Bulletin Ki Teitze

Torah & Haftarah Readings:
Shabbat Re’eh: Deuteronomy 21:10 - 23:7 (Etz Hayim p. 1112)
1. 21:10-14 2. 21:15-17 3. 21:18-21 4. 21:22-22:7
5. 22:8-12 6. 22:13-29 7. 23:1-7 M. 25:17-19 (p. 1135)
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1-10 (p. 1138)
Torah Commentary
D’var Torah:
Amalek or Me? - Bex Stern-Rosenblatt
Our parashah finishes with three chilling verses: “Remember what Amalek did to you
on the way when you came out of Egypt, how he fell upon you on the way and cut
down all the stragglers, with you famished and exhausted, and he did not fear God.
And it shall be, when the LORD your God grants you respite from all your enemies
around in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you in estate to take hold
of it, you shall wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens, you
shall not forget.”
As is the case with much of the Book of Deuteronomy, this is Moses’s retelling of prior
events. The first time we heard about Amalek was back in Exodus. The story is very
different there. We read that Amalek came to do battle with Israel, and we learn of
Moses raising his hands up to ensure success in battle, eventually having his hands
supported with stones. But there is no mention of Amalek coming to take advantage
of the weak among us when we were at our worst. Moreover, God says, “Write this
down as a remembrance in a record, and put it in Joshua’s hearing, that I will surely
wipe out the name of Amalek from under the heavens.” In Exodus it is God who will
wipe out God’s name, rather than us, the Israelites, as it is in Deuteronomy.
Biblical scholar Diana Lipton has a fascinating read on why Deuteronomy tells a story
of Amalek as aggressor and Israel as responsible for dealing with Amalek whereas
Exodus presents Amalek as having done nothing exceptionally wrong and holds God
as responsible for wiping out Amalek. By reading the story told in Deuteronomy 25
about Amalek in context with the rest of Deuteronomy 25, Lipton adds a new layer
of meaning. The story becomes a narrative to reinforce the laws mentioned before it
in the parashah, much as in Deuteronomy Moses retells the story of Miriam getting
skin disease when he mentions the laws around skin disease. They become examples,
almost parables, to help us understand the importance of observing the law and how
to do so.
The law cited at length before the story of Amalek is about protecting the weakest
members of society. The law of levirate marriage is intended to protect the widow
and the deceased among the Israelites. Of course, these are the very people that the
Deuteronomy presents Amalek as attacking - Amalek fell upon us and attacked the
stragglers, the weak, those unable to defend themselves. This becomes his great crime
in the Deuteronomic retelling.
Moreover, with levirate marriage, we read that if a husband dies, leaving his wife without
a son, his brother becomes responsible for fathering a child, “in the name of his dead