This week I met Ran, who was an officer in the Paratrooper brigade of the IDF. In 2003, his brigade was searching a refugee camp for terrorists when a 16-year-old Arab boy surprised them. He was carrying a Molotov cocktail, about to fling it at the soldiers. To save the lives of his fellow troops, Ran had no option other than to shoot the boy.
This image of this child affected Ran tremendously, and he now battles Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on a daily basis.
This Shabbat is called Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of Remembrance. On the Shabbat before Purim the weekly Torah reading is supplemented with the Zachor reading, in which we are commanded to remember the evil of Amalek and to eradicate it from this world. Zachor literally means “Remember!” and we read it the week before Purim because on Purim we celebrate the survival of the Jews after Haman, the evil Amalekite, plotted to kill them.
Unfortunately, Amalek is still alive and well in 2017. There is no end to people who want to kill the Jews, as is evidenced by the ongoing terrorism and violent attacks in Israel, as well as the current wave of anti-Semitism in the United States.
The greatest evil in our time is undoubtedly attacks rendered by suicide bombers. Surely, there is no greater crime than educating one’s children to become suicide bombers, and to celebrate people killing others by blowing themselves up.
This Shabbat our 12 Belev Echad guests—all soldiers who have been wounded while fighting the modern day Amalek—will be our guests at our shul. When we remember the commandment to eradicate Amalek, we will have living proof that there is still work to do, and our brave heroes are doing it.