05.09.25 To Erase the Memory of Amalek: How do you say “genocide” in Jewish terms? In the past two years we have been poisoned by calls likening Gaza to Amalek. Jewish sources teach that this is not only horrifying, but also that it does not work: genocide is fantasy, not reality. This understanding emerges both from the biblical story and from a marvelous aggadic tale in the Talmud about descendants of Haman who ended up in Bnei Brak. Let us speak about Gaza I postpone this subject week after week; it is too painful for me, but we cannot avoid addressing voices calling to ignore the suffering in Gaza and even to annihilate it utterly. It is not possible to claim these are merely cries against “weeds,” because such calls come from some of Israel’s most senior figures. How do you say “genocide” in Jewish terms? In the past two years our Jewish psyche has been poisoned by calls for the destruction of an entire population: “to cleanse Gaza,” “to destroy Gaza,” “to flatten Gaza,” “there are no innocents in Gaza,” and so on. True to the issues I deal with, I will focus on one horror among many — the argument constructed on Jewish sources: equating “Gaza” with “Amalek. The Israeli leadership elite uses the name “Amalek” as if it were an internal code and assumes the Christian world, whose support Israel desires, will not understand the meaning. At the start of the war the prime minister said: "זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק" — “Remember what Amalek did to you,” "נצטווינו. אנו זוכרים, ואנו נלחמים". — “we were commanded. We remember, and we fight.” Later, when the comparison to Amalek was raised before the court in The Hague, Netanyahu’s office tried to clarify that “there was no intention to incite genocide of the Palestinians, but rather to describe the horrific massacre carried out by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and the need to fight them.” Knesset member Boaz Bismuth abandoned coded language and precisely described the commandment he believes should be carried out in Gaza: “We must not forget that even the ‘innocent civilians’ — the cruel and monstrous people from Gaza — took an active part in the pogrom inside Israeli settlements, in the systematic murder of Jews... We must not pity the cruel; there is no place for any humanitarian gesture — we must wipe out the memory of Amalek.” Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Safed, declared: “The law regarding the Arabs in Gaza is as the law regarding Amalek and one must carry out upon them the commandments of obliterating the memory of Amalek.” Many others, prominent and numerous, echoed the biblical command to annihilate a people, and I will close this partial list of quotations with the shameful slogan shared by Yinnon Magal: “And in one command we are bound: to wipe out the seed of Amalek... everyone knows our slogan: there are no innocents.” Let there be no misunderstanding Genocide is a cross-cultural fantasy, and it also appears in our Book of Books. The Torah contains an explicit command to utterly annihilate a people: men, women, girls and boys, the old and the young, and even animals. If that were not enough, the command is mentioned twice: "וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה כְּתֹב זֹאת זִכָּרוֹן בַּסֵּפֶר וְשִׂם בְּאָזְנֵי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ כִּי מָחֹה אֶמְחֶה אֶת זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם... וַיֹּאמֶר כִּי יָד עַל כֵּס יָהּ מִלְחָמָה לַה' בַּעֲמָלֵק מִדֹּר דֹּר". (שמות י"ז, י"ד–ט"ז) “And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Write this for a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in the hearing of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven…’ … ‘For the hand is upon the throne of the Lord; the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’” And again: "זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם, ... תִּמְחֶה אֶת זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם, לֹא תִּשְׁכָּח". (דברים כ"ה, י"ז–י"ט) “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt… Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget.” The command is written in words that leave no room for doubt: to blot out “the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven,” “war to the Lord with Amalek from generation to generation.” This is not a defensive war, nor a war of conquest, nor even a revenge war intended to terrify — it is complete annihilation, multi-generational, of Amalek and all that recalls him. It does not work Genocide is a childish fantasy (even when endorsed by adults) that divides the world into “children of light” and “children of darkness,” with “us” always in the light and “the other” in darkness. This is not only shocking, it also does not work — and we, the Jewish people, are the example. Many tried to annihilate us and never succeeded. I am ashamed to write, because I know that by writing arguments against genocide I may inadvertently become part of a legitimization process. But I feel obliged to address the sources that are, alarmingly, gaining popularity today. It is important to clarify that the Jewish sources that commanded the extermination of Amalek undercut themselves, and they teach that genocide is fantasy, not reality. Samuel the prophet sends the first Israelite king, Saul, on his important mission (I Samuel 15:3): "עַתָּה לֵךְ וְהִכִּיתָה אֶת עֲמָלֵק וְהַחֲרַמְתֶּם אֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ וְלֹא תַחְמֹל עָלָיו, וְהֵמַתָּה מֵאִישׁ עַד אִשָּׁה מֵעֹלֵל וְעַד יוֹנֵק מִשּׁוֹר וְעַד שֶׂה מִגָּמָל וְעַד חֲמוֹר". — “Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” A clear and cruel command: annihilate every infant and even the animals, so that no remnant of Amalek remains. The cynicism of mercy The Bible describes the results with sharpened cynicism (ibid., v.9): "וַיַּחְמֹל שָׁאוּל וְהָעָם עַל אֲגָג וְעַל מֵיטַב הַצֹּאן וְהַבָּקָר". — “But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and of the oxen, and the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good...” They did not show mercy; they coveted the best livestock and preferred booty to destruction. And the king? Commentators debate why Saul did not kill Agag. Self-interest seems a more convincing motive than “mercy” that flows amid rivers of blood for Amalek’s infants. The ending is known: Samuel is angry in God’s name, Saul begins to lose the throne, and what of King Agag? In the story’s close he is executed by Samuel. Seemingly, after Agag’s slaughter all Amalek has been wiped out and there is no longer a need to blot out Amalek — yet a few chapters later, after a decisive victory and “complete annihilation,” King David wages war against Amalek (I Samuel 27:8): "וַיַּעַל דָּוִד וַאֲנָשָׁיו וַיִּפְשְׁטוּ אֶל הַגְּשׁוּרִי וְהַגִּזְרִי וְהָעֲמָלֵקִי". — “David and his men went and smote the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites.” The devil of history smiles: this was not a divine command that can be enacted as stated; it is a moral test, and we failed in both directions: we committed a crime, and we failed to complete it. And if we hang Haman and his sons? Generations passed, the Temple was destroyed, and we became a people “scattered and dispersed among the nations,” yet we did not give up the fantasy of wiping out Amalek. The Book of Esther tells of a meeting between a descendant of King Saul, "מָרְדֳּכַי בֶּן יָאִיר בֶּן שִׁמְעִי בֶּן קִישׁ אִישׁ יְמִינִי" — “Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin” — and a descendant of Agag the Amalekite, "הָמָן בֶּן הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי" — “Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite.” Mordecai tries to show strength against the descendant of the king whom Saul did not destroy. But Mordecai lacks political power (as yet) and has no weapon (yet), and he takes a proud and dangerous step that causes the sword of annihilation to turn its direction and suddenly the Jewish people face existential danger. Esther risks her life and saves the Jewish people, but much damage has already been done and the streets run with blood. And yet still the Amalekites are not annihilated. Because there is no such thing as genocide. There are demonic and childish attempts to exterminate peoples, and we must put an end to them. Eight words worth gold Oh, how wise the Sages were. The Mishnah and Talmud were formed at a time when we were not sovereign, and many thought it undesirable to return to that status, for we had learned the price of blood that sovereignty exacts. In the heart of the series “Legends of the Destruction,” and with humor born of deep worldly wisdom, the Sages wove in this information (Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 57b): "מבני בניו של המן למדו תורה בבני ברק". — “From the sons of the sons of Haman they learned Torah in Bnei Brak.” This short quasi-historical legend is worth its weight in gold. It undermines the biblical command and adds a moral practical layer: there are no fundamentally evil people, and there is no fundamental difference between us and Amalek. If an Amalekite can be a learned scholar, then a learned scholar can become an Amalekite. Nothing is more broken than a whole heart We were all created with exactly the same measure of the divine image, and therefore Agag’s childhood deserves life just like our childhoods do; they can even study at the same university (this, the Sages said). Whoever is not even a little terrified by the hunger and death in Gaza should go to a cardiologist. Whoever sends soldiers to kill and to die, abandons hostages and “sleeps with a clean conscience,” needs a heart transplant. Our conscience should not be clean; it should work with materials that are not sterile. We have no reason to sleep quietly, for we must bring back the hostages and end the war. This is upon our conscience, and we have the capacity to do it.