Shabbat Zachor 2017-Doubt that Freezes and Doubt that Frees This year, sadly, there is no shortage of thoughts that come to mind when I think of Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat where we remember our enemy, Amalek. In a world of increasing hate crimes and finger pointing, the importance of calling out evil is very much alive.. Yet, for some reason, it is a gematria related to the word Amalek that has me thinking most. The numerical of the word עמלק which is 240, is the same numerical value as the word ספק, the word for doubt. It is doubt that we must obliterate this Shabbat. R. Steinsaltz, writes in his book Change and Renewal, that just like the physical enemy of Amalek that threatened the existence of our people, doubt threatens us individually in a different way. “Amalek seeks to encourage and perpetuate doubt and thus attempts to halt any effort to deal with doubt and resolve it.” In this way, the evil is the existence of “permanent skepticism.” (pp. 200-201) Getting
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