decide who is or is not a
Jew. Until that is resolved, we will
continue to experience the most hate-
ful and virulent of times. It is the ulti-
mate chutzpah to tell another Jew he
or she is not a Jew or not as good a
Jew or ineligible for any Jewish posi-
tion or Jewish office. Perhaps Tzippo-
rah Ramon, Israel counsul general,
will give some insight when she speaks
at the Shaarey Zedek Men's Club
breakfast at 10 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 28
(everyone is invited at no charge).
Recently, The Jewish News printed
an article about Seymour and Rick
Brode's efforts to help build a tennis
center in Gaza. We are now dis-
cussing a center in Bethlehem. Land
has been donated for the forthcoming
center.
Perhaps Ping-Pong diplomacy will
work with tennis. Anything we can do
to help our young people over the
hurdle of hate will pay great divi-
dends.
In America, especially, there is
another threat facing all Jews. Funda-
mentalist Christian evangelists are
geared up for a great move to convert
Jews for the "second coming": the
millennium. Jews for Jesus and Mes-
sianic Judaism budgets are up to
$150 million per year; the target is
Jews for conversion. We need to
know how to respond and how to
defend ourselves.
Respect can only come from rela-
tionships where people of good will
learn not to demonize each other.
Scott Hillman, educational director
for Jews for Judaism in Baltimore, will
teach us how to cope with missionar-
ies and those determined to make us
out differently if he was Jewish, if he
As to Timna, Midrash shows her to
had a Jewish soul? I don't know; we've
be a perceptive wife and mother.
had our enemies from within. But had
When Jacob fled from his home after
Amalek's mother been Jewish and
he had tricked Esau into giving up his
taught him Jewish values in addition
birthright, Esau wanted to kill Jacob.
to his having a Jewish soul, maybe the
Esau first dispatched Eliphaz to do the
Amalek
that Moses encountered
job, but Timna counseled Eliphaz not
would
have
been a warrior ally and
to kill his Uncle Jacob.
Next, the disap-
pointed Esau sent
out his grandson
Amalek to kill
E
Jacob. Again,
Timna dissuaded
0
her son from killing
the patriarch.
0
There is a tradi-
tion that Timna
chose to be the
concubine of Elip-
haz despite her
noble status just so
she could be in the
midst of the family Headed to Mt. Sinai in the biblical desert.
of Abraham.
not an implacable foe.
Timna wanted to convert to
When it comes to dealing with
Judaism. She went to all the patri-
Amalek, it seems that God gave us
archs, but they turned her down.
two ways to go: an easy way if only
Considering that Amalek is the
early on we had been able to show
archenemy of the Jews and all that we
compassion to Amalek's mother; and
have suffered because of him, the
a hard way because the war with
turning out of Timna may have been a
Amalek is never ending and showing
grave mistake. The sages say the patri-
mercy to him is no longer our
archs should not have pushed her out
option.
(Sanhedrin 99b). There is a midrash
It is a cruel irony that because we
that contends it was Timna who
chose
the hard way, we have taken on
directed Amalek to attack the Israelites
some
of
the intractable attributes of
in the first place.
our adversary. In that regard, I'm sure
Was this the result of having been
that there is a lesson for us all.
rejected? Would Amalek have turned
0
❑
into Christians when he speaks at the
Shaarey Zedek Men's Club breakfast at
10 a.m. Sunday, March 28. Everyone
is invited at no charge.
Much is happening in the world.
But each of us can do something to
advance the cause of brotherhood,
learning and equality.
Arnold Michlin
Farmington Hills
Recognition For
Star of David
Medical and relief workers wearing
helmets and clothing bearing the red
Star of David drew a lot of media
attention last summer as these highly
trained Israelis entered the bombed
American embassy in Nairobi. The
positive image of Israel humanitarian
relief no doubt gave American Jews
and other supporters of Israel enor-
mous joy.
Yet, despite the respect the Magen
David Adorn (MDA) society enjoys
around the globe, the Israeli relief
organization has been denied full
membership in the international
Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies. Israel is the only
country whose humanitarian relief
symbol has ever been formally
rejected by the Federation, which
comprises more than 150 national
societies.
The founders of the Red Cross
chose in 1864 as its universal symbol
the inverted flag of Switzerland. No
religious connotation was intended in
selecting a symbol that paid homage
to the Swiss origin of this vital global
initiative. But in 1928, Turkey
2/26
199
Detroit Jewish News
33