The Torah commands us to remember the evil the people of Amalek perpetrated upon our ancestors. Our sages decided that we fulfil this mitzvah around the festival of Purim, which recalls a Jewish victory over Amalek’s favorite son, Haman. If there ever were a time to focus on Jewish collective memory, it is this week, Shabbos Zachor. This is a week in which we focus on the techniques of memory and the reminiscence of the evil ways of Amalek and their ideological progeny.

There is a seemingly minor allusion to memory in Parshas Vayikra. Among the laws of the Minchah, the meal offering usually reserved for those who could not afford the more pricey oxen, goats, sheep and even birds, we learn of the process of k’mitzah.

"ונפש כי תקריב קרבן מנחה לה' סלת יהיה קרבנו, ויצק עליה שמן ונתן עליה לבנה. והביאה אל בני אהרן הכהנים וקמץ משם מלא קמצו מסלתה ומשמנה על כל לבנתה והקטיר הכהן את אזכרתה לה'" (ויקרא ב:א-ב)

“And when any will offer a meal offering to Hashem, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense on it. And he shall bring it to the sons of Aaron the priests; and he shall take from it his handful of its flour, and of its oil, with all its frankincense; and the priest shall burn the memorial part of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Hashem” (Vayikra 2:1-2).

What is kmitzah and why is it associated with memory?

Without getting too technical, kmitzah refers to scooping an object with one’s three middle fingers, using the pinky and thumb as support. The process is only used regarding the Minchah meal offering. One performs the process of kmitzah with the flour, or the mixture of flour and oil, using one’s hand to transfer it to a vessel which was brought to the altar for burning. Once that took place, the rest of the meal offering could be consumed.

In Rabbinic lingo, all of one’s fingers are named based on the ways they are used in halacha. The Talmud (Menachos 11a) enumerates the names of the fingers: the pinky is called zeres, the ring finger is called kmitzah, the middle finger is called the amah, the index finger is called etzbah and finally, the thumb is called agodel or bohen in the Torah.

Rashi explains the role of each finger:

Zeres was used to measure the breastplate of the Kohen Gadol; kmitzah is used for the Mincha offerings; amah was used to measure the vessels; the etzbah was utilized for dunking the finger in blood as part of the sacrificial order; the agodel was used in purifying someone afflicted with tzoraas (the dermatological spiritual disease described later in the Torah).

So why is kmitzah called an azkara, a memory? I’d like to offer a few answers.

First, it’s meant to be a remembrance of the animal sacrifices. In terms of the sacrificial order, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz (Introduction to Tractate Menachos, Hebrew ed.) explains that all the rituals that take place with the Mincha parallel the process of an animal offering. While other components of the Mincha feign the blood collection, carrying the blood to the altar and then sprinkling the blood on the altar, the kmitzah twins the actual slaughter.  He actually points out that the preparation for a Mincha exacts more effort, since one must grind wheat into flour, sift and clean the flower etc … than taking an existing animal.

Second, the memory relates to the smell of the frankincense that was added to the Mincha (see Emek Davar). Rashi writes that when the kometz ascends on high, the benefactor of the Mincha is remembered for good and nachas ruach (joy of spirit). Ibn Ezra cites a verse in Hoshea, which is familiar to us as excerpted from the Shabbos Shuva Haftarah read prior to Yom Kippur.

"ישבו ישבי בצלו יחיו דגן ויפרחו כגפן זכרו כיין לבנון" (הושע י"ד:ח)

“Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive like the grain, and blossom like the vine; their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon” (Hoshea 14:8).

Ibn Ezra than makes a very insightful statement. He suggests that a smell is a memory catalyst. When you smell something, you remember it.

We don’t find the sense of smell stressed in the Torah and in Jewish law. But, I’d like to bring support to the Ibn Ezra from a very important place: Yaakov’s blessing from his ailing father Yitzchak. Yitzchak was unable to apply his sense of sight, but in the course of the interchange with Yaakov dressed as Eisav, he exploits the other senses: he tastes the food, he feels Yaakov and hears his voice. He expresses skepticism. Only at the end do we find Yitzchak invoking the sense of smell.

"ויגש וישק לו וירח את ריח בגדיו ויברכהו, ויאמר ראה ריח בני כריח שדה אשר ברכו ה'" (בראשית כ"ז:כ"ז)

“And he came near, and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed” (Bereshis 27:27).

The very next verse begins the actual blessing Yitzchak bestowed on his son (thinking it was Eisav). It seems that the sense of smell, invoked in the previous verse, was the mitigating factor that convinced a skeptical Yitzchak.

While we fulfill the mitzvah of remembering Amalek through hearing (someone posted on social media a photo of Q-tips in a bag on a shul bulletin board reminding people to clean their ears so they can fulfil the Biblical mitzvah properly), smell does evoke memory as well. There are certain smells when re-experienced identify people and situations. This is especially true in the animal kingdom.

The kometz finger in the West represents the covenant of marriage. There is a debate in halacha if the groom places the wedding ring on the bride’s index finger or middle finger (see Rav Pa’alim of the Ben Ish Chai II: Sod Yesharim 1 paralleling the finger around which men wrap tefillin; and Rabbi Yaakov Breish’s Chelkas Yaakov OC 9. We seem to rule that the index finger, etzba, is used.) However, dating back to 11th century medieval Europe, the custom in Western Civilization is that the ring is worn on the kmitzah, which is actually called the ring finger. People used to believe that a vein connected the heart and the ring finger, hence the term ring finger.

Azkera, memorial, connotes a method to remember, even when physically distant. Just as the Mincha offering is remote from the animal sacrifices that were the ideal, the Torah assures the less-wealthy donor of the Mincha that He accepts it lovingly and fully. Our sages note that the Torah describes the donor of the Mincha as a soul, to highlight that God values our intentions and does not quantify us based on the amount we are able to give. Hashem wants us to choose Him, to worship Him, to opt for a meaningful relationship. He does not look at the price tag on the ox, the sheep, the goat, the turtledove or even the flour and oil.

I saw a beautiful insight into Amalek from Rabbi Soloveitchik zt’l. Parshas Yisro begins with the elusive and cryptic words, “And Yisro, the father in law of Moshe, heard…” (Shmos 18:1). Everyone asks the question, what did he hear? Rashi answers that Yisro heard about the splitting of the sea and the victory over Amalek.

Rav Soloveitchik (Nora’os Harav Vol 5, pp. 79-87) offers a brilliant comparison between Yisro’s observations of Israel and those of Amalek. Both were impressed and awed by the experiences of the recently-freed slaves. How each dealt with it distinguishes them. Yisro joined the nation of God, renouncing all the idolatry of his past; Amalek chose to fight God’s chosen people, forcibly countering our values. “They believed that a nation which could defy Egypt and Pharaoh, gain freedom from Pharaoh, and defeat the Egyptian regime, while having different laws from those which prevailed all over the world, should be exterminated.”

The Torah wants us to know that there are certain people who, despite understanding that the Jew represents something unique, respond to that realization with malice, vicious hate and a desire to destroy. Amalek attacked us without provocation and for no reason, other than we were a unique and separate people. Amalek and their descendants will continue to react this way throughout history. The non Jews will react to us in one of two ways, either as Yisro or as Amalek, and we must be prepared for both reactions.

We must never forget the evils of Amalek. But I believe that we must also recall the kindness of Yisro and his spiritual descendants. Yad Vashem also highlights the righteous gentiles who helped and saved us at great personal peril. Memory means recalling the details of treachery, but also the nuances of kindness. We learn this from HASHEM who assures the more impoverished worshipper that he remembers them and loves them.

 May we enter the holy day of Purim with this burning love and acute memory.