The Israelites, walking to their Promised Land, are attacked by Amalek, who target the weak and elderly, the stragglers.

Is Amalek demoralizing the Israelites by picking off the vulnerable? Perhaps shaming them for not protecting those most at risk?

After defeating Amalek, the Israelites are told to blot out the memory of that tribe — implying that we dare not again betray the unprotected.

The charge to erase the memory of Amalek closes with the injunction “lo tishkach / do not forget!”

As if we could!

Would that we could forget this past year, blotting out our feelings of vulnerability, but “lo tishkach / we cannot forget / we may not forget / we will not forget.”

Let us remember…and learn compassion and determination.

Shabbat shalom! שבת שלום