Sometimes I forget things, even things that happened yesterday. We all do.
I also remember many things; even some things that happened decades ago.
Why do I remember some events and forget others? There’s plenty of research into how we encode, store and retrieve memories. The bottom line is that some things strike us deeply, and become imprinted on our deeper psyches, so we remember them. You remember something because it matters.
You can have a deep grasp of a concept today and forget it by next week, because it didn’t matter all that much to you. We’re finite humans, so our brains can’t retain every mental image and every idea that we engage. Our minds have limited RAM and backup space, so some things need to be ‘dumped’ to reduce brain clutter..
But what about G-d, the Omnipotent and Omniscient (all-knowing) One? With unlimited ‘brain space’, G-d shouldn’t forget anything. Yet, in our High Holiday prayers we beseech the Almighty “Remember us for life!” and “Remember our Ancestors’ loyalty!”
Could G-d actually forget us?
Scripture uses human terms to describe Divine functions, because ‘human’ is the only language we understand. So we get our minds around a human metaphor and then we strip it of its human trappings, searching for the function’s ‘soul’, so we can begin to fathom what that function represents within the Divine.
Isaiah quotes G-d as saying “…I will erase your sins; I will not remember them”. He doesn’t say “I’ll forget your sins”; G-d doesn’t forget anything. He says “I won’t remember them.” In other words, “I know you’ve made mistakes. But I love you so I won’t make a big deal out of them.”
So not-remembering doesn’t mean forgetting (G-d doesn’t ‘forget’), it means not giving that item central focus.
So when we pray on Rosh Hashana, and ask G-d to ‘remember’ us, we’re saying “Please give full focus to the fact that we’re your children. And no matter how Your child behaves, he/she is always Your child. And when Your child realizes the fundamental need for a healthy relationship with his/her Parent, there should be no need for discipline.”
That’s our Rosh Hashana prayer to G-d: Irrespective of some questionable choices, we’re Your kids, so we need to be central to Your Divine focus. You’re our Parent, so we’ll mirror the attention.
Our relationship runs deep. So does memory.
Please remember.
Rabbi Mendy Herson