[Avodah] Haman and Amalek

[Elazar M. Teitz]

The following claim was made: 

> The mitzva is to destroy the entire nation.  He would not be obliged
(assuming, arguendo, that he is alive, and thus obligated in mitzvoth)
to kill him/her, unless, in so doing, he would be completing the
destruction of the entire nation.<

     If the claim were true, fulfillment of the mitzva would never have been possible.  How could we ever have undertaken the task -- how could we have been  sure that there was no Amalekite surviving somewhere in the world?   

     However, it is not necessary to argue from reason.  The Chinuch explicitly states, "v'oveir al ze uva l'yado echad mizera Amalek, v'yeish sipeik b'yado l'horgo v'lo harago, biteil asei ze."

EMT

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