Question

Hello Rabbi,

Attached is a short Torah thought in honor of the Portion of Zakhor.

Have a peaceful Sabbath and a happy Purim 🙂

The commandment of reading the Portion of Zakhor – on the relationship between the command to remember and not to forget

Friday, 12 Adar 5777
Is the command to remember identical to the command not to forget? How does the Portion of Zakhor teach us to internalize collective memories? In the portion of “Zakhor” there is a command to remember what Amalek did, and it ends with a warning not to forget it: “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way, as you came out of Egypt; how he happened upon you on the way, and struck the hindmost of you, all who were lagging behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore, when the Lord your God gives you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget.” Deuteronomy 25:17–19, Portion of Ki Tetze. Are “remember” and “do not forget” two different commands aimed at different purposes, or is this merely a doubling of instructions whose meaning is in practice the same? And more generally, what is the relationship between the concepts of “remembering” and “not forgetting”? The Sages in several places (in Sifra, Sifrei, and in the Talmud, Megillah 18a) explain that the command to remember and the command not to forget express two different demands on a person, as brought in the Talmud: “Remember — might that mean in the heart? When it says, ‘Do not forget,’ forgetting of the heart is already stated. So how do I fulfill ‘Remember’? With the mouth.” Remembering is an active, external act at a particular moment (speech — through reading the Portion of Zakhor), whereas not forgetting is a memory engraved in consciousness in a constant and internal way. How does one establish a permanent consciousness in a person? How can consciousness be commanded? The solution that Jewish law offers is through remembering out loud each and every year. In practice, the reason we were commanded to remember what Amalek did verbally is so that we not forget it in our hearts, and this is the relationship between “remember” and “do not forget” — a relationship of cause and effect — an active act of speech whose purpose is to achieve a psychological result. Remembering is always an action meant to prevent forgetting. This seems to emerge from several sources: a) Maimonides, Sefer HaMitzvot, positive commandment 189: “He commanded us to remember what Amalek did to us, how he hastened to do us evil, and that we should say this at all times and arouse souls with words to wage war against him, and stir the people to hate him, so that the commandment not be forgotten and his hatred not weaken and diminish from people’s souls over the course of time. This is what He, may He be exalted, said: ‘Remember what Amalek did to you.’ And the language of the Sifrei is: ‘Remember what Amalek did to you’ — with the mouth; ‘do not forget’ — in the heart [negative commandment 59]. That is to say, say words with your mouth that will obligate people not to let hatred of him depart from their hearts.” b) Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (Ki Tetze 25:19): “‘Do not forget’ — and in order that you not forget, ‘remember’: from time to time renew in your heart the memory of Amalek and what was said to you about his future.” c) Torah Temimah (there, note 200): “The explanation seems to be that he infers this from the doubled expression ‘remember’ — ‘do not forget,’ which is really one and the same thing; and in general he is bothered by the matter of commanding against forgetting, for how can one command a faculty of the mind, and what is a person to do if he is forgetful by nature? Therefore he expounds that one should make for himself some mark and sign, and through that he will naturally not forget. This is similar to what is said in Shabbat 104a, ‘Make signs in the Torah,’ and in Eruvin 21b, ‘Teach it with signs.’ See also what I wrote at the beginning of Deuteronomy. In this way the verse ‘Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, and forgot him’ can also be explained, as it is a doubled expression: it means that because he did not make a sign or marker to remember him, therefore — ‘he forgot him.’ And here too it can be explained this way: ‘remember’ — make a sign and marker for the matter, and then — ‘do not forget.’ This explanation is included in what they said, ‘Might that mean in the heart? וכו׳ Rather, how do I fulfill “remember”? With the mouth’ — meaning, create remembrance with the mouth so that you will not forget. Consider this carefully.” If we did not observe memorial ceremonies every year to mark the Holocaust, that event would be forgotten from our hearts over time. Likewise, commandments that serve as testimony — such as the Sabbath, Passover, and phylacteries — are meant to remind us constantly of our obligation to the One who took us out of the slavery of Egypt. Actions and rituals keep us from forgetting, and thereby preserve the memory in our hearts. So too in everyday life: when we want to avoid forgetting something we need to do, we set a reminder on the computer or on the cellphone. In a broader sense, one can argue that in cases where the Torah commands emotions or opinions, Jewish law translates them into actions. This translation into actions stems from the difficulty of commanding emotions and thoughts. A legal system (including the Torah’s legal system) cannot be based only on thoughts, but on things visible to the eye. For example, rejoicing on a festival is fulfilled through eating and drinking; love of God is expressed through keeping His commandments and studying His Torah; and so on. Action and speech are meant to activate consciousness and emotion. This approach appears clearly in Sefer HaChinukh (commandment 16): “Know that a person is shaped according to his actions… for hearts are drawn after actions.” Therefore, if we want to preserve a certain consciousness or memory, we must translate it into actions, such as annual memorial ceremonies. Through active remembrance, we will not forget the events — and this is the mechanism of the commandment of reading the Portion of Zakhor.
Have a peaceful Sabbath and a happy Purim,