Daf Ditty Shabbes 138 Forgetting and Memory

A good memory is an asset of inestimable advantage, but "it is only a curse when it is
allowed to take the place of real thinking, imagination and expression”

William Neilson

Memory is Midrash. The text expounded is a life departed. Like the collection Midrash
Rabbah, we zero-in on an anomaly, expanding it to proportions beyond its historical worth.
Like the Tanchuma, we have a message we want to share and use the text as a jump off point.

Adam Cutler (Rabbi)

“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.”

Mark Twain

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.‫ ַהְפָלָאה זוֹ ֵאי ִני יוֵֹדַﬠ ַמִהי‬,‫״‬m‫ ״ ְוִהְפָלא ה׳ ֶאת ַמֹכְּת‬:‫ ֶשֶׁנֱּאַמר‬,‫ ֲﬠִתיָדה תּוֹ ָרה ֶשִׁתְּשַׁתַּכּח ִמ ִיְּשׂ ָרֵאל‬:‫תּוֹ ָרה — ְדָּאַמר ַרב‬
‫ ַהְפָלָאה זוֹ תּוֹ ָרה‬:‫ ״ָלֵכן ִה ְנ ִני יוִֹסיף ְלַהְפִליא ֶאת ָהָﬠם ַהֶזּה ַהְפֵלא ָוֶפֶלא״ — ֱהֵוי אוֵֹמר‬:‫שׁהוּא אוֵֹמר‬
ֶ ‫ְכּ‬.

With regard to Torah, Rav Huna related that Rav said: The Torah is destined to be forgotten
from the Jewish people. It is stated at the conclusion of the curses in the Torah’s reproof:

‫ ְוֵאת‬,I‫ַמֹכְּת‬-‫נט ְוִהְפָלא ְיהָוה ֶאת‬ 59 then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the
,‫ת ְוֶנֱאָמנוֹת‬R‫ ַמכּוֹת ְגֹּד‬:I‫ַמכּוֹת ַז ְרֶﬠ‬ plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long
.‫ָוֳחָל ִים ָרִﬠים ְוֶנֱאָמ ִנים‬ continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

“And the Lord will make your plagues astonishing, and the plagues of your seed, great plagues
of long continuance, and evil diseases of long continuance” (Deuteronomy 28:59). This term of
astonishment, mentioned in the verse in addition to the explicit punishments, I do not know what
it is. But when the verse states elsewhere:

-‫ ִה ְנ ִני יוִֹסף ְלַהְפִליא ֶאת‬,‫יד ָלֵכן‬ 14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among
‫ַהְפֵלא ָוֶפֶלא; ְוָאְבָדה‬--‫ַהֶזּה‬-‫ָהָﬠם‬ this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the

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 ‫ְנֹבָניו‬ ‫וִּביַנת‬ ,‫ֲחָכָמיו‬ ‫ָחְכַמת‬ wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the prudence of
{‫ }ס‬.‫ִתְּסַתָּתּר‬ their prudent men shall be hiding

“Therefore, behold, I will continue to astonish this people with wondrous astonishment, and
the wisdom of its wise will be lost, and the understanding of its men of understanding shall be
hidden” (Isaiah 29:14), you must say: This astonishment is referring to forgetting the Torah.

‫ ״ִהֵנּה ָיִמים ָבִּאים ְנֻאם‬:‫ ֶשֶׁנֱּאַמר‬,‫ ֲﬠִתיָדה תּוֹ ָרה ֶשִׁתְּשַׁתַּכּח ִמ ִיְּשׂ ָרֵאל‬,‫שׁ ִנְּכ ְנסוּ ַרבּוֵֹתינוּ ַלֶכּ ֶרם ְבַּיְבֶנה ָאְמרוּ‬
ֶ ‫ ְכּ‬:‫ָתּנוּ ַרָבַּנן‬
‫ ״ ְוָנעוּ ִמָיּם ַﬠד‬:‫ וְּכִתיב‬,‫ה׳ ֱא•ִהים ְוִהְשַׁלְחִתּי ָרָﬠב ָבָּא ֶרץ ל ֹא ָרָﬠב ַלֶלֶּחם ְול ֹא ָצָמא ַלַמּ ִים ִכּי ִאם ִלְשׁמוַֹﬠ ֵאת ִדְּב ֵרי ה׳״‬
‫ָים וִּמָצּפוֹן ְוַﬠד ִמְז ָרח ְישׁוְֹטטוּ ְלַבֵקּשׁ ֶאת ְדַּבר ה׳ ְול ֹא ִיְמָצאוּ״‬.

The Sages taught a similar idea in the Tosefta: When our Sages entered the vineyard in Yavne,
they said: The Torah is destined to be forgotten from the Jewish people, as it is stated:
“Behold, days are approaching, says the Lord God, and I will send forth a hunger in the
land, not a hunger for bread and not a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the
Lord” (Amos 8:11). And it states:

,‫ ְנֻאם ֲאֹדָני ְיה ִוה‬,‫יא ִהֵנּה ָיִמים ָבִּאים‬ 11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that
,‫ ָרָﬠב ַלֶלֶּחם‬-‫ ל ֹא‬:‫ ָבָּא ֶרץ‬,‫ְוִהְשַׁלְחִתּי ָרָﬠב‬ I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread,
‫ ֵאת ִדְּב ֵרי‬,‫ִלְשֹׁמַﬠ‬-‫ִכּי ִאם‬--‫ָצָמא ַלַמּ ִים‬-‫ְול ֹא‬ nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
.‫ְיהָוה‬ LORD.

“And they will drift from sea to sea, and from north to east they will roam to find the word
of the Lord, but they will not find it” (Amos 8:12).

‫ ״ְדַּבר ה׳״ — זוֹ ְנבוָּאה‬,‫ ״ְדַּבר ה׳״ — ֶזה ַהֵקּץ‬,‫״ְדַּבר ה׳״ — זוֹ ֲהָלָכה‬.

“The word of the Lord” in this context bears many meanings. “The word of the Lord”; that is
halakha. “The word of the Lord”; that is the end of days. “The word of the Lord”; that is
prophecy. All these will be lost from the Jewish people.

‫ ֶאָלּא‬.‫ ״ִכּי ל ֹא ִתָשַּׁכח ִמִפּי ַז ְרעוֹ״‬:‫ ֶשֶׁנֱּאַמר‬,‫שׁלוֹם ֶשִׁתְּשַׁתַּכּח תּוֹ ָרה ִמ ִיְּשׂ ָרֵאל‬
ָ ‫ ַחס ְו‬:‫ ַרִבּי ִשְׁמעוֹן ֶבּן יוַֹחי אוֵֹמר‬,‫ַתּ ְנָיא‬
‫ָמה ֲא ִני ְמַקֵיּים ״ ְישׁוְֹטטוּ ְלַבֵקּשׁ ֶאת ְדַּבר ה׳ ְול ֹא ִיְמָצאוּ״? ֶשׁלּ ֹא ִיְמְצאו ֲהָלָכה ְבּרוּ ָרה וִּמְשָׁנה ְבּרוּ ָרה ִבְּמקוֹם ֶאָחד‬.

An opposing view was taught in another baraita. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: Heaven
forfend that the Torah should be forgotten from the Jewish people, as it is stated: “And this
song shall answer to him as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from his seed” (Deuteronomy
31:21). Rather, how do I explain: “They will roam to find the word of God, but they will not
find it”? It means that they will not find clear halakha and clear teaching together, but rather
there will be disputes among the Sages.

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The forgetting of Torah and it’s anxiety

One could easily argue that the rabbinic project is all about teaching, learning, and extending
Torah. So, it might come as a surprise to find this digression on our daf:

Rav Huna related that Rav said: The Torah is destined to be forgotten from the Jewish people. It
is stated: And the Lord will make plagues befall (‫ )והפלא‬you and your offspring, great plagues of
long continuance, and evil diseases of long continuance. (Deuteronomy 28:59) This term of
astonishment (‫)הפלאה‬, I do not know what it is. But when the scripture states elsewhere: Therefore,
behold, I will continue to astonish (‫ )להפליא‬this people with wondrous astonishment, and the
wisdom of its wise will be lost, and the understanding of its men of understanding shall be
hidden (Isaiah 29:14), then you must say: This astonishment is referring to forgetting the Torah.

Rav’s surprising midrash asserts that Israel will forget the Torah — a notion that, he teaches, is
encoded in the Torah itself. As is true of many midrashim, Rav’s claim is argued through a series
of Hebrew puns. He begins with Deut 28:59,

‫ ְוֵאת‬,I‫ַמֹכְּת‬-‫נט ְוִהְפָלא ְיהָוה ֶאת‬ 59 then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the
,‫ת ְוֶנֱאָמנוֹת‬R‫ ַמכּוֹת ְגֹּד‬:I‫ַמכּוֹת ַז ְרֶﬠ‬ plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long
.‫ָוֳחָל ִים ָרִﬠים ְוֶנֱאָמ ִנים‬ continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

which comes at the end of a famous list of curses. The plain meaning of this verse is that many
plagues will befall those who do not keep God’s law. But Rav notices that the Hebrew word for
befall sounds nearly identical to the Hebrew word for astonish and playfully suggests we should
read it this way: “And the Lord will make many plagues astonish you...”

Having made this pun, Rav asks what this new reading of the verse could possibly mean. He looks
to Isaiah 29:14

-‫ ִה ְנ ִני יוִֹסף ְלַהְפִליא ֶאת‬,‫יד ָלֵכן‬ 14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among
‫ַהְפֵלא ָוֶפֶלא; ְוָאְבָדה‬--‫ַהֶזּה‬-‫ָהָﬠם‬ this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the
‫ְנֹבָניו‬ ‫ וִּביַנת‬,‫ֲחָכָמיו‬ ‫ָחְכַמת‬ wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the prudence of
{‫ }ס‬.‫ִתְּסַתָּתּר‬ their prudent men shall be hiding.

for another use of the word astonish: “I will continue to astonish this people, and the wisdom of its
wise will be lost…” The meaning of this astonishment, Rav argues, is that the wise will forget their
wisdom — in other words, the people will forget the Torah. This is the secret meaning of the curse
in Deuteronomy, Rav argues. No ordinary plague, but a plague of forgetfulness, a loss of the sacred
scriptures, awaits Israel.

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To the rabbis, for whom Torah is everything, this is an extremely dark sentiment. But they may
well have had good reason to fear the loss of Torah. Many rabbinic texts were produced in the
shadow of persecution and understood as a project of preserving the Torah.

But the idea that this project might fail, and Israel would forget the Torah proves so dark that the
Talmud does not allow it to stand unchallenged. Further down the daf, we find a counter-midrash:

An opposing view was taught in another baraita. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: Heaven forfend
that the Torah should be forgotten from the Jewish people, as it is stated: And this song shall
answer to him as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from his seed. (Deuteronomy 31:21)

Rashi on Deut, 31:21

Rashi comments and says that this verse serves as a promise that the Torah will never be forgotten
from the Jewish people totally - ‫לגמרי‬.

There is a discussion among the commentators how to interpret the meaning of this promise. When
the verse says that “Torah” will not be forgotten, Rashi understands that we are assured that the
song of Ha’azinu will never be forgotten. This song will remain as testimony for the Jewish people
for all generations, and its lesson of the trials and tribulations of the nation and its destiny will
accompany them on their trek through history.

However, there never was a promise that the rest of the Torah would be remembered forever. This,
then, is what Rashi alludes to when he comments that the Torah will never be forgotten “totally”,
because the song of Ha’azinu will always remain.

This is also how Maharshal understands the statement of Rebbe Shimon ben Yochai in our
Gemara. Maharsha understands that the promise in the verse refers to the written Torah. However,
it is the oral teachings that are vulnerable, and there is a danger of their possibly being forgotten.

This explanation fits into the narrative of the Gemara, where we find that the day will come when
a woman will take a loaf of bread and circulate among the shuls and batei midrash to find out if
the loaf is tam’ei or tahor, but no one will be able to answer her question. The Gemara then asks
how this can be so, for the halacha of tum’ah of bread is explicit in the verse:

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 ‫ ֲאֶשׁר ָיבוֹא‬,‫ָהֹאֶכל ֲאֶשׁר ֵיָאֵכל‬-‫לד ִמָכּל‬ 34 All food therein which may be eaten, that on which water
‫ַמְשֶׁקה ֲאֶשׁר‬-‫ ִיְטָמא; ְוָכל‬--‫ָﬠָליו ַמ ִים‬ cometh, shall be unclean; and all drink in every such vessel
.‫ְכִּלי ִיְטָמא‬-‫ ְבָּכל‬,‫ִיָשֶּׁתה‬ that may be drunk shall be unclean.
Lev 11: 34
Now, if the written Torah itself is not guaranteed to be intact and remembered, it would still be
possible for the explicit information of the verses to be forgotten. It must be, explains Maharshal,
that the Gemara knows that the written Torah will always be remembered.

Yet even according to Rashi, although the promise of continuity was only made in reference to the
song of Ha’azinu, the halacha is that this shira cannot be written by itself:

‫״ ְוַﬠָתּה ִכְּתבוּ ָלֶכם ֶאת )דברים לא יט(ִמְצַות ֲﬠֵשׂה ַﬠל ָכּל ִאישׁ ְוִאישׁ ִמ ִיְּשׂ ָרֵאל ִלְכֹתּב ֵסֶפר תּוֹ ָרה ְלַﬠְצמוֹ ֶשֶׁנֱּאַמר‬
‫ ְוַאף ַﬠל ִפּי‬.‫שֵׁאין כּוְֹתִבין ֶאת ַהתּוֹ ָרה ָפּ ָרִשׁיּוֹת ָפּ ָרִשׁיּוֹת‬ ֶ ‫ ְלִפי‬,‫שֵׁיּשׁ ָבּהּ ִשׁי ָרה זוֹ‬
ֶ ‫ ְכּלוַֹמר ִכְּתבוּ ָלֶכם תּוֹ ָרה‬.‫ַהִשּׁי ָרה״‬
‫ ְוִאם ֵאינוֹ יוֵֹדַﬠ‬.‫ וִאם ְכָּתבוֹ ְבָּידוֹ ֲה ֵרי הוּא ְכִּאלּוּ ִקְבָּלהּ ֵמַהר ִסיַני‬.‫ֶשִׁה ִנּיחוּ לוֹ ֲאבוָֹתיו ֵסֶפר תּוֹ ָרה ִמְצָוה ִלְכֹתּב ִמֶשּׁלּוֹ‬
‫ ְוָכל ַהַמִּגּיַהּ ֵסֶפר תּוֹ ָרה ַוֲאִפלּוּ אוֹת ַאַחת ֲה ֵרי הוּא ְכִּאלּוּ ְכָּתבוֹ ֻכּלּוֹ‬.‫ִלְכֹתּב ֲאֵח ִרים כּוְֹתִבין לוֹ‬:

It is an affirmative precept binding upon every individual Israelite to write a scroll of the Law for
his own use, as it is said,

,‫ַהִשּׁי ָרה ַהזּ ֹאת‬-‫ ִכְּתבוּ ָלֶכם ֶאת‬,‫יט ְוַﬠָתּה‬ 19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach
‫ ְלַמַﬠן‬:‫ ִשׂיָמהּ ְבִּפיֶהם‬,‫ ִיְשׂ ָרֵאל‬-‫ְבֵּני‬-‫ְוַלְמָּדהּ ֶאת‬ thou it the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that
.‫ִבְּבֵני ִיְשׂ ָרֵאל‬--‫ ְלֵﬠד‬,‫ִלּי ַהִשּׁי ָרה ַהזּ ֹאת‬-‫ִתְּהֶיה‬ this song may be a witness for Me against the children
of Israel.

"Now therefore write ye this Song for you" (Deuteronomy 31:19). As the Torah is not written in
separate sections, this text means, "Write for yourselves the Torah in which this Song is
contained." Even if one's ancestors have left a person a scroll, it is a religious duty to write a scroll
at his own expense. If he wrote it with his own hand, it is accounted to him as if he had received it
from Sinai. If one does not know how to write a scroll, he should get others to write it for him. He
who corrects a scroll, even a single letter of it, is regarded as if he had written it completely.

Rambam, Hilchos Sefer Torah 7:1

Therefore, if the song of Ha’azinu will remain forever, it will necessarily require that the rest of
the written Torah accompany it in the same scroll. Therefore, the promise of Ha’azinu never being
forgotten automatically indicates that the rest of the written Torah, as well, will never be lost.1

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Daf Digest

6
Halacha of Forgetting2

Jewish law places a tremendous amount of importance on amassing Torah knowledge and not to
G-d forbid forget one’s learning. Throughout the Gemara and Midrash our Sages tell us of
numerous activities which one should avoid since they are “kasha l’shichcha,” cause one to forget
his learning.3

The Prohibition-

1. The Mishnah in Pirkei Avos (3:8) says:

‫ ַמֲﬠֶלה ָﬠָליו ַהָכּתוּב ְכִּאלּוּ‬,‫ ָכּל ַהשּׁוֵֹכַח ָדָּבר ֶאָחד ִמִמְּשָׁנתוֹ‬,‫ַרִבּי דּוְֹסַתּאי ְבּ ַרִבּי ַיַנּאי ִמשּׁוּם ַרִבּי ֵמִאיר אוֵֹמר‬
‫שֶׁנֱּאַמר‬
ֶ ,‫ ְמֹאד ֶפּן ִתְּשַׁכּח ֶאת ַהְדָּב ִרים ֲאֶשׁר ָראוּ )דברים ד( ִמְתַחֵיּב ְבַּנְפשׁוֹ‬m‫ וְּשֹׁמר ַנְפְשׁ‬m‫ַרק ִהָשֶּׁמר ְל‬
‫ ָהא ֵאינוֹ ִמְתַחֵיּב‬,m‫ ֹכּל ְיֵמי ַחֶיּי‬m‫ ַתְּלמוּד לוַֹמר )שם( וֶּפן ָיסוּרוּ ִמְלָּבְב‬,‫ ָיכוֹל ֲאִפלּוּ ָתְקָפה ָﬠָליו ִמְשָׁנתוֹ‬.m‫ֵﬠיֶני‬
‫שׁב ִויִסי ֵרם ִמִלּבּוֹ‬
ֵ ‫שֵׁיּ‬ֶ ‫ְבַּנְפשׁוֹ ַﬠד‬:

Rabbi Dostai ben Rabbi Yannai said in the name of Rabbi Meir: whoever forgets one word
of his study, scripture accounts it to him as if he were mortally guilty, as it is said, “But
take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things
that you saw with your own eyes” (Deuteronomy 4:9). One could [have inferred that this
is the case] even when his study proved [too] hard for him, therefore scripture says, “that
they do not fade from your mind as long as you live” (ibid.). Thus, he is not mortally guilty
unless he deliberately removes them from his heart.

that anyone who forgets what he has learned is considered to be deserving of death.

The source for this is a verse in Parshas Va’eschanan, which says:

-‫ ֶפּן‬,‫ ְמֹאד‬I‫ וְּשֹׁמר ַנְפְשׁ‬I‫ט ַרק ִהָשֶּׁמר ְל‬ 9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest
I‫ָראוּ ֵﬠיֶני‬-‫ַהְדָּב ִרים ֲאֶשׁר‬-‫ִתְּשַׁכּח ֶאת‬ thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they
;I‫ ְיֵמי ַחֶיּי‬,‫ ֹכּל‬,I‫ָיסוּרוּ ִמְלָּבְב‬-‫וֶּפן‬ depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but make them
.I‫ ְוִלְבֵני ָבֶני‬,I‫ְוהוַֹדְﬠָתּם ְלָבֶני‬ known unto thy children and thy children's children;
Deut 4:9

Similarly, the Gemara in Menachot 99b says:

‫ ט( ואמר ריש לקיש כל המשכח דבר אחד מתלמודו עובר בלאו שנאמר‬,‫השמר לך ושמור נפשך מאד )דברים ד‬
‫פן תשכח את הדברים וכדר' אבין אמר ר' אילעא דאמר רבי אבין אמר ר' אילעא כל מקום שנאמר השמר פן ואל‬
‫אינו אלא לא תעשה‬

2
Rabbi Avi Zakutinsky: https://outorah.org/p/27272/

3
see Harav Chaim Kanievsky’s Sefer Hazikaron for full list

7
And Reish Lakish says: Anyone who causes himself to forget even one matter from his studies
violates a prohibition, as it is stated with regard to the receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai:
“Only observe for yourself, and guard your soul diligently, lest you forget the matters that your
eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life, but you should make them
known to your children and to your children’s children” (Deuteronomy 4:9). And this is in
accordance with the principle that Rabbi Avin says that Rabbi Ile’a says, as Rabbi Avin says that
Rabbi Ile’a says: Wherever it is stated: Observe, or: Lest, or: Do not, it is nothing other than a
prohibition.

in the name of Reish Lakish that someone who forgets what he has learned has transgressed the
negative commandment of the aforementioned pasuk. The Gemara explains that since the verse
uses the words “hi’shamer” (beware) and “pen” (lest), this verse constitutes a negative
commandment.4

2. The Shulchan Aruch Harav (Talmud Torah 2:4) likewise rules that one who abstains
from reviewing his learning and therefore forgets it has transgressed a biblical prohibition.
This is only true if he neglected to review his learning due to laziness, however, if he does
not have time to review because of his work and the like he is considered an “ones” and
has not transgressed. He also adds that the prohibition applies even today where the oral
law is written down.

This statement of Rabbi Meir served as the source for an interesting doctrine and a related
curriculum. In his treatise upon Talmud Torah, Rabbi Shneur Zalman Mi-Ladi – the
original Lubavitcher Rabbi, claims that Torah study contains two very different mitzvot.

The more popular mitzva demands Torah study regardless of the manner in which it is studied,
or the volume of Torah retained. Presumably, a person could study the very same Torah issue
for his entire life and fulfill his base commitment. However, based upon
this pasuk in Va’eschanan and the editorial of Rabbi Meir, the Lubavitcher Rabbi develops a
second component to the mitzva – not merely to study Torah but to KNOW it.

One who studies and forgets does not diminish the fulfillment of the first mitzva but
compromises the achievement of the second. Based upon this theory, Rabbi Shneur Zalman
proposed a bold new curriculum for Torah study.

Each day a person should first review all the Torah he has studied until that point, and only
after reinforcing his retention of old knowledge may he advance to uncharted Torah
study. Advancing to new Torah study without fully consolidating acquired knowledge would
neglect the mitzva of Torah knowledge. By and large, this educational model has not been
adopted- neither at a personal level or a communal one.

4
This prohibition is cited by the Smak (9, 105), Smag (Lo Saaseh 13) and Yireim (28).

8
 No yeshiva in the world adheres to this model, though each in varying degrees dedicates
periods of the day, and by extension parts of the year, to chazara - review of Torah
knowledge.5

3.

[While this seems like an obvious ruling, in fact the opinion of Harav Chaim Volozhiner was that
the prohibition only applied when the oral Torah was just that “oral.” Once the oral Torah was
written it is no longer possible to forget Torah.]

‫ “בענין שוכח דבר‬:‫ וז”ל‬,‫ שכתב הכתר ראש )אות ס”ז( בשם הגר”ח מוואלאזין‬,‫ראיתי דבר חדש מהגרי”זּ הלוי‬
‫ וביאר בחדושי מרן רי”ז הלוי על התורה )פרשת‬.‫ עכ”ל‬,”‫ זה קאי על הראשונים שלמדו בעל פה‬,‫אחר ממשנתו‬
‫ על הכתוב “והיו הדברים האלה”( שעיקר האיסור שלא לשכח דבר אחד מן התורה קאי דוקא על התורה‬,‫ואתחנן‬
,‫ אבל אחר שכבר נכתב התלמוד‬.‫ כדי שלא תשתכח‬,‫ מרב לתלמיד פה אל פה‬,‫שבעל פה הנמסרת מדור לדור‬
‫ אכן בשו”ע‬.‫ ע”כ‬,‫ שוב אין זה בכלל שוכח דבר אחד ממשנתו‬,‫ונפסקה הקבלה של תורה שבעל פה איש מפי איש‬
‫ האם הוא על‬,‫ ויש לבאר שנחלקו בגדר האיסור לשכוח דבר אחד מן התורה‬.‫הרב מבואר דלא כדברי הגר”ח‬
.‫ שאנו נזהרים שלא לשכוח את התורה באופן שתפסק מסירת התורה‬,‫ או על התורה גופה‬,‫ שלא ישכח‬-‫הגברא‬
‫ ולכן איסור זה נוהג תיכף‬,‫ שלא ישכח דבר אחד מן התורה‬,‫ דזהו איסור על הגברא‬,‫שמדברי הגרי”ז מבואר‬
‫ דלא ישתנה איסור זה‬,‫ ולהכי פשיטא ליה‬.‫ אע”פ שיכול לחזור ללומדו פעם שניה‬,‫כששכח דבר אחד ממשנתו‬
,‫ שכל האיסור הוא שלא לשכח את התורה באופן שתפסק מסירת התורה‬,‫ אולם הגר”ח ס”ל‬.‫בשינוי הדורות‬
‫ שאם שוכח דבר אחד ממשנתו‬,‫ולפיכך פשיטא ליה דאיסור זה נאמר דוקא על הדורות הראשונים שלמדו בעל פה‬
‫ אף אם ישכח דבר אחד‬,‫ אבל אחר שנכתבה תורה שבע”פ‬.‫לא יוכל להעביר לתלמידו את כל מה שקיבל מרבו‬
‫ לפיכך אין בזה איסור‬,‫ שהרי יכול הוא לעיין בספרים‬,‫ממשנתו אין התורה משתכחת‬.

4. Harav Moshe Feinstein zt”l uses this prohibition of forgetting Torah to prohibit double
ring ceremonies. In the betrothal process, the giving of the ring is a means by which a
kinyan is made. Here, the man is “acquiring” the woman.

In a double-ring ceremony, where both the chosson and kallah give each other a ring (accompanied
by commitments), it is unclear as to who is acquiring whom. This exchange of rings may lead to
the erroneous conclusion that a woman can acquire a man for a husband.
In addition, this may lead to people forgetting the halachic kiddushin ceremony, which falls under
the negative commandment of forgetting Torah. (Igros Moshe Even Haezer 3:18)

5. As stated above there are many activities that the Gemara warns against as it can lead to
one forgetting his learning. The poskim debate whether performing these activities falls
under the biblical prohibition stated above.

Rav Chaim Falag’i, Rav Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld zt” l and the Aruch Hashulchan all feel that
performing these acts are biblically forbidden. However, the Sefer Chassidim seems to indicate
that there is no prohibition. 6

5
In a famous retort, Rav Chayim Volozin – quoted in the sefer known as ma'aseh Rav (siman 53) - claims that the prohibition of
forgetting Torah only applied to those who once studied Torah by heart before the oral tradition was canonized. In this historical
context, forgetting Torah knowledge is criminal since it threatens the integrity of the Masora. However, in our modern context, in
which all of our Torah has been committed to writing, the prohibition no longer persists.
6
Yabia Omer Y.D. 2:8 and Sefer Shemiras Haguf V’Nefesh Mavo chapter 18 for a full discussion.

9
 5. Harav Chaim Kanievsky explains the view of the Sefer Chassidim. He writes that these
actions do not actively cause one to forget his learning, rather, they weaken the mind’s ability to
remember, which in turn may lead to forgetfulness. The Torah only forbids actively forgetting
learning by deliberately not reviewing Torah. Merely weakening one’s ability to remember is not
forbidden. It should, however, be avoided (Sefer Hazikaron).

Midrash and Forgetting

Tanna De-Vei Eliyahu, a lovely Midrash, quotes from another ancient rabbinic text:

10
 . ‫שֶׁנֱּאַמר‬
ֶ ,‫שֵּׂמַח ְבֶּחְלקוֹ‬
ָ ‫ ַה‬,‫ )תהלים קכח( ֵאיֶזהוּ ָﬠִשׁיר‬.‫ ָבּעוָֹלם ַהֶזּה‬,m‫ ַאְשׁ ֶרי‬.Ÿ‫ ְוטוֹב ָל‬m‫ ִכּי ת ֹאֵכל ַאְשׁ ֶרי‬m‫ְיִגיַﬠ ַכֶּפּי‬
‫ ָלעוָֹלם ַהָבּא‬,Ÿ‫ ְוטוֹב ָל‬.

“Who is truly wealthy? One who is content with their portion” (Mishnah Avot 4:1).

‫ב׳‬:‫תנא דבי אליהו רבה א׳‬

Blessed is the Lord, blessed is He, who recognizes at the start what will be in the end. And He
proclaims from the beginning the ending from before that He made (i.e. created). And He knows
that which He made and what it would be destined to do. And He foresees for good and He does
not foresee for evil. He is rich and is happy with His portion. And in His wisdom and His
understanding, He created His world, and He prepared and afterward created in it a Man (Adom),
and flung him before Him. And He calculated until the end of all the generations and foresaw that
his (man's) descendants would be angering. He said if I were to guard in him the first debts (i.e.
seek payback in regard to sins), the world would not stand. It is on me to overlook the first (sins),
so He does. Where can you know this is so? When (The Nation of) Israel was in the Desert, they
rotted in their actions (by the sin of Golden Calf). He stood to overlook all that They had done, as
it says "And Hashem passed (‫ )ויעבור‬in front of him (Moshe) [Shemos 34:6]. Do not read he passed
(‫ )ויעבור‬rather he forgave (‫)ויעביר‬. Learn that He forgave all the evil in front of him.

The sages of Tanna De-Vei Eliyahu ask, Who would be the richest of all? They supply the answer
to their own question, God. But here’s the catch. If God remembers everything then what God
would remember is our abundant shortcomings, our bickering, and our disappointments, our
pettiness, and our violence.7

How is it possible for God to be happy while burdened with all of these horrific involuntary
memories all the time? Brilliantly, the Midrash points out that God actually does not remember
everything!

One of God’s greatest traits is the ability to determine what is worth recall, and what is worth
forgetting. In the words of the Midrash, because “God deliberately remembers the good, and
deliberately forgets the bad, for that reason, God is content with God’s lot.
Midrash offers us - really a shocking image of God able to be God precisely because God forgets,
because God cultivates the skill of letting go.

7
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Shlach 5773, https://www.aju.edu/ziegler-school-rabbinic-studies/our-torah/back-issues/holy-
forgetting

11
The Midrash goes on to say that the way God trained to forget was by focusing on Shabbat and
Yom Kippur. God is subject to the same human responses to trauma as the people of Israel, and
mirrors their sufferings.

The use of one's memory as a means instead of an end is a faculty--that is rarely used to qualify
the accuracy of a person's memory per se. We are wont to esteem highly and without
discrimination those whose powers of recollection are well nigh faultless, and yet of what merit
is the mind that can only imitate and plagiarize? To store up mere facts and uncorrelated details
is worse than useless. The natural limits of mental capacity are soon over-run, and there is no
room to cultivate original thought and imagination. A machine's efficiency is determined by the
ratio of the energy applied to the power ultimately delivered. If the two are identical, the
efficiency is zero.

Isolated bits of knowledge constitute our fuel for thought, but the product of our thinking
capacity will have little individual worth unless we learn to generalize our specific experiences
and consign to memory only the fundamental and basic principles essential to stimulate original
enterprise. So long as we only speak what we have heard and write what we have read our
mental efficiency is zero. Although we probably will always applaud, if not envy, the person
having a memory of uncommon accuracy, yet, as Professor Neilson suggests, "the modern idea is
that memory is not a store-house in which to place parcels not be used until taken out, but rather
an incubator in which you place the eggs and from which you extract the chicks."

12
The Curse of Memory

A handful of people can recall almost every day of their lives in enormous detail – and after
years of research, neuroscientists are finally beginning to understand how they do it.

‘Highly superior autobiographical memory’ (or HSAM for short), first came to light in the early
2000s, with a young woman named Jill Price. Emailing the neuroscientist and memory researcher
Jim McGaugh one day, she claimed that she could recall every day of her life since the age of 12.
Could he help explain her experiences?

Intrigued, McGaugh invited her to his lab, and began to test her: he would give her a date and ask
her to tell him about the world events on that day. True to her word, she was correct almost every
time.

Luckily, Price had also kept a diary throughout that period, allowing the researchers to verify her
recollections of personal incidents too; again, she was right the vast majority of the time. After a
few years of these sporadic studies, they decided to give her a further, spontaneous test: “Name
the dates of every single time you’ve visited our lab”. In an instant, she reeled off a list of their
appointments. “None of us was able to recall this list,” McGaugh and his colleagues noted, but
comparing her account with their own records, they found that she was absolutely accurate.

It didn’t take long for magazines and documentary film-makers to cotton on to her “total recall”,
and thanks to the subsequent media interest, a few dozen other subjects (including Veiseh) have
since come forward and contacted the team at the University of California, Irvine. During one of
his visits, Veiseh’s memory proved to be so accurate that he even found himself correcting the
scientists’ test about the exact date that Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal in the 2008
Beijing Olympics.8

Some clues come from observing the way their memories evolve over time. Craig Stark at the
University of California, Irvine recently questioned HSAM subjects one week, one month and one
year after events in their life to see how their memories of events change over time. He thought,
for instance, that HSAM subjects begin at a richer starting point, encoding more details as soon
as an event has occurred. In reality, the differences only emerged months down the line: whereas
for the other subjects, they had become faded and vague, for the HSAM subjects the events were
still just as fresh. “It must be something about the way they hold on to the information that the rest
of us aren’t doing,” Stark says.

Disappointingly, brain scans have failed to reveal any huge anatomical differences that might
explain how this occurs. “It’s not like they had some extra lobe or a ‘third’ hemisphere of the
brain,” says Stark. True, they could spot some signature characteristics, such as additional wiring
between the frontal lobes (involved in analytical thought) and the seahorse-shaped hippocampus
towards the side of the skull, an area thought to be our memory's "printing press". But it was
perfectly possible that this was the result of their skills, and not the cause: after all, practising any

8
David Robson 26th January 2016, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160125-the-blessing-and-curse-of-the-people-who-
never-forget

13
skill, be it music, sport, or a language, can lead the brain to build more efficient neural networks.
“It’s a chicken or egg kind of thing,” says Stark.

The Syndrome of Hyperthymesia

At last count, at least 33 people in the world could tell you what they ate for breakfast, lunch and
dinner, on February 20, 1998. Or who they talked to on October 28, 1986. Pick any date and they
can pull from their memory the most prosaic details of that thin slice of their personal history.

Others, no doubt, have this remarkable ability, but so far only those 33 have been confirmed by
scientific research. The most famous is probably actress Marilu Henner, who showed off her
stunning recall of autobiographical minutiae on “60 Minutes” a few years ago.

What makes this condition, known as hyperthymesia, so fascinating is that it’s so selective. These
are not savants who can rattle off long strings of numbers, Rainman-style, or effortlessly retrieve
tidbits from a deep vault of historical facts. In fact, they generally perform no better on standard
memory tests than the rest of us.

Nope, only in the recollection of the days of their lives are they exceptional.

14
How does science explain it? Well, the research is still a bit limited, but recently scientists at the
University of California at Irvine, published a report on 11 people with superior autobiographical
memory. They found, not surprisingly, that their brains are different. They had stronger “white
matter” connections between their mid and forebrains, when compared with the control subjects.
Also, the region of the brain often associated with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), was
larger than normal.

In line with that discovery, the researchers determined that the study’s subjects were more likely
than usual to have OCD tendencies. Many were collectors–of magazines, shoes, videos, stamps,
postcards–the type of collectors who keep intricately detailed catalogs of their prized possessions.
The scientists are wary, as yet, of drawing any conclusions. They don’t know how much, or even
if that behavior is directly related to a person’s autobiographical memory. But they’re anxious to
see where this leads and what it might teach them about how memory works.

Is it all about how brain structures communicate? Is it genetic? Is it molecular? To follow the clues,
they’re analyzing at least another three-dozen people who also seem to have the uncanny ability
to retrieve their pasts in precisely-drawn scenes.

“When we look at how memories are constructed by the brain, the unreliability of memory makes
perfect sense. In storyboarding an autobiographical memory, the brain combines fragments of
sensory memory with a more abstract knowledge about events, and reassembles them according
to the demands of the present.”9

The first case report was in 2006:10

This report describes AJ, a woman whose remembering dominates her life. Her memory is
"nonstop, uncontrollable, and automatic." AJ spends an excessive amount of time recalling her
personal past with considerable accuracy and reliability. If given a date, she can tell you what she
was doing and what day of the week it fell on. She differs from other cases of superior memory
who use practiced mnemonics to remember vast amounts of personally irrelevant information. We
propose the name hyperthymestic syndrome, from the Greek word thymesis meaning remembering,
and that AJ is the first reported case.

A recent study presented findings that may be more so the result of the apparent obsessive
tendencies and memory habits of the HSAM participants. Patients with OCD have been previously
shown to have a tendency towards increases in regional grey matter volumes in bilateral lenticular
nuclei. 11While we are hesitant to ascribe a definite link due to the lack of clinical diagnoses of
HSAM participants with OCD, we do propose the possibility of common underlying mechanisms.
Findings of morphological differences in the anterior putamen, caudate and posterior pallidum

9
Charles Fernyhough,, Pieces of Light: The New Science of Memory Profile Books London 2012

10
A case of unusual autobiographical remembering Elizabeth S Parker 1, Larry Cahill, James L McGaugh, Neurocase, 2006
11
specifically the anterior putamen, extending to the caudate nuclei) (for meta-analysis see Radua & Mataix-Cols, 2009.

15
and behavioral trends towards obsessive tendencies as well as significantly higher LOI-SF scores
have lead us to this line of thought.

Significant group-related differences in GM concentrations (VBM-GM). Top row: a lower GM

concentration in the vicinity of the right anterior ventral putamen, the anterior limb of the internal
capsule and caudate. Second row: a higher GM concentration in the right posterior pallidum. Third
row: a lower GM concentration in the anterior portions of the middle temporal gyrus on both sides,

16
also called temporal tip/BA 38. Bottom row: a lower GM concentration in the banks of the
posterior intraparietal sulcus in both hemispheres (BA7).12

Functional MRI imaging has revealed changes in the amygdala:13

Functional magnetic resonance imaging data was collected from an extremely rare
individual with near-perfect AM, or hyperthymesia.

Right amygdala hypertrophy (approximately 20%) and enhanced amygdala-to-

hippocampus connectivity (>10 SDs) was observed in this volunteer relative to controls.
Based on these findings and previous literature, we speculate that the amygdala likely
charges AMs with emotional, social, and self-relevance.

12
Behavioral and neuroanatomical investigation of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) Aurora K.R.
LePort,a,* Aaron T. Mattfeld,a Heather Dickinson-Anson,a James H. Fallon,c Craig E.L. Stark,a Frithjof Kruggel,b Larry
Cahill,a and James L. McGaugh Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2012 Jul; 98(1): 78–92.

13
A case of hyperthymesia: rethinking the role of the amygdala in autobiographical memory Brandon A. Ally ,Erin P.
Hussey &Manus J. Donahue, Neurocase, vol 19, 2013

17
In heightened memory, this system may be hyperactive, allowing for many types of
autobiographical information, including emotionally benign, to be more efficiently
processed as self-relevant for encoding and storage.

Mnemonists14

One person who knows a great deal about super memory is the writer Joshua Foer, who wrote
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything (2011). The book
is the story of Foer’s attempt to develop a super memory himself. It is a fascinating account of his
journey from having a regular memory, like the rest of us, to competing in – and winning – the
USA Memory Championships. Foer insists that he had a completely normal memory before he
embarked on this venture and outlines in his book the techniques he developed in order to be able
to memorise full packs of playing cards and random objects, in the correct order. This type of
super-memory ability is known as mnemonics.

I asked Foer about what drew him to the subject of psychology in general, when he has no
background training in it. ‘Is there anything more mysterious and miraculous than the human

14
Catriona Morrison (University of Leeds): https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-26/edition-10/interview-would-you-want-
super-memory

18
mind?’ he said. ‘I can’t imagine why everyone wouldn’t want to know more about how it works.’
And what in particular is it about super memory that had appealed to him? ‘I had gone as a
journalist to cover a strange contest called the United States Memory Championship, where people
were performing unbelievable feats of memory. They told me anyone could do it. I didn’t believe
them, until I tried for myself.’ Foer says his goal was simply to find out whether it was indeed
possible to train oneself to memorise huge quantities of information. As a journalist, he says, he is
always after a good story, but when it all began, he had no idea how deeply he would get drawn
into the world of competitive memorising.

In Foer’s view, ‘super memory’, in the context of the sort of competition he was training for, is in
fact something quite narrow, and limited in scope. He points out that you are not increasing any
sort of generalisable, underlying memory ability. Rather, it’s about using tricks to make your
memory work in more efficient ways. ‘I’m sorry to report,’ he says, ‘that learning how to memorise
hundreds of random numbers will not help you remember where you left your car keys.’ So, no
help for me there, then. But what is special about people like himself who have this capacity for
extraordinary feats of memory? Remarkably, he suggests, nothing at all. ‘I am utterly convinced
that anyone can do it. It’s all about applying technique and effort.’ Foer’s account of his own
experience certainly suggests that this is the case.

Savant Syndrome

There are, however, cases in which people have memory powers that are really quite exceptional
and that they seem gifted with from the outset. There’s been no attempt, for them, at memory
training
in the way there is with mnemonists like Foer. An important distinction is that the type of memory
is quite different: while for mnemonists it’s about remembering lists of words, numbers, playing
cards, and so on, for people with savant syndrome their super memory skills manifest themselves
usually as an especially keen ability in one particular area.

Probably the most well-known of these is the calculation of calendar dates

– the ability rapidly to work out, for example, what day of the week the 6 March 2028 will be.
Other individuals have been identified who have super memory for music, being able to recall tens
of thousands of songs. Derek Paravacini, for example, has stunned audiences with his immense
musical capacity, despite being blind and autistic. He needs only to hear a tune once to process it
and be able to replay it on the piano, and it appears that music was the natural way for him to
channel his energy and cognitive abilities.

It seems this ‘savant’ super memory is limited to a range of quite particular abilities: principally
calendar dates, maths, music or art. Again, not much help with those elusive keys…

A key way to understand the value of memory within the human psyche is that it plays an important
role in helping us form and maintain a sense of self. My own research (Morrison & Conway, 2010)
suggests that autobiographical memory starts to emerge at the point in childhood at which children
are beginning to form a true sense of their individual identity and their place in the world – when
they start to be able to tell you stories about their lives. If it’s true, as psychologists like Martin
Conway have suggested (Conway, 2005), that memory and the self are essentially linked, then our

19
record of our lives should serve to maintain a healthy sense of self – in which case, in view of our
human weaknesses, it would be unhealthy to have an entirely accurate record of our lives (for this
much I am relieved).

Instead, a bit of healthy editing and shading is far better in helping us understand who we are,
where we have come from and where we might be heading in the future. The primary role of
autobiographical memory is helping us understand our place in the world, past, present and
future.15

Rabbinic Memory

Rabbinic memory is constructed. Not until the modern era did Jews begin writing history as we
understand the term today. Much of what came before is closer to hagiography or idealized
biography. The idea was never to portray the facts as they occurred, but rather to impress upon
readers values and to instill admiration for one’s forbearers.

In Midrash Va-Yissa'u, for example, Jacob and his sons are rendered as medieval knights who fight
for control of Shechem and other cities, similar to how Crusaders fought in the capture of a city.
Or, think of the Elleh Ezkerah, the martyrology, which we have now made sacred through liturgy,
and recite as part of the repetition of the High Holiday Musaf Amidah. The Elleh Ezkerah is a
hagiographic martyrology, describing not what happened, but how we want to remember, how we
choose to remember, ten ghastly deaths that occurred al kiddush Hashem – for the sanctification
of God’s name.

I end with my childhood friend Jonathan Sacks’ pithy platitude.

“History is his story – memory is my story.

History is information.
Memory, by contrast, is part of identity.
I can study the history of other peoples, cultures, and civilizations.
They deepen my knowledge and broaden my horizons.
But they do not make a claim on me.
Memory is the past as present, as it lives on in me.
Without memory there can be no identity.”

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Conway, M.A. (2005). Memory and the self. Journal of Memory and Language, 53, 594–628.
Foer, J. (2012). Moonwalking with Einstein: The art and science of remembering everything. London: Penguin.
LePort, A.K.R., Mattfeld, A.T., Dickinson-Anson, H. et al. (2012). Behavioral and neuroanatomical investigation of Highly
Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM). Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 98, 78–92.
Morrison, C.M. & Conway, M.A. (2010). First words and first memories. Cognition, 21, 1–11.
Parker, E.S., Cahill, L. & McGaugh, J.L. (2006). A case of unusual autobiographical remembering. Neurocase, 12(1), 35–49.
Schacter, D.L. (2001). The seven sins

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