When the remains of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz were returned, we were warned to avoid over-exposure to news and to protect our mental health. The image of Shiri Bibas clutching her children, their red hair, the sheer terror on her face, is forever a part of the Jewish story of suffering.
One of the most curious mitzvot we have is to remember to blot out Amalek. The worst way to rid them from our psyche is to annually read about them. We must forever remember the importance of stamping out evil in the world. For years, this mitzvah didn’t resonate with me. Standing together reading aloud about the importance of eliminating an ancient nation wouldn’t be a command I would broadcast in an introduction to Judaism course. Now, it does have relevance.
What memories will we hold of the Bibas family? The moment they were kidnapped? The photo of the family each dressed up as Batman, smiling? The outpouring of national grief? What memories should we forget? The desecration of their remains, draped in flags of terror? The day Yarden Bibas returned from captivity, his family left behind? We should never forget what happened to a young mother and her beautiful children, we should never forget the evil that harms the vulnerable, and we should remember to stamp out the evil that carried out this tragedy.
Amalek as a nation is gone, and one day, so will Hamas be. But the nation who remembers and remembers to forget, will carry on, with more stories of tragedy and survival.
