Zikaron/Re-membering

Prayer enables (or is a segulah/protective charm for) zikaron (7:5).

You must also take care not to speak ill of others. Talking maliciously and derogatorily about other people is very damaging to one’s zikaron. ... (Ibid. 5).

One who embarrasses their friend becomes forgetful.

Anxiety causes forgetfulness.

Whoever is without zikaron, it is certain that they have not repaired the sins of their youth.

You must be very watchful over zikaron and not to fall into forgetfulness. [What is zikaron?] It means constantly keeping the thought of the World to Come in the forefront of your mind and never forgetting about it. It would be a very good thing if every Jew were to make it a daily habit, as soon as they open their eyes in the morning and before they do anything else, to remind themselves of the World to Come. They should do this as soon as they wake up. This is the concept of zikaron in general. And it has to be followed through into every detail of the day.

With every thought, word and deed which God sends you every day, you must broaden your understanding and perception of God. You must understand that every one of them is a hint which God sends you in order to draw you closer to God. God Godself is infinite and without end. But God “contracts” Godself, as it were, to our level, using all the experiences which God sends us each day, in order to signal to us and guide us. It is up to us to recognize this and find the messages in all the thoughts, words and deeds which are sent to us, in order that we may reach a deeper insight and come closer to God. But it is necessary to understand that the only way to broaden and deepen your perception of God is in a measured, orderly way (54:2).

There are people who have the ability to interpret the messages contained in all the things around them, including even secular affairs. But it would be wrong only to pay attention to these signals to the exclusion of other sources of spiritual guidance. The perception of God which comes from the study of Torah is on a higher level. Thinking about the hints contained in material affairs is good up to a certain limit, but that is not sufficient. You should pay attention to them only as much as you need to but no more. And even, as here, when you take from the world just as much as is sufficient for you, you should still give a part of what you take to charity (see Mammon 27).

If you develop zikaron in the right way, as we have explained, great tikkunim/healing will be brought about in the upper worlds and the unity of God will be revealed. However, the great mass of people do not have the level of understanding which is necessary to grasp the significance of the hints God sends. For them the same effects are accomplished through sleep, and when they observe the mitzvot of tzitzit and tefilin, learning Torah and praying and going about their business honestly and in accordance with the law (Ibid.).

Clapping your hands when you pray sweetens the force of severity in the world. This is one of the ways of ridding yourself of forgetfulness and meriting zikaron (46).