Insights from Reverend Hazan Benlolo

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.

Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, on your way out of Egypt. That he encountered you on the way and cut off those lagging to your rear, when you were tired and exhausted; he did not fear G‑d. And it shall come to pass, when the L‑rd your G‑d has given you rest from all your enemies roundabout, in the land which the L‑rd your G‑d is giving you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget.