How fitting or unfitting is it that Parshat Vayikra is matched up with Parshat Zachor? It seems from a glance to be two things that have nothing to do with one another—one about giving sacrifices and another remembering horrid people whom we should kill. Where is the connection? Nowadays we do not have korbanot (sacrifices), and instead we pray. The whole idea of prayer and giving to Hashem has to do with belief in Hashem.

Vayikra is about giving korbanot, something that connects us closer to Hashem, unlike Amalek. Amalek is an ideology, it is not just that they are a nation. Just like Jews, they have characteristics and ways to identify them. One identification is that they see the truth and they still deny it. The reason we are supposed to kill them is that after all the miracles that Hashem did for us to leave Egypt, the 10 plagues and the splitting of the sea, Amalek still attacked the Jews. Amalek took it as all a coincidence and didn’t believe that Hashem was orchestrating it all. Reading Vayikra, about all types of korbanot that brings us closer to Hashem, seems to be a way that one could remember Amalek: It is a reminder of why we are commanded to destroy them. What sets us apart is the belief and being able to see the truth that there is a Higher Being watching over us. May you all be blessed with your belief in Hashem strengthening every day.

By Shira Sedek