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Battling the Amalek Within
A Torah scroll. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – Why is Amalek considered the archenemy of Israel? We’ve had no shortage of vile and murderous enemies in our time. What makes Amalek so fiendishly unique that even the Nazis were symbolically referred to as Amalekites?
In this week’s Torah reading, Ki Tetze, we find no less than 74 biblical commandments, the highest number of any parshah. It represents some 12% of the 613 commandments of the Torah in this one weekly reading.
The final item on the agenda this week is about the nation of Amalek—specifically, the obligation to remember the nefarious attack on the Israelites following their exodus from Egypt. Furthermore, we are commanded never to forget what Amalek did to us and to wipe out any memory of Amalek.
One of the interpretations as to why Amalek is so reviled is because he attacked “the stragglers, the weary and the weak” among the Israelites. It was considered diabolically devilish to start with the weak and the weary, and then eventually overwhelm all the people.
I remember hearing a talk by one of the inventors of the Iron Dome air-defense system who said that when it comes to an enemy who fires rockets at you, you know where they stand and, please God, have to do what’s necessary to defend oneself. But when the enemy sits down at a negotiating table in a pinstripe suit and professes to be “pro-peace,” we must be very careful indeed. Such an enemy is far more treacherous and dangerous. He talks peace while at the very same time celebrating terrorist atrocities and educating, nay, brainwashing his schoolchildren with venom and hate. Beware, this is Amalek incarnate.
On the spiritual level, the rabbis said of the evil inclination, “Today, he says do this, and tomorrow he says do that, until he comes and says, ‘go and serve idolatry!’ ” The downhill road to spiritual neglect is not sudden and dramatic, but rather a “slippery slope” that begins with seemingly innocuous disregard but ends with complete abandonment.
Kaddish was once sacred in Jewish life. Which son didn’t recite Kaddish regularly in the year after a parent’s death? Today? We watch in dread as a son standing at his father’s open grave struggles to read the Kaddish … in English! This didn’t happen overnight. It was a gradual decline.
Not that long ago, just the mention of the word Yizkor would send a tremor down Jewish spines. Even people who kept their shops open on Shabbat and Yom Tov would close them to go to synagogue for Yizkor. Today? “Yizkor, what’s that?”
Once upon a time, the second day of Rosh Hashanah was no different from the first. Today, it’s becoming an optional extra.
My lamented, late brother-in-law—the legendary Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky—used to describe this phenomenon as follows: “The zayde called it the ‘holy Shabbos.’ The son referred to it as ‘Saturday.’ The grandson described it as ‘the weekend.’ And the great-grandson said it was ‘the day before Super Bowl Sunday.’”
That pretty much sums up the decline of Jewish observance in 21st-century America.
Our great spiritual teachers taught us that there is a little Amalek inside each of us who is shrewd and manipulative. He knows full well that if he told us to deny our faith completely, he’d be fighting a losing battle. Some things are non-negotiable, even for the less observant among us. Yom Kippur, a Passover seder, a brit milah and a bar mitzvah are generally not up for discussion. These are sacred and inviolate. But a second day of Yom Tov may well be negotiable. And mourning for a full year may likewise be more than many can handle. And so it goes.
Slowly, but surely, one tradition after another falls by the wayside. And then we wonder why our children don’t consider themselves very Jewish any longer.
And so, our true villain and archenemy is the devilishly shrewd, cunning and less-threatening enemy who cuts off the “stragglers”—he who starts by attacking our seemingly less important traditions. Lurking beneath is the villain who gradually destroys everything, even our most sacred pillars and principles.
In this Jewish month of Elul, as we prepare for the Days of Judgment ahead, may the Almighty help protect us from the outer Amaleks of this world. And hopefully, we will be able to help ourselves against our own inner Amalek.
The post Battling the Amalek Within first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US House Members Ask Marco Rubio to Bar Turkey From Rejoining F-35 Program
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
A bipartisan coalition of more than 40 US lawmakers is pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prevent Turkey from rejoining the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, citing ongoing national security concerns and violations of US law.
Members of Congress on Thursday warned that lifting existing sanctions or readmitting Turkey to the US F-35 fifth-generation fighter program would “jeopardize the integrity of F-35 systems” and risk exposing sensitive US military technology to Russia. The letter pointed to Ankara’s 2017 purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, despite repeated US warnings, as the central reason Turkey was expelled from the multibillion-dollar fighter jet program in 2019.
“The S-400 poses a direct threat to US aircraft, including the F-16 and F-35,” the lawmakers wrote. “If operated alongside these platforms, it risks exposing sensitive military technology to Russian intelligence.”
The group of signatories, spanning both parties, stressed that Turkey still possesses the Russian weapons systems and has shown “no willingness to comply with US law.” They urged Rubio and the Trump administration to uphold the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and maintain Ankara’s exclusion from the F-35 program until the S-400s are fully removed.
The letter comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed during a NATO summit in June that Ankara and Washington have begun discussing Turkey’s readmission into the program.
Lawmakers argued that reversing course now would undermine both US credibility and allied confidence in American defense commitments. They also warned it could disrupt development of the next-generation fighter jet announced by the administration earlier this year.
“This is not a partisan issue,” the letter emphasized. “We must continue to hold allies and adversaries alike accountable when their actions threaten US interests.”
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US Lawmakers Urge Treasury to Investigate Whether Irish Bill Targeting Israel Violates Anti-Boycott Law
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A group of US lawmakers is calling on the Treasury Department to investigate and potentially penalize Ireland over proposed legislation targeting Israeli goods, warning that the move could trigger sanctions under longstanding US anti-boycott laws.
In a letter sent on Thursday to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 16 Republican members of Congress expressed “serious concerns” about Ireland’s recent legislative push to ban trade with territories under Israeli administration, including the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), called for the US to “send a clear signal” that any attempts to economically isolate Israel will “carry consequences.”
The Irish measure, introduced by Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris, seeks to prohibit the import of goods and services originating from what the legislation refers to as “occupied Palestinian territories,” including Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Supporters say the bill aligns with international law and human rights principles, while opponents, including the signatories of the letter, characterize it as a direct extension of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel as a step toward the destruction of the world’s lone Jewish state.
Some US lawmakers have also described the Irish bill as an example of “antisemitic hate” that could risk hurting relations between Dublin and Washington.
“Such policies not only promote economic discrimination but also create legal uncertainty for US companies operating in Ireland,” the lawmakers wrote in this week’s letter, urging Bessent to determine whether Ireland’s actions qualify as participation in an “unsanctioned international boycott” under Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code, also known as the Ribicoff Amendment.
Under that statute, the Treasury Department is required to maintain a list of countries that pressure companies to comply with international boycotts not sanctioned by the US. Inclusion on the list carries tax-reporting burdens and possible penalties for American firms and individuals doing business in those nations.
“If the criteria are met, Ireland should be added to the boycott list,” the letter said, arguing that such a step would help protect US companies from legal exposure and reaffirm American opposition to economic efforts aimed at isolating Israel.
Legal experts have argued that if the Irish bill becomes law, it could chase American capital out of the country while also hurting companies that do business with Ireland. Under US law, it is illegal for American companies to participate in boycotts of Israel backed by foreign governments. Several US states have also gone beyond federal restrictions to pass separate measures that bar companies from receiving state contracts if they boycott Israel.
Ireland has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel on the international stage since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza, leading the Jewish state to shutter its embassy in Dublin.
Last year, Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state, a decision that Israel described as a “reward for terrorism.”
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US Families File Lawsuit Accusing UNRWA of Supporting Hamas, Hezbollah
A truck, marked with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo, crosses into Egypt from Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, Egypt, Nov. 27, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
American families of victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks have filed a lawsuit against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, accusing the organization of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing material support to the Islamist terror groups behind the deadly assaults.
Last week, more than 200 families filed a lawsuit in a Washington, DC district court accusing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing funding and support to Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
The lawsuit alleges that UNRWA employs staff with direct ties to the Iran-backed terror group, including individuals allegedly involved in carrying out attacks against the Jewish state.
However, UNRWA has firmly denied the allegations, labeling them as “baseless” and condemning the lawsuit as “meritless, absurd, dangerous, and morally reprehensible.”
According to the organization, the lawsuit is part of a wider campaign of “misinformation and lawfare” targeting its work in the Gaza Strip, where it says Palestinians are enduring “mass, deliberate and forced starvation.”
The UN agency reports that more than 150,000 donors across the United States have supported its programs providing food, medical aid, education, and trauma assistance in the war-torn enclave amid the ongoing conflict.
In a press release, UNRWA USA affirmed that it will continue its humanitarian efforts despite facing legal challenges aimed at undermining its work.
“Starvation does not pause for politics. Neither will we,” the statement read.
Last year, Israeli security documents revealed that of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in Gaza, 440 were actively involved in Hamas’s military operations, with 2,000 registered as Hamas operatives.
According to these documents, at least nine UNRWA employees took part directly in the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
Israeli officials also uncovered a large Hamas data center beneath UNRWA headquarters, with cables running through the facility above, and found that Hamas also stored weapons in other UNRWA sites.
The UN agency has also aligned with Hamas in efforts against the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli and US-backed program that delivers aid directly to Palestinians, blocking Hamas from diverting supplies for terror activities and selling them at inflated prices.
These Israeli intelligence documents also revealed that a senior Hamas leader, killed in an Israeli strike in September 2024, had served as the head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon, where Lebanon is based,
UNRWA’s education programs have been found by IMPACT-se, an international organization that monitors global education, to contribute to the radicalization of younger generations of Palestinians.