Terumah - Weekly Torah Portion

The words of this Shabbat Zachor Maftir are difficult to read, “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt, how he confronted you on the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. So it shall come about, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall wipe out the mention of the name Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.” However, when the opportunity presents itself, as we read in the Haftarah of this special Shabbat, Kin Saul misses the opportunity, “Then Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah going toward Shur, which is east of Egypt. He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and completely destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the more valuable animals, the lambs, and everything that was good, and were unwilling to destroy them completely; but everything despicable and weak, that they completely destroyed.”

This may not be Saul’s main problem with the prophet Samuel when he stands before him and states, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord.” Samuel, who actually knows what has happened, cynically asks, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the bellowing of the oxen which I hear?” It is here where the King, the ruler of the people, stands before the prophet forlornly in an attempt to clumsily distance himself from any kind of responsibility to what has happened, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have completely destroyed.” He basically attempts to argue that he, Saul, is responsible for all the successes, the failures are on the hands of someone else, and he is not connected to them.

The prophet’s response to that is interesting, “Is it not true, though you were insignificant in your own eyes, that you became the head of the tribes of Israel?” In other words, Samuel tells him that if he wants to be a worthy leader, he must assume responsibility to what has happened. There are enough people out there who are unfit to be responsible, Saul decided to join them by avoiding his responsibility, and therefore cannot continue to be king. Samuel demands an explanation, “Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Instead, you loudly rushed upon the spoils and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord!” He gets an answer that is the continuation of avoiding the acceptance of responsibility to the situation, “I did obey the voice of the Lord, for I went on the mission on which the Lord sent me; and I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have completely destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took some of the spoils, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things designated for destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” Like many of our prophets Samuel is not silent about what he thinks of this answer, “Does the Lord have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices / As in obeying the voice of the Lord? / Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, / And to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. / For rebellion is as reprehensible as the sin of divination, / And insubordination is as reprehensible as false religion and idolatry. / Since you have rejected the word of the Lord, / He has also rejected you from being king.” You’d think that these words have ben said just yesterday!

Admittedly, it is a strange demand to “wipe out the mention of the name Amalek” on the one hand, while reading about this year after year. This never wipes out the memory or the name, rather it is kept in one’s mind. Maybe the meaning is that we are required to be cautious in certain situations that are of grave danger and remember that such situations do exist. That it is unwise, even in good times when seemingly nothing can go wrong, to stop remembering that such dangerous situations do exist. It is of course so in the case of Amalek, as well as in the order of death we will read about on Purim just a week from now, or when we remember that atrocities of the Holocaust. While remembering extreme dangers it is also important to recall those which are somewhere in between, not at the extreme but still life threatening. Such dangerous may spread and may impact adversely our very existence.

A pandemic is certainly something where we need to call Remember! Remember what it does to people who suffer from the illness, the death, the side-effects, some that linger for weeks, months, maybe years. Science gives us the opportunity to cope with such situation, today’s form of Amalek, by simply getting vaccinated. There should be no doubt of the right course of action – just simply go and get vaccinated. This Shabbat Truma, we read about making contributions, “Tell the sons of Israel to take a contribution for Me; from everyone whose heart moves him you shall take My contribution.” This time a contribution also includes lending an arm to the vaccine, two shots three weeks apart and a much-reduced risk. You will do us all a favor by going out there and fulfilling both the Remember and Contribution parts of this week’s readings. I already got my shots, so have over 2.8 million of my countrymen and women, almost one third of the community. It is not enough to handle the pandemic and therefore I do request yet again “Remember” and “Contribute”.

Shabbat Shalom and wishes for Good Health.

Reuven Marko, 19 February 2021, 8 Adar, 5781