“Around me, I see many Jews using the timing in the Jewish calendar to understand the current U.S.-Israel war against Iran in biblical terms. We are Esther, we are Mordecai, we have defeated Haman, they seem to be saying. We have fulfilled the commandment of blotting out Amalek, our ancient and perpetual enemy.

It’s not hard to see what they are saying. On the Jewish calendar, this past Shabbat was Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of remembrance, celebrated each year on the Shabbat right before Purim. The occasion is marked with a reading from the Torah commanding us to remember how Amalekhites, the followers of Amalek, attacked the Israelites on their journey from Egypt to the land of Canaan and that they did so unfairly, picking off the weakest members of the group, those straggling to keep up. The Israelites are then commanded: “When the Eternal your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven!” (Deut. 25:17-19)

From this foundation, Amalek has become an archetype of a certain sort of antisemite, one who is infinitely dangerous, who is always lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. In the biblical book of Esther, our source text for Purim, Haman, who seeks to destroy the Jews of Persia, is identified as a descendant of Agag, who was once a king of the Amalekhites. That we celebrate Haman’s overthrowing by Mordecai and Esther — and the Jews’ subsequent rampage against their enemies at the book’s conclusion — reinforces the remember/blot out dynamic of Deuteronomy and ties it tightly to Purim. Shabbat Zachor ensures we don’t miss this point…”

Read the full piece in JTA