Shabbat Zachor means Sabbath of Remembrance. Well, actually the word ZACHOR זכור means REMEMBER- as in the command form of the Hebrew root for memory. We are told we as a people must remember what the Amalekites did to our ancestors as the enemy (Deuteronomy 25:16) "surprised you on your journey (from Egyptian servitude) when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear."

It wasn't just an attack, it was an intentional massacre of the weakest among the Israelite refugees from slavery. When I listen to podcasts from pro-Hamas activists berating Israel for its "genocide" of Palestinians, and praising the Hamas "resistance" I wonder if they consider what Hamas, like Amalek thousands of years ago, have actually done. Intentionally going into the homes of families along the border with Gaza, intentionally killing and slaughtering everyone in sight, intentionally grabbing babies from their cribs and either killing them or capturing them carrying them to captivity where they would then strangle them to death and mutilate their bodies in an attempt to say that Israeli bombs had killed them. What kind of perversion does it take to know these facts and still place all the blame on the Israelis? Can they all be sociopaths with no sense of moral outrage?

So what does the Torah command us to do in this week's Maftir portion? First, to understand that God "grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance." The next sentence, Deuteronomy 25:19, shows us how: "Utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens, DO NOT FORGET!" The memory of Amalek exists today in the form of Hamas who prey on the weakest among the Israelites. The oldest members of the community like Oded Lifshitz, of blessed memory, and the youngest, like Ariel and Kfir Bibas, of blessed memory.

If we are to follow this command, we must blot out the memory of Hamas and any others who would engage in or support terror against our people. You may note that the Torah does not suggest that the Israelites sit down for negotiations with the Amalekites or issue a cease fire to end some "cycle of violence" between the parties. The Torah is quite clear: Utterly obliterate the enemy, blot out their memory, and never forget the evil they and others are capable of.



It is this blotting out the memory that brings us to the groggers we use to blot out the name of Haman when the Megillah is read on Purim. Join us this Friday, March 14 at 5:00 pm in the chapel as we faithfully do so, followed by Hamantaschen, of course!

Rabbi Kaplan

Tonight's Minyan will be combined with TBB at

5:30 at the JCC- Not at our chapel!

(Online at our Temple Facebook Page only)

Purim is Coming! NEXT Friday

March 14 is Purim Day.

We will read the Megillah

FRIDAY at 5:00 pm

in our Chapel followed by our

Kabbalat Shabbat service.

Delivery drivers are needed

Please call Gerri Kaplan for details!

570-357-5357

Sunday Morning March 23 9:30 am service 10:00 am Torah Study

Click Here for Camp Signup and Information

Torah Study

with

Rabbi Larry Kaplan

and Dr. Jeff Lubin

Every Wednesday 2:00 pm

Rifkin Resource Room

at Freidman JCC

This week's Yahrzeits

(Light candle the evening before)

Friday, March 7, 2025----7 Adar 5785

Joel Cohen, Marion Frank, Sarah Morris, Blanche Popky

Lois Donley, Arnold Hirshowitz, Zelda Laster, Irvin Siswein

Eva Domowitz

Saturday, March 8, 2025----8 Adar 5785

Max Lehrman, Jonathan Keiser, David Lieberman

Samuel Kurlansky, Gertrude Zachar Brown, Jewel Jacobs

Harry Rothstein, Allan Taub

Sunday, March 9, 2025----9 Adar 5785

Jay Leventhal, Leonard German, Morris Savitz, Joseph Plotkin

Evelyn Sondheim, Barbara Schwartz, Hanna Ibsen

Aleck Abrahamson, Adele Levine, Jennie Landau

Eunice Rubel, Lena Weiss, Vivian Mason

Monday, March 10, 2025----10 Adar 5785

Philip Gelb, Elaine Levey, Goldie Pollock, Philip Cutler

Lila Farber, Anne Sussman, Jan Prashker

Ted Fischer, Carol Baltimore

Tuesday, March 11, 2025----11 Adar 5785

Celia Freed, J. Malcolm Ross, Lawrence Miller, Bess Michelstein

Harold Schonfeld, Hilda Man Hertz, Doris Newman, Isadore Rome

Pearl Wolfe, Richard May, Joseph J. Savitz, Jean Gonchar

Wednesday, March 12, 2025----12 Adar 5785

Ben Libenson, Howard Klein, Helen Nachlis, Alan Shuman

Edith Rome, Sandra Warshal, Bessie Frank, Rosalie F. Cohen

Zack Newirth

Thursday, March 13, 2025----13 Adar 5785

Jacob Isaacs, Karen Smulowitz, Clara Mittleman, Morris Brand

Dr. Isadore Krasno, Seymour Fendler, Sara Goldstein

Bernice Fierman

Friday, March 14, 2025----14 Adar 5785

Jacob Schiffman, Lois Finkelstein, Sadie Kaufer, Reichel Dunner Marcella Iscovitz

~May their memory be for a blessing~

Estelle Deutsch Abraham's

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