As is part of the text of Shas, occasionally the ancient editors and compilers would insert mnemonic words and acronyms to sum up various sections and tracts. On Amud Beis an unusual mnemonic is used: “Amalek”.

Rav Yaakov Emden notes this irony. How is it appropriate to use the name of our dreaded enemy, Amalek, of whom we are commanded to wipe out its memory, as a means to remember? The verse (Devarim 25:19) commands: “You shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”

Rav Yaakov Emden says this is a lesson that every evil in the world has a good potential which can be remedied from within. Even the wicked Amalek has a redeeming quality that, under the right conditions, can become activated. As the Gemara Gittin 57a states: 

מבני בניו של המן למדו תורה בבני ברק; מבני בניו של סיסרא למדו תינוקות בירושלים; מבני בניו של סנחריב למדו תורה ברבים – מאן אינון? שמעיה ואבטליון.

Some of Haman’s descendants studied Torah in Bnei Brak, and some of Sisera’s descendants taught children Torah in Jerusalem, and some of Sennacherib’s descendants taught Torah in public. Who are they? They are Shemaya and Avtalyon, the teachers of Hillel the Elder.

But there is something else going on as well. The verse itself ironically instructs us to NEVER FORGET to wipe out the memory of Amalek.” A poor way to forget something that you want to forget is to keep trying to forget it. Our brains are programmed to prioritize memories that have greater relevance and emotional meaning. Therefore, the more attention you pay to something, even to check if you forgot, the more significance it occupies in your mind. If the Torah’s full intention was to forget Amalek, it would not use bandwidth or “Klaf-width” to remind us how much we must hate Amalek. As the adage goes, “There is no such thing as bad publicity.” And, the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.

The irony is compounded in how the Rambam describes the mitzvah in his Sefer Hamitzvos 189:

That is that He commanded us to remember what Amalek did to us in its coming forward to do us evil, to hate it at all times, to arouse the consciousness of the people with statements to fight with it and to make the nation zealously hate it.  

The irony can be explained by considering that contrast allows for definition. There can be no good without evil in the exact same way that all the light in the world would be meaningless without darkness to act as a contrast. If one only sees light, he would be effectively blind. 

It is also possible to understand this in terms of what we discussed in blogpost psychology of the Daf, Bava Basra 42 about the paradoxical effect of religious oppression. An enemy sometimes allows the person to define himself in relation to wanted and unwanted qualities. The enemy does not even need to be a person or a nation; it can also be a concept, such as Satan or the Evil inclination. It is notable that the patriarchs faced familial and social enemies and rivals. Avraham, with his hospitality and charity, was the Anti-Sodom, Issac and Yishmael, Esav and Yaakov also were foils. From these experiences and narratives, the identity of the Jewish people was formed. 

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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