Do not forget what Amalek did
Verse: לא תשכח
Command: Do not forget what Amalek did
Devarim 25:19
SMG
Just as the seven (7) Cana’anite nations have been eradicated [in fulfillment of negative Mitzva 225], so too the Jewish people are commanded to eradicate the memory of Amalek as it says in the verse[i] תמחה את זכר עמלק מתחת השמים, לא תשכח. And with regards to these two (2) Mitzvos, there are the associated positive Mitzvos which we have explained in the book on positive Mitzvos [see positive Mitzvos 116 and 117].
This Mitzva is only active * for the times of the king Moshiaĉ after once again the land of Israel has been conquered [by him], as it says in our verse והיה בהניח ה’ אלקיך לך מכל אויבך וגו’ תמחה את זכר עמלק מתחת השמים.
[i] Devarim 25:19
AMUDAY SHLOMO
[Maharshal quotes the SMG in his Amuday Shlomo but does not elaborate. Presumably the comment was lost, or the manuscript was never completed.]
RASHI
Rashi does not provide a comment on this Mitzva.
Discussion by SMS
* Presumably, this statement is also applicable to the positive Mitzva of destroying Amalek completely [positive Mitzva 115]. However, the positive Mitzva was not directly discussed by the SMG, and therefore, this statement is inserted here. I have added this statement there as well.
As noted in the positive Mitzva of destroying the Cana’anite nations, their people are no more and have been eradicated, as a people. So too, the nation of Amalek doesn’t exist, and ironically the only maintenance of the memory of that nation is due to the Jewish people, and the incorporation of this history into the Torah. How then will this Mitzva be performed, to the point where the SMG notes ‘it is only active’, during the times of Moshiaĉ.
We who have been privileged to live through the start of the era of Moshiaĉ can see with our own eyes how once again the nation of Amalek, be they actual descendants or spiritual counterparts, have attacked the Jewish people unprovoked in the same way that the original nation of Amalek attacked. We need only await for the completion of the redemption to see these people eradicated and wiped from existence once and for all, when G‑d’s name and throne will thereby be once again complete.