Zakhor

Reflections on Shabbat Zakhor

Torah Portion: Tetzaveh ("You command..."), Exodus Exodus 27:20-31:10
Special Additional Portion for Shabbat zakhor: Deuteronomy 25:17-19

Haftarah Portion: I Samuel 15:2-15:34(This week's Torah commentary is adapted from a devar Torah I offered at the March 3rd meeting of the Jewish Federation's Campaign Cabinet).


Devar Torah literally means "a word of Torah." I have shared and listened to hundreds of divrei Torah during my career as a rabbi, but I cannot recall a single one-word devar Torah. This devar Torah is more than a word, but it is built upon the solid foundation of just one word: zakhor.

zakhor - remember - is the special name for the Shabbat preceding Purim. Shabbat zakhor owes its appellation to the opening word of this week's extra Torah portion:

"Remember (zakhor) what Amalek did to you after you left Egypt - how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear..." (Deut. 25:17).

Our tradition hallows the act of remembering the past. Zekhira, remembrance, lies at the very core of Jewish belief and practice. The renowned historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi writes:


"The Hebrew Bible seems to have no hesitations in commanding memory... Altogether, the verb zakhor appears in its various declensions in the Bible no less than one hundred and sixty-nine times, usually with either Israel or God as the subject, for memory is incumbent on both. The verb is complemented by its obverse - forgetting. As Israel is enjoined to remember, so is it adjured not to forget. Both imperatives have resounded with enduring effect among the Jews since biblical times...Only in Israel and nowhere else is the injunction to remember felt as a religious imperative to an entire people."

Jewish memory is collective memory. zakhor - we remember Amalek's vicious attack on the rearguard of our ancestors' march to the land of Israel. zakhor - we recall Haman's evil plans to murder the Jews of Shushan. zakhor - we remember the bitterness of slavery in the land of Egypt. zakhor - we recall the pain and anguish of being second-class citizens in foreign lands. zakhor - we remember the monstrous evil of the Shoah. zakhor - we recall how privileged we are to have a strong and vibrant state of Israel.

Jewish memory is personal memory. Close your eyes for a moment and remember who and what brought you here today. Who inspired you to become a proud and committed Jew? What milestone, holiday, event or experience changed your life and brought you to where you are today? 

Among the many influences in my own life, I fondly recall my first visit to Israel in 1975. I was a senior at a small liberal arts college in Minnesota, and the Midwestern Field Representative of the United Jewish Appeal's (UJA) University Programs Department called with a generous offer. If my family and I could come up with $300, he would find matching grants from the UJA and the Jewish Federations of Minneapolis and St. Paul to send me to Israel. 

How could I say no? In December, I joined 120 college and university students on the UJA Winter Student Mission to Israel. We stayed in basic hotels and the dorm rooms of Hebrew University (I can still recall the odor from the kerosene heaters). We climbed Masada, prayed at the Kotel (Western Wall), shared meals with IDF soldiers on army bases, and spoke about raising funds and consciousness when we returned to our respective campuses.

That trip changed my life. The next year I succeeded my colleague as the Midwestern Field Representative of the UJA University Programs Department. One year later I began my rabbinical studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. In the congregations and communities I have served throughout my career, I have recalled my debt to the UJA and the Jewish federations of the Twin Cities. They took a chance by investing their time and money in a 21 year-old from another city. They join my family and friends, rabbis and teachers, in standing with me today.

zakhor - remember. This Shabbat, spend a few minutes remembering and sharing with others who and what brought you to where you are today. Give thanks for those individuals who are no longer alive and left an indelible imprint on your life. Express your appreciation to the living men and women who helped to make you who you are. Celebrate and honor the precious gift of remembrance.