Why Does Amalek Never Go Away?

Inthis morning’s Breakfast & Class,we confront one of the Torah’s most difficult questions: Why does Amalek never go away?Why does the Torah command us not simply to remember what Amalek did, but לֹא תִּשְׁכָּח — never to forget?And why, after thousands of years, does the hatred represented by Amalekcontinue to reappear in different countries, different generations, and underentirely different disguises?  Drawing on the insights of Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l, and RabbiAdin Steinsaltz z”l, we explore threeremarkable approaches to Amalek: the danger of misplaced compassion, thedifference between hatred that has a reason and hatred that has none, and thedeeper idea that Amalek’s battle is ultimately not only against the Jewishpeople, but against what the Jewish people represent. And as antisemitism onceagain finds a comfortable home on opposite ends of the political spectrum, theTorah’s ancient command feels frighteningly contemporary: זָכוֹר — Remember.Not so that we live with hatred, but so that we recognize it, confront it, andnever allow it to change who we are.