The Haftarah Project: Zakhor—Blotting Out Hatred
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The haftarah portion begins with the prophet Samuel conveying this commandment from God to King Saul: “Thus said God of Hosts: I am exacting this penalty for what Amalek did to Israel, for the assault he made upon them on the road, on their way up from Egypt. Now go, attack Amalek and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys!” Saul’s failure to fulfill this command completely is the reason God rejects Saul’s continued role as King.
The commandment to remember Amalek is found in the Torah in Deuteronomy 25:17-19, the section that is read as a special maftir on Shabbat Zakhor. This Shabbat comes the week before Purim because Haman is considered a descendent of the Amalekites. As we know from Megillat Esther, chapter 9 describes how, after Haman is defeated, “the Jews struck at their enemies with the sword slaying and destroying, they wrecked their will upon their enemies” (Esther 9:5). Evoking the command to Saul of “Now go, attack Amalek, spare no one,” the Megillah describes a mass killing of more than 75,000 people.
Amalek symbolizes pure, unprovoked evil, hatred, and cruelty. I struggle when confronted with such an uncompromising orientation towards my enemies. Who do I become when I harden my heart, guard against mercy and find safety in hatred? What are the moral and spiritual implications of an external, clearly defined and categorical evil? Rabbi Jill Jacobs explained in a Mother Jones article that rabbis generally agree that Amalek no longer exists and that references to it do not provide a morally acceptable justification for attacking anyone. “The overwhelming history of Jewish interpretation is to interpret the commandment metaphorically.” Hasidic thought turns the external justification for war with Amalek into an internal struggle between faith and doubt.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in a discussion of Ki Teitsei, which contains the command to remember Amalek, talks about “Two Types of Hate:” hatred of Israel’s Egyptian enemies in the days of Moses and hatred of the Amalekites. Sacks asks “Why did Moses command ‘Do not despise an Egyptian because you were a stranger in his land’ (Deuteronomy 23.8) and yet command ‘Remember’ ‘Do not forget’ ‘Blot out the Name” when speaking of the Amalekites?” Sacks calls the Egyptian hatred rational. Pharoah was afraid “the Israelites are becoming too numerous and strong for us” (Exodus 1.9). He suggests it is possible to reason with rational fear. In contrast, the hatred of the Amalekites was unconditional, irrational hatred that cannot be reasoned with. There is nothing one can do to address it and end it; it persists and lasts for “for all generations.” Sacks also challenges us to recognize “that not all hostility to Jews or to Israel or to a Jewish state is irrational.”
The shock of reading these lines in the haftarah and the Megillah is even more horrifying when we see these texts used to justify the war in Gaza after October 7, 2023.
On October 26, 2023 Morton Schapiro wrote an article in the Jewish Journal entitled, “Hamas, Today’s Amalek.” In the article he stated “The Amalekites, eternal enemies of the Jewish people, are said to be the embodiment of pure evil. Just as the Nazis were the 20th century’s version of Amalek, Hamas has proven that they are the Amalek of today.”
On October 28, 2023 Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech in which he said: “Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7th.” Speaking of the Israeli soldiers he said, “They are committed to eradicating this evil from the world… Remember what Amalek did to you (Deuteronomy 25:17). We remember and we fight.”
The rhetoric of equating Hamas with Amalek has long been used to justify killing Palestinians. Remember Baruch Goldstein, who saw Palestine as Amalek, and murdered 29 Palestinians and wounded more than 100 praying in a mosque in Hebron on Purim 1994, one week after hearing Parashat Zakhor. Remember Goldstein’s admirer, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who dressed up as Goldstein for Purim and is currently Israel’s Minister of National Security.
In a Mother Jones magazine article from November 3, 2023, the author argues that the Amalek reference serves to help justify the devastating response to the brutal Hamas attack on October 7, when more than 1,400 human beings were murdered in Israel. [By November 3, 2023 when the Mother Jones article was published, more than 9,000 people had been killed in Gaza. On January 29, 2026, Haaretz reported that the IDF accepts the Gaza Health Ministry estimate that 71,000 human beings have been killed in the Gaza War.] The article also quotes Joshua Shane, a professor of Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston who said, “It was incredibly dangerous and irresponsible and deliberate” for Netanyahu to invoke Amalek given the ongoing war and how it’s understood by the far right. Calling the enemy Amalek will make it more difficult for people who try to defend the position that Israel is not involved in a crime against humanity.”
How do we distinguish between rational hostility and irrational hatred in our world of chaos and confusion, where leaders speak to mislead and sow hatred and fear? I look for communities that address the issues I am concerned about, communities where the members talk and listen to each other with care and respect. When Judith Plaskow wrote to me about the Haftarah project she said: “It would be great to have your voice as part of it.” What is my voice? What do I believe? Wrestling with Amalek, I wrestled with myself. I took a step in the world we live in to find my voice. I hope that when you are lost in the chaos and confusion of our times, you find communities of trust and commitment and together we move forward to blot out the hatred, cynicism, and despair evoked by Amalek.
Editor’s Note: The reflections from the Haftarah Project represent the thoughts and opinions of the author.