How and Why to Forget - Limmud Berlin 5779

So that you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt as long as you live.

But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and to your children’s children: The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to Me, “Gather the people to Me that I may let them hear My words, in order that they may learn to revere Me as long as they live on earth, and may so teach their children.”

Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt— how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore, when God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

Remember, never forget, how you provoked your God to anger in the wilderness: from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place, you have continued defiant toward the LORD.

Remember what your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.

Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.

Rabbi Shimon says: One walking on the way and repeating her studies, and interrupts the studies to say, "How lovely is this tree! And how lovely is this newly plowed field!" - It is as if she is liable for the loss of her life...

Rabbi Dostai beRebbe Yannai in the name of Rabbi Meir says: Anyone who forgets one thing from his studies - it is as if he is liable for the loss of his life, as it is said (Deuteronomy 4:9): "Only guard yourself, and guard your life diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw." Does this include even one whose studies have overpowered him? The verse says, "lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life" - he is not liable for his life unless he sits down and [intentionally] removes them from his heart.

Berurya came across a certain student who was whispering his studies. She kicked him and said: Isn’t it written as follows: “Ordered in all things and secure” (2 Samuel 23:5), meaning that if the Torah is ordered in your 248 limbs, it will be secure, and if not, it will not be secure. It was also taught: Rabbi Eliezer had a student who would study quietly, and after three years he forgot all his studies.

Rabbi Eliezer said: Why is it written: “Tablets [luḥot] of stone” (Exodus 31:18)? If a person makes her cheeks [leḥayav] like a stone that does not wear away, her Torah study will endure. But if not, her study will not endure. Rabbi Eliezer also said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “engraved upon the tablets” (Exodus 32:16)? This teaches that had the first tablets not been broken, the Torah would never have been forgotten from the Jews.

When you reap the harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, do not turn back to get it; it shall go to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow—in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat down the fruit of your olive trees, do not go over them again; that shall go to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.

It happened with a certain pious person that he forgot a sheaf in his field, and said to his son, “Go to Jerusalem and sacrifice in my name a bull as a burnt-offering and a bull as a peace-offering.” His son answered, “Father! What have you seen in this commandment [of Shikhecha] to rejoice about it more than any other Torah commandment?” He said, “All other commandments have been given to us by God to be performed consciously. But this commandment was given to be performed accidentally. Had we done it on purpose, this commandment would not be counted for us.”

The early generations would beat their olive trees in a generous way.

Yose ben Yoezer says not to lean hands [on the Chagigah sacrifice]; Yose ben Yohanan says to lean hands. Yehoshua ben Perahia says not to lean hands; Nitai the Arbelite says to lean hands. Yehuda ben Tavai says not to lean hands; Shimon ben Shetach says to lean hands. Shemaya says to lean hands; Avtaliyon says not to lean hands. Hillel and Menahem did not disagree. Menahem left and Shammai entered. Shammai says not to lean hands; Hillel says to lean hands.

Reish Lakish says: Sometimes abandoning the Torah is its foundation, as it is written: “And I will write upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which [asher] you broke” (Exodus 34:1). The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Your strength is true [yishar koḥakha] in that you broke the tablets.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: Three thousand halachot were forgotten during the period of mourning for Moses. They said to Joshua: Ask God! He said to them "It is not in Heaven" (Deuteronomy 30:12). They said to Samuel: Ask God! He said to them "These are the commandments" - a prophet is not allowed to initiate anything... Rabbi Abahu said: Nonetheless, Otniel ben Kenaz was able to return them through his pilpul reasoning.