The Sefas Emes continues by saying that a Jew’s status as witness is most manifest during the holy Shabbos. The Gemara (Shabbos 119b) states, “Whoever recites [the paragraph beginning with the word] ‘Vayechulu – And He finished’ is accompanied by two angels who say to him, ‘Your iniquity will be removed and your sins will be forgiven.’”
The commentators wonder which sin is forgiven when one recites Vayechulu.
Shiltei Hagibborim (44b dafei haRif ) explains that when one recites Vayechulu it is testimony to one’s belief that G-d created the world. For this reason the paragraph is recited while one is standing and with at least two other people present, in the same manner as testimony is stated in a halachic court. “Were one not to recite Vayechulu he would be guilty of withholding testimony and would transgress the sin of not stating testimony. Therefore, when one does recite Vayechulu, the angels say to him that his iniquity was removed because he did not withhold testimony.”
Essentially, Shabbos is a day of testimony. “The Children of Israel shall observe the Shabbos, to make the Shabbos an eternal covenant for their generations. Between Me and the Children of Israel it is a sign forever…” (Shemos 31:16-17). Our very observance of the day is a testimony of our belief that G-d is the Creator.
Based on this idea from the Sefas Emes, we can understand why Parshas Zachor is specifically read on Shabbos. Amalek, the great antagonist and nemesis of Klal Yisroel, does not merely seek to destroy the Jewish religion. Amalek seeks to obliterate and decimate the entire existence of every Jew – to destroy, to kill, and to render obsolete. Every Jew, by virtue of his pedigree, is a living testimony to the oneness of G-d. Amalek, whose supreme mission is to destroy all sense of spiritual existence and divinity, is at complete odds with that testimony. We bear witness to everything Amalek abhors and detests!
As Adolf Hitler yemach shemo wrote: “It is true we Germans are barbarians; that is an honored title to us. I free humanity from the shackles of the soul; from the degrading suffering caused by the false vision called conscience and ethics. The Jews have inflicted two wounds on mankind: circumcision on its body and conscience on its soul. They are Jewish inventions. The war for the domination of the world is waged only between these two camps alone, the Germans and the Jews. Everything else is but deception.”
On Shabbos, the day when our testimony is so candid, the perennial war against Amalek comes to the fore. During the holy day we strive to dedicate our very beings to enhancing our conscience and connecting with our Creator. If Amalek detests us generally, their enmity reaches unimaginable proportions on Shabbos. On Shabbos the battleground and the war become even more pronounced, and it is truly “these two camps alone… everything else is but deception.”
Therefore, specifically on Shabbos, we read of the attack of Amalek, for ultimately it is the strength that Shabbos imbues us with that gives us the spiritual courage and fortitude to continue to fight the war against Amalek.
