At no time of the Jewish year is the synagogue as "wild" as during the Megillah reading: Every time Haman's name is read, the congregation erupts in a deafening chorus of groggers, clanging pots, cap-guns and sirens. Some write Haman's name on the bottom of their shoes and stomp it out. Others write his name in wax and melt it! - Who was Haman, and why the obsession with blotting out his name?
To find out why, we must start in the first book of the Bible, where Esau sold his birthright for a pot of lentils to his brother Jacob. (Gen. 25) When Esau lost his inheritance to Jacob, Esau hated Jacob and vowed to kill him. Esau therefore taught his grandson, Amalek, to hate and pursue Jacob and his descendants, the Israelites. The Midrash says that when Esau was getting old, he called in his grandson Amalek and said: "I tried to kill Jacob but was unable. Now I am entrusting you and your descendents with the important mission of annihilating Jacob's descendents -- the Jewish people. Carry out this deed for me. Be relentless and do not show mercy."
True to his mission, Amalek has historically tried to destroy the Jews. The Amalekites first attacked the Israelites (Jacob's descendants) at Rephidim in the desert of Sinai during their Exodus from Egypt: "smiting the hindmost, all that were feeble behind," (1 Samuel 15:2). Amalek attacked the Israelites while Moses was leading them out of Egypt into the Promised Land. They attacked the Israelites without apparent provocation as they were travelling during the Exodus (Ex 17:8). "When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind" (Dt. 25:17-18). The battle was fierce, and while Moses held up the staff of G-d on top of the hill, Israel prevailed over the Amalekites. But when Moses' hands became tired and let down the staff of G-d, the Amalekites prevailed over Israel. Only after Aaron (the priest and brother of Moses) and Hur made Moses sit down and supported his hands, did Joshua destroy the Amalekites with the sword.
The Amalekites made the grievous mistake of becoming the first of the Canaanite nations to attack the Israelites after the Exodus. For this act of arrogance, the Amalekites were punished with the ultimate ignominy in the ancient Near East: the blotting out of their name.
The shame of the Amalekites is memorialized when Moses makes his farewell speech to the people of Israel: “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt.…When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25: 17, 19)
G-D punished the Amalekites by ordering King Saul to destroy them (1 Sam 15:2-3) - over 300 years after they had first attacked Israel. However Saul did not obey the Lord, and kept some of the loot after defeating the Amalekites. They would have been wiped out by Saul, if he had followed God's instructions (1 Sam.15). King Saul had a chance to wipe out Amalek, but in pity he spared Agag, the king . He did destroy the city of Amalek, but other raiding parties/nomadic bands of Amalekites survived. For this, God rejected Saul as king of Israel, and was slain by an Amalekite.
Because of Saul's error, descendants of the Amalekites continue to threaten Israel across the ages.
So what does Amalek have to do with Purim? The Scroll of Esther (3:1) identifies Haman as the descendent of Agag, King of Amalek. Haman was a descendant of the Amalekite king Agag. Haman the Agagite, the descendant of Agag, plotted the mass extermination of Jews Haman, had ascended to the position of "prime minister" of the Persian Empire. This rabid anti-Semite planned an empire-wide pogrom to eliminate the Jewish people.
The attempted Holocaust in the book of Esther is another result of Saul's disobedience. Haman's desire to wipe out the Jewish people was an expression of his long-standing national tradition.
Purim opens on a somber note. Haman is identified as the descendant of Amalek, whose people attacked Israel in the desert, the symbol of cruelty to the weak. Before celebrating the defeat of the wicked, one must remember that God (as well as God's people) has a war with the Amalekites and will not be at ease until the Amalekites are blotted out. On the Sabbath before Purim, the portion of the Torah dealing with Amalek is read. This day is called Shabbat Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembrance. It is a special mitzvah [commandment] of the Torah to hear the reading and thus remember.
The idea of blotting out the memory of the name of the Amalekite descendant Haman took many forms. In ancient Persia and Babylon an effigy of Haman was burned. In the 1800s in Eastern Europe, Jews would write the name of Haman on the soles of their shoes and when his name was spoken, they would stamp their feet, erasing the writing into the ground. Modern customs included the use of noisemakers, cap pistols and the like to drown out the name of Haman.
The theme of cursing or blotting out the names of evil men is found throughout the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Hebrew verb that is most often used in this context is “machah”, which means "to blot out" or "to obliterate." It occurs in the Hebrew Scriptures 35 times in various forms, often describing the actions of God to "blot out" the name or the memory of particular individuals or nations. Sometimes it refers to the "blotting out" of sin. It is the word used in the Torah for God's promise to blot out the name of Amalek, but it is also used several times in reference to God's anger toward the people of Israel.
Like those who follow the ancient tradition of writing the name of Haman on the soles of their shoes, we are obliterating the name that God has cursed and judged each time we stamp our feet, boo and hiss, and make loud noises with our groggers. The name of Haman is shameful, and should be blotted out, if only symbolically, for it stands for evil, hatred, and rebellion against the God of Israel. In contrast, the names of Esther and Mordecai bring joyful remembrance, and are to be honored.
To find out why, we must start in the first book of the Bible, where Esau sold his birthright for a pot of lentils to his brother Jacob. (Gen. 25) When Esau lost his inheritance to Jacob, Esau hated Jacob and vowed to kill him. Esau therefore taught his grandson, Amalek, to hate and pursue Jacob and his descendants, the Israelites. The Midrash says that when Esau was getting old, he called in his grandson Amalek and said: "I tried to kill Jacob but was unable. Now I am entrusting you and your descendents with the important mission of annihilating Jacob's descendents -- the Jewish people. Carry out this deed for me. Be relentless and do not show mercy."
True to his mission, Amalek has historically tried to destroy the Jews. The Amalekites first attacked the Israelites (Jacob's descendants) at Rephidim in the desert of Sinai during their Exodus from Egypt: "smiting the hindmost, all that were feeble behind," (1 Samuel 15:2). Amalek attacked the Israelites while Moses was leading them out of Egypt into the Promised Land. They attacked the Israelites without apparent provocation as they were travelling during the Exodus (Ex 17:8). "When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind" (Dt. 25:17-18). The battle was fierce, and while Moses held up the staff of G-d on top of the hill, Israel prevailed over the Amalekites. But when Moses' hands became tired and let down the staff of G-d, the Amalekites prevailed over Israel. Only after Aaron (the priest and brother of Moses) and Hur made Moses sit down and supported his hands, did Joshua destroy the Amalekites with the sword.
The Amalekites made the grievous mistake of becoming the first of the Canaanite nations to attack the Israelites after the Exodus. For this act of arrogance, the Amalekites were punished with the ultimate ignominy in the ancient Near East: the blotting out of their name.
The shame of the Amalekites is memorialized when Moses makes his farewell speech to the people of Israel: “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt.…When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25: 17, 19)
G-D punished the Amalekites by ordering King Saul to destroy them (1 Sam 15:2-3) - over 300 years after they had first attacked Israel. However Saul did not obey the Lord, and kept some of the loot after defeating the Amalekites. They would have been wiped out by Saul, if he had followed God's instructions (1 Sam.15). King Saul had a chance to wipe out Amalek, but in pity he spared Agag, the king . He did destroy the city of Amalek, but other raiding parties/nomadic bands of Amalekites survived. For this, God rejected Saul as king of Israel, and was slain by an Amalekite.
Because of Saul's error, descendants of the Amalekites continue to threaten Israel across the ages.
So what does Amalek have to do with Purim? The Scroll of Esther (3:1) identifies Haman as the descendent of Agag, King of Amalek. Haman was a descendant of the Amalekite king Agag. Haman the Agagite, the descendant of Agag, plotted the mass extermination of Jews Haman, had ascended to the position of "prime minister" of the Persian Empire. This rabid anti-Semite planned an empire-wide pogrom to eliminate the Jewish people.
The attempted Holocaust in the book of Esther is another result of Saul's disobedience. Haman's desire to wipe out the Jewish people was an expression of his long-standing national tradition.
Purim opens on a somber note. Haman is identified as the descendant of Amalek, whose people attacked Israel in the desert, the symbol of cruelty to the weak. Before celebrating the defeat of the wicked, one must remember that God (as well as God's people) has a war with the Amalekites and will not be at ease until the Amalekites are blotted out. On the Sabbath before Purim, the portion of the Torah dealing with Amalek is read. This day is called Shabbat Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembrance. It is a special mitzvah [commandment] of the Torah to hear the reading and thus remember.
The idea of blotting out the memory of the name of the Amalekite descendant Haman took many forms. In ancient Persia and Babylon an effigy of Haman was burned. In the 1800s in Eastern Europe, Jews would write the name of Haman on the soles of their shoes and when his name was spoken, they would stamp their feet, erasing the writing into the ground. Modern customs included the use of noisemakers, cap pistols and the like to drown out the name of Haman.
The theme of cursing or blotting out the names of evil men is found throughout the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Hebrew verb that is most often used in this context is “machah”, which means "to blot out" or "to obliterate." It occurs in the Hebrew Scriptures 35 times in various forms, often describing the actions of God to "blot out" the name or the memory of particular individuals or nations. Sometimes it refers to the "blotting out" of sin. It is the word used in the Torah for God's promise to blot out the name of Amalek, but it is also used several times in reference to God's anger toward the people of Israel.
Like those who follow the ancient tradition of writing the name of Haman on the soles of their shoes, we are obliterating the name that God has cursed and judged each time we stamp our feet, boo and hiss, and make loud noises with our groggers. The name of Haman is shameful, and should be blotted out, if only symbolically, for it stands for evil, hatred, and rebellion against the God of Israel. In contrast, the names of Esther and Mordecai bring joyful remembrance, and are to be honored.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment