DEUT1471 According to the Kabbalah, the Jew is to recite and remember six remembrances each day (the Exodus, Receiving the Torah at Sinai, Amalek's attack, the Golden Calf, Miriam's sin, and Shabbat) (found in most prayer books following the daily morning service). However, the Midrash (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tetzei 5) says that of all the remembrances, a person should be most careful about remembering what Amalek did to the Jewish people. But is this applicable today? Does the nation of Amalek exist, and if so, who are they? From the time of Sancherev (Mishnah, Yadayim 4:4), who intentionally intermingled all the peoples of the world, there is no one nation that can be identified as Amalek. However, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, attributing this view to his father (and others said his grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik), believes that Amalek's role was filled in the twentieth-century by Hitler and the Nazis (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Theological and Halakhik Reflections on the Holocaust (Hoboken, NJ: Ktav, 1992), p. 98.) This is based on the verse (Exodus 17:6) that the battle between Jews and Amalek will continue from generation to generation. The Midrash (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tetzei 11) explains that in each generation, the battle between the Jews and Amalek will be waged. Similarly, Maimonides (Hilchot Melachim 5:4) specifically states that the seven nations have disappeared, while making no corresponding statement about Amalek, implying that the Amalek tribe still exists. That is, anyone who tries to destroy Jews simply because they are Jews, with no other alternative motive (as the original Amalekites did), should be considered in the category of Amalek today. This is based on the verse in Psalm 83 (Psalms 83:5) that speaks about a people who try to destroy the Jews and their remembrance. Based on the definition of Rabbi Soloveitchik, would Hitler and Nazi Germany be classified as Amalek? From Hitler's writings alone and even from his actions at the beginning of the war, it is difficult to ascertain for certain. It is possible, as deranged as it sounds, that Hitler actually believed at the destruction of the Jews would benefit Germany. If that is the case, then his massive killing of Jews, as horrible and morally reprehensible as it might have been, would not classify Hitler as Amalek. However, from his actions in 1943 – 1944, after he was losing the war, we can deduce Hitler's real beliefs. As Nazi Germany began to lose on all fronts, Hitler had an important choice to make. Trains that could. have been used to transport replacement soldiers, weapons, medicine, and food to the German army at the front were used to transport Jews to the death camps. In choosing to use the trains in this manner, Hitler demonstrated his first priority: killing Jews. This clearly shows that Hitler's hatred for Jews was so great that he was willing to sacrifice his own soldiers in order to kill more Jews. This proves that Hitler would be considered Amalek. In a similarly illogical response, in his last speech in the underground bunker before committing suicide, Hitler did not speak much about the war or his dream, but about the Jews, again showing that his overriding desire to destroy Jews was simply because they were Jews. This Amalekite must be remembered and never forgotten, as it says in the Torah [this verse].
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