Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt – how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore, when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!
What is unique about what Amalek did that we are commanded to remember it?
Amalek’s actions were not unique; certainly others have tried to kill us, and some, like Amalek, have even attacked our most vulnerable members. Yet Amalek is the only people whose actions we are commanded to remember.
So it is not Amalek’s actions that set the situation apart from all the others, thus it must be something else within the situation. What could be unique about stragglers – the hungry, the tired at the rear?
Many commentators have focused on the word "zachor" in the commandment. It is the singular imperative for "remember" when the plural "zichru" could have been used. Many say that that is because the people as a whole are commanded to remember, but some also posit that oneness is a practical as well as spiritual goal; it is safer. The individuals who strayed from the oneness of the whole, who separated themselves, who straggled at the rear, were the Israelites vulnerable to attack.
Perhaps the singular "zachor" is to remind us to act as one. The stragglers might separate themselves – but the group allows them to separate.
There’s an advertising campaign right now "Don’t Almost Give; Give" (www.dontalmostgive.org) about people who mean to help others but don’t quite... and the consequences of not helping. Children go hungry; a homeless man dies on the street in the middle of the night; teens become delinquent for lack of a youth center in their community. This is the same issue that has been difficult for people since (at least) the Jews left Egypt.
The Jews, famished and weary, failed to care for its most vulnerable members. "Zachor" is a call for us to remember our most vulnerable community members, and the consequences of failing them. Shabbat Zachor is an opportunity for us to get it right.