Trauma, triggers and our need to remember

In the lead up to Purim, we read Haftarah Zachor. Zachor means "Remember" and this Shabbat is known as Shabbat Zachor or the Sabbath of Memory.

But reading it this year was different - as so much of our lives are different after October 7. Suddenly Zachor’s themes of memory, forgetting and trauma are painfully raw and alive. 

‘Remember what Amalek did to you by the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; how he met you and struck at your rear, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.’

Today, how can we not think of Hamas as we read those words? How Hamas massacred innocent children, women and men at 6.30am, most of them in their pyjamas on their kibbutzim or dancing at a nature rave.

Zachor is read on the Shabbat before Purim because Haman was the direct descendent of Agag the Amalekite king.

The Torah says that Amalek attacked from behind, aiming at the weak and the stragglers. They attacked "karcha" - which literally means by way of happenstance or arbitrarily. Amalek's entire philosophy is that there is no design or providence in the world.

The Kabbalists point out the gematria, the numerical value of Amalek - 240 - is the same as safek, meaning "doubt." The energy of Amalek is to create doubt about what is true and real in this world.

Again, we can’t help but think of that Hamas massacre. And all the pain and confusion and doubting what is real since.

Professor Netanel Laor, trauma expert and professor of psychiatry and philosophy at Tel Aviv and Yale universities  was tasked with coordinating the services for evacuees and survivors from the Gaza-adjacent communities