Parshah Columnists - Zachor

It isn't mere coincidence that every totalitarian regime in history, as the first step in cementing its hold on the people under its rule, has first exerted control over their memory...

If the Torah commands the Jewish people to wage an eternal war against the nation of Amalek, why aren’t you seeking out Amalekites to kill?

There is a danger that our children may grow up knowing more about the Holocaust than about Judaism.

As Jews, we are faced by two different types of enemies; one G-d battles, the other is our responsibility

Timna’s actions seem righteous and altruistic. Why would this result in a child who represents the very paradigm of evil?

Haman and Amalek both used the same failing strategy. What was this plan, and why did it fail?

The skeptic can destroy, in an instant, understandings and commitments that take years to establish. What makes it difficult to contend with is his imperviousness to argument or debate. This is the spirit of the Biblical Amalek...

Can Judaism condone hatred? Or perhaps the question really is -- does a failure to hate evil constitute a tacit approval of its existence?

Love is the hallmark of Judaism; some of us even claim that we taught that word to the world. This Shabbat, however, we will stand in our synagogues and listen to a reading from the Torah that tells us to hate.

After 9/11, when the horror and trauma had subsided, Americans found themselves asking what had happened and why. Was it a disaster? A tragedy? A crime? An act of war? It did not seem to fit the pre-existing paradigms. And why had it happened?