At the end of this week's parashah, called Ki Tetzé (when you go out), the Torah gives a very particular command (which is repeated in parashat Beshalaj (Shmot 17:14-16): the positive precept to wipe out the people of Amalek (see Devarim 25:17:19).
After the miraculous Exodus from Egypt and the incredible parting of the Red Sea, where the Jewish people crossed the open waters and the Egyptians drowned, the Torah tells us that all the peoples of the land of Canaan were terrified by the arrival of the Jews. But not the people of Amalek. They went to war against the Jewish people, so to speak, "cooling a pool of hot water" that no one wanted to enter. They dared to do what no one else dared, prompting others to do the same. Then, God commanded that Amalek be destroyed.
Beyond the verses themselves, this precept is somewhat complex to understand, since the Torah commands us, on the one hand, to erase the memory of Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:19) and, on the other hand, to remember what Amalek did to the Jewish people. It follows that we cannot erase their memory because we must remember it!
To clarify this confusion, Rashi (a Torah commentator) says that erasing the memory of Amalek means that there should be nothing about which it can be said that it belonged to Amalek: everything must be destroyed. We learn this from the words "erasing the memory of Amalek," which means, as mentioned, erasing everything that bears his name. In fact, in Parashat Beshalach, the same idea (of erasing the memory) is also mentioned, but Rashi doesn't comment on it because the emphasis there is that God will erase the memory (literal, that is, from people's minds) of Amalek. But that is something only He can do. Therefore, when the Torah details man's obligation regarding the memory of Amalek, Rashi says, "that the name of Amalek not be mentioned on anything," something that a human being can do.
On the other hand, we see that at the end of the Purim story, King Ahasuerus gives Queen Esther the house of Haman, who was also a descendant of Amalek. How could she keep something of Amalek's origin? The answer is that people and animals of Amalek cannot be changed; that is, once an animal is known to belong to Amalek, nothing can be done to it to change that. But a house can be modified so that it is no longer remembered as belonging to Amalek.
Therefore, we must remember what Amalek did to the Jewish people (Devarim 22:17), to erase everything that belongs to them (Devarim 22:19), until Messiah comes and God erases his memory from our minds (Exodus 17:14).
Today, the people of Amalek do not exist in physical form, so we cannot identify them and fulfill this precept. However, their spiritual expression remains. Amalek symbolizes coldness and indifference toward the Torah and its mitzvot. We must eliminate this from all our attitudes; we must be aware of it and engage energetically and decisively in Judaism, both individually, each of us with ourselves, and collectively, as a community.
May they be registered and sealed for a good and sweet year,
I always enjoy reading them; they are interesting and uplifting.