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This being the Shabbat before Purim, on which we celebrate the foiling of Haman the Amalekite's plot to destroy the Jewish people, the weekly Parshah is supplemented with the Zachor reading (Deuteronomy 25:17-19) in which we are commanded to remember the evil of Amalek and to eradicate it from the face of the earth.
"Parshat Zachor" is the second of four special readings added during or immediately before the month of Adar (the other three being "Shekalim", "Parah" and "Hachodesh")
Links:
The Zachor Reading with commentary
More on Who Was Amalek?
The festival of Purim begins at nightfall tonight, and the Megillah (Book of Esther) is read for the first time this evening.
Since the first Megillah reading takes place after Shabbat ends, one should be careful not to travel to the synagogue to hear the reading prior to the end of Shabbat (click here for times), or before saying the special prayer: Blessed Is the One Who Separates Between Holy and Mundane. If one owns his own Megillah scroll, it should be brought to the synagogue prior to Shabbat (since one may not prepare on Shabbat for after Shabbat).
See entries for tomorrow, Adar 14. (In Jerusalem and other ancient walled cities, the festival is observed beginning tomorrow night--see entries for Adar 15.)
NOTE: The "Fast of Esther", usually observed on this date, is moved back this year to the previous Thursday, because of the sanctity of Shabbat (see entry for Adar 11)
Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, on your way out of Egypt. That he encountered you on the way (Deuteronomy 25:17-18)
[The Hebrew word karcha, "encountered you," also translates "cooled you off". Thus the Midrash says:]
What is the incident (of Amalek) comparable to? To a boiling tub of water which no creature was able to enter. Along came one evil-doer and jumped into it. Although he was burned, he cooled it for the others.
So, too, when Israel came out of Egypt, and G‑d rent the sea before them and drowned the Egyptians within it, the fear of them fell upon all the nations. But when Amalek came and challenged them, although he received his due from them, he cooled the awe of them for the nations of the world.
(Midrash Tanchuma)
Amalek is thus the essence of chutzpa, of completely irrational challenge to truth. There are challenges to the truth that are based on rational argument. There are evasions that arise from subjective motives and desires. But then there is "Amalek," who neutralizes the most compelling evidence and chills the most inspiring experience with nothing more than his cynicism and audacity.
There is only one way to defeat Amalek: to remember. Because his challenge is not rational, it cannot be rationally refuted; because it immune to feeling, it cannot be repelled by a rousing of emotion. To counteract Amalek's poison, one must call forth the souls reserves of supra-rational faith, instilled within it when it was first formed as a spark of the divine essence—a faith which, when remembered, can meet his every moral challenge.
(The Chassidic Masters)
Vayikra in-depth...
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This Shabbat is Shabbat Mevarchim ("the Shabbat that blesses" the new month): a special prayer is recited blessing the Rosh Chodesh ("Head of the Month") of the upcoming month of Adar I, which falls on Friday and Shabbat of next week.
Prior to the blessing, we announce the precise time of the molad, the "birth" of the new moon. See molad times.
It is a Chabad custom to recite the entire book of Psalms before morning prayers, and to conduct farbrengens (chassidic gatherings) in the course of the Shabbat.
Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal (20:13)
When Moses ascended to heaven, the angels protested to G‑d: "What is a human being doing amongst us?"
Said He to them: "He has come to receive the Torah."
Said they to Him: "This esoteric treasure, which was hidden with You for nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the world was created, You wish to give to flesh and blood? . . . 'What is man, that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You take notice of him? . . . Place Your glory upon the heavens!'" (Psalms 8:2–5)
Said G‑d to Moses: "Answer them."
Said Moses: "Master of the Universe! I fear lest they consume me with the breath of their mouths."
Said G‑d: "Hold on to the Throne of Glory, and return them an answer."
Said Moses: "Master of the Universe! This Torah that You are giving to me, what is written in it? 'I am the L‑rd your G‑d, who has taken you out from the land of Egypt.'
"Have you descended to Egypt?" asked Moses of the angels. "Were you enslaved to Pharaoh? So why should the Torah be yours?
"What else does it say? 'You shall have no other gods.' Do you dwell amongst idol-worshipping nations? What else does it say? 'Remember the Shabbat day.' Do you work? . . . What else does it say? 'Do not swear falsely.' Do you do business? What else does it say? 'Honor your father and your mother.' Do you have parents? What else does it say? 'Do not murder,' 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not steal.' Is there jealousy among you? Do you have an evil inclination?"
Immediately the angels conceded to G‑d . . . and each one was moved to befriend Moses and transmit something to him. Even the angel of death, too, confided his secret to him . . .
(Talmud, Shabbat 88b)
[For another version of this dialogue, click here]
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Jacob went out from Be'er Sheva, and he went to Charan (Genesis 28:10)
The story of Jacob's journey to Charan is the story of every soul's descent to the physical world.
The soul, too, leaves behind the spiritual idyll of Be'er Sheva (literally, "Well of the Seven"—a reference to the supernal source of the seven divine attributes, or sefirot, from which the soul derives) and journeys to Charan (literally, "Wrath"): a place of lies, deceptions, struggle and hardship; a place in which material concerns consume one's days and nights, sapping one's energy, confusing one's priorities, and all but obscuring the purpose for which one has come there in the first place.
Yet it is in Charan, in the employ of Laban the Deceiver, not in the Holy Land and its "tents of learning," that Jacob founds the nation of Israel. It is here that he marries and fathers eleven of the twelve sons who will become the twelve tribes of Israel. Had Jacob remained in the Holy Land, the life of this pious scholar who lived 3,500 years ago would have been of no significance to us today.
The soul, too, achieves its enduring significance only upon its descent into "Charan." Only as a physical being, invested within a physical body and inhabiting a physical environment, can it fulfill the purpose of its creation, which is to build "a dwelling for G‑d in the physical world."
(From the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)
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