25:17 יז זָכוֹר, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק, בַּדֶּרֶךְ, בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם This weeks Parsha has
the Mitzvah of Zechiras Mechiyas Amaleik. The Chasam Sofer in a Teshuva in Even
Haezer Teshuva 119, writes a Hiddur Mitzvah or a Chumra of Zechiras Mechiyas Amaleik.
A person has this Mitzvah once a year. Why is it once a year, it doesn’t say
anything about once a year? The Chasam Sofer brings it down from a Gemara in
Maseches Berachos 58b (27 lines from the bottom) אמר
רב אין המת משתכח מן הלב אלא לאחר שנים עשר חדש שנאמר (תהילים לא) נשכחתי כמת
מלב הייתי ככלי אובד
and a Gemara in Bava Metzia 28 (that is brought further down). 12 months
is a Zman of forgetting and therefore since the Torah says Zachar that you must
remember, so every 12 months you are obligated to Lain Parshas Zachor.
So the Chasam Sofer asks what about in a leap year such as
this year? This year where there are 2 Adars, so from last year Parshas Zachor
until this year’s Parshas Zachor it will be 13 months. The Chasam Sofer says a
person in a year such as this should have in mind Parshas Zachor during the
Laining of Parshas Ki Seitzei. When they Lain Maftir many Shuls will announce
that you should have in mind for the Mitzvah of Zechiras Maiseh Amaleik and the
Mitzvah of Zechiras Mechiyas Amaleik at the time of the Laining. The Maram Shik
quotes this as well in Mitzvah 605, the Chumra of his Rebbi the Chasam Sofer.
The idea of the Chasam
Sofer to connect the Gemara in Berachos that was quoted above to the Mitzvah of
Zachor is questioned by the Satmar Rebbe in his Teshuva Sefer the Divrei Yoel
Teshuva 33. The Gemara in Bava Metzia & Berachos says that Shicha is every
12 months. This is if someone loses something then the finder must announce it
for 3 Regalim, one year. דף כח, א משנה ועד מתי חייב להכריז עד כדי שידעו בו שכניו דברי ר"מ ר' יהודה אומר שלש רגלים. After
a year he no longer has to announce it.
The Satmar Rebbe asks we are not talking about forgetting of
an existence. A person who loses an object doesn’t forget that he lost it after
12 months. The Gemara is saying that after that point we are talking about
losing hope and despair from finding something it again, and therefore, the Shicha
here doesn’t mean that he forgot a fact, it means to give up on something.
The same thing, after 12 months a person doesn’t forget his
relative, he forgets the connection he has to it. So the Satmar Rebbe asks that
there is no Shaychus between the Mitzvah of Zechiras Mayseh Amaleik and this
Gemara?
The concept might be
to forget a “connection” to a fact. Rav Hutner in Pachad Yitzchak at the end of
Maimar 78 says that we put our idea of what forgetting is and compare it to the
Schicha that Chazal mention. Rav Hutner is talking about forgetting as applied
by Chazal its not about remembering that Amaleik existed the idea of
remembering is about the connection to the loss. When we talk about a loss of a
relative, after 12 months the newness of the loss is forgotten. That Shicha is
what we want to avoid by Amaleik. Zechiras Mayseh Amaleik means to remember it
not as a historical fact, but to have some type of connection to it, Shaychus
to it, and concept to it, and therefore, that is this idea of Zichronos.
This idea has a tremendous connection to Rosh Hashana. There
are 3 primary ideas, that of Malchiyos, Zichronos, and Shofros. The idea of
Zichronos is often questioned because we know that Hashem remembers everything.
So what does it mean Zichronos?
It means remembering the connection. A living connection,
something that affects a person. Even the idea of Malchiyos it means to have a
renewal of a connection of Malchiyos.
Zichronos doesn’t mean to remember as Rav Hutner said. We
can’t take our idea of forgetting a fact and putting it into Chazal who is
talking about remembering the connection.
The third area this is Shayich to is remembering
Yerushalayim. We do many things Zeicher Yerushalayim and Zeicher the Churban. The
idea is not to remember the historical fact that there was a Bais Hamikdash and
that there was Yerushalayim, the idea is to connect to it and have a Shaychus
to it. This is a rule that Zeicher is what affect it should have on the person
and not just remembering a fact.
