At a community memorial service for the Fogel family held in New York City today, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Kehilath Jeshurun called the Fogel family’s murderers “modern-day Amalek.” (Video below.)
In the biblical narrative, Amalek attacked the Israelites in the desert and thus became the quintessential enemy of Israel. Latter-day enemies of Jews—like Haman from the Purim story—are often referred to as being descendants of Amalek.
Expect the analogy to be repeated at a memorial service in Los Angeles tonight. The event, set to take place at Congregation Bnai David-Judea (8906 West Pico Blvd.) at 6:25pm, is being sponsored by Jewish community organizations, pro-Israel advocacy groups and the Israeli Consulate, as well as a number of Orthodox synagogues, schools and youth groups.
