So much to remember – Ki Tetzei
74 of the 613 mitzvot occur in this sidra – 27 positive and 47 negative. They include the 603rd mitzvah of the Torah. “Remember (zachor) what Amalek did to you on the way when you left Egypt”.
With our Jewish ethical sensitivity, some might find this mitzvah rather uncomfortable; do we not, after all, have an ethical duty not to seek vengeance or bear a grudge?
The matter is put into perspective when we learn there are six z’chirot – six things concerning which the Torah commands, zachor – “remember”. They are listed after Shacharit in some siddurim.
The things we are duty-bound to remember are the Exodus from Egypt (Ex. 13:3), Shabbat (Ex. 20:8), the experience at Sinai (Deut. 4:9), how we provoked God in the wilderness (Deut. 9:7), Miriam’s sin of slander (Deut. 24:9), and Amalek’s cowardly attack on the old and weak at the rear of the Israelite column (Deut. 25:17).
Taken together and applied to the wider vista of man’s conduct, they tell us to remember six basic human needs – to be free; to have time to improve our soul and mind; to have a moral law and standards; to cope even in unprepossessing circumstances; to speak charitably of others; and to be fair and not exploit the weakness of other people. They are all difficult, which is why some ponder the list every morning as the day begins.
They fit in well with these weeks before Rosh HaShanah, which is Yom HaZikkaron God’s Day of Remembering. If we remember all He expects of us, we are entitled to hope that He will remember us kindly in the year ahead.
