Remembering Mitzrayim Vs. Remembering Amalek

In Parshat Re'eh we are commanded to remember the day that we left Egypt all the days of our lives (16:3). Rav Moshe Feinstein contrasts this mitzva with that of recalling the actions of Amalek. He notes that each of these obligations carries one outstanding stringency and another such leniency. We are obligated by The Sages (Berachot 12b) to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim once every day and again during each night. On the other hand Chazal set one day a year, the Shabbos before Purim, for the fulfillment of the divine charge to remember Amalek. In this way remembering Mitzrayim seems stricter than remembering Amalek. But Amalek has a stringency that does not apply to remembering our exodus from Egypt: the framework for fulfillment of this mitzva is reading it from a Torah scroll. Anything which reminds us of our miraculous exit from Egypt works to fulfill our command obligation of remembering The Exodus.

The purpose of remembering Yetziat Mitzrayim is to increase our belief in Hashem's might - this can be accomplished in many ways. (On a related note - the Mishnah Berurah quotes Eliya Raba in the name of Avudraham, as saying that the meaning of the bracha of Shekocho U'gevurato Malei Olam - a blessing which some people may have said this week upon experiencing an earthquake) is our acknowledgement that G-d gave nature the power to show us some of the power of The Creator - to engender Yir'at Hashem in us.) The message of remembering Amalek is to realize how much we need true Torah so that we don't slip into being like Amalek. Thus, it makes sense to have a Sefer Torah on hand when we fulfill the mitzva of considering Amalek.

We are commanded to remember Mitzrayim daily; it seems logical - bearing the wording of the command in mind - to do something once each day and again at night to ensure that we keep Mitzrayim in our consciousness. Since regarding Amalek we have the latitude make sure we remember without being told that we have to remember it every day another consideration is permitted to come into play. Given the fact that when something is done often it often becomes ineffective, The Rabbis took the available prerogative of setting a once a year official time and context for the fulfilment of this mitzva, in order to heighten the odds that we would take seriously the effort to work on ourselves toward being the opposite of Amalek.