Bais HaVaad on the Parsha, Parshas Tetzaveh-Zachor

Annual Remembership

February 26, 2026

Excerpted and adapted from a shiur by Rav Baruch Penfil

Remember what Amaleik did to you on the way, when you were leaving Mitzrayim.

Dvarim 25:17

Chazal mandated an annual reading of Parshas Zachor to fulfill the mitzvah of zchiras Amaleik. The Magein Avraham (O.C. 60) asks why a special Krias HaTorah was instituted for zchiras Amaleik and not for the five other mitzvos zchirah, to remember yetzias Mitzrayim, matan Torah, the eigel hazahav, Miriam’s lashon hara, and Shabbos.

The Magein Avraham answers that we already remember matan Torah on Shavuos, yetzias Mitzrayim on Pesach, and Shabbos every week. Miriam’s story and the eigel hazahav, on the other hand, don’t have their own readings because they are incidents of gnei (shame).

There are two ways to understand the Magein Avraham. The Machatzis Hashekel says the Magein Avraham assumed in his question that we fulfill all six mitzvos zchirah deOreisa once a year, when we read them in the regular Krias HaTorah. His question was why Chazal instituted an additional Krias HaTorah for Amaleik but not for the others, and his answer is that some do have an additional reading, but Chazal did not institute special readings for matters that relate to aveiros.

Another possible understanding of the Magein Avraham is that all the mitzvos of zchirah apply daily.[1] (The Rambam in Hilchos Melachim perek 5 appears to refer to remembering Amaleik as a mitzvah temidis.) The Magein Avraham is asking why there is an additional yearly Krias HaTorah for zchiras Amaleik alone, and he answers that in fact there is one for those zchiros that do not invoke gnei.

[1]See the Arizal (cited by the Magein Avraham), who says that one should have these mitzvos in mind each day when reciting specific words in Ahavah Rabah. The Magein Avraham writes this explicitly in his peirush on the Sifra (Zayis Ra’anan, Parshas Bechukosei).