Zichronot: Remembering Forward

In the city of Philadelphia, in response to a call for the community to join a parade in support of their country, 200,000 Philadelphians arrived to show solidarity despite the fact that the world was struggling to contain a deadly virus. Within six weeks of that gathering 12,000 of the people who were at the march perished. By the six month mark, there were half a million reported cases.

Believe it or not, this event did not take place in 2020. The infamous Philadelphia parade, in support of the World War One war effort, took place on September 28th, 1918. In her book American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, Historian Nancy Bristow uses words like quarantine, socially distance, and mandating masks to describe how people tired of isolating as the disease spiked several times. Her words, as I listened to her being interviewed back in March, felt eerily like a road map for what was still to come in 2020. I became intrigued, almost obsessed, by a history I had paid very little attention to, yet, now, remembering the events of 1918, could possibly shape the way I chose to behave today.

Remembering is a foundational theme on Rosh Hashanah. The Zicharonot or Remembrance section, in addition to Malchuyot/Coronation, and Shofarot sections, are core to our musaf tefilah.

Of course, the liturgy is not about us remembering, but about God remembering key moments in our history, recalling the deeds of our ancestors so that God's characteristic of rachamim, of mercy, will be stirred, and in their merit, God will place us in the Book of Life.

And yet, I think there is a deeper message to Zicharonot as well. Lord Immanuel Jakobovits, who was Chief Rabbi in the UK in the 70s and 80s summarizes my sentiment:

And yet, I think there is a deeper message to Zicharonot as well. Lord Immanuel Jakobovits, who was Chief Rabbi in the UK in the 70s and 80s summarizes my sentiment: “Remembering is usually a past-oriented process. But in Genesis we read three times of God ִremembering: God remembered Noah” and brought him out on dry land. “God remembered Lot” and saved him from the destruction of the cities of the plain. “God remembered Rachel” and gave her a child. God remembers for the future. (Lord Jonathan Sacks’ commentary in the Koren Machzor, Zicharnot section, pg 608)

Remembering the past impacts the way we behave in the future.

The character that most illustrates this point is Noach, whose story we encounter in the first set pasukim/verses in the zicharanot section:

What caused God to “remember” Noach at this moment? The Targum Jerusalem (Genesis 8:1)
asks this question and explains that God remembered that Noach was tov. Was good.

What had Noach been doing on the teva on the ark, that now after 40 days and 40 nights of pouring rain, did god see that he was good?

The gemara in Sanhedrin (108b) paints the picture for us. You see life on the ark was tough. No one ever slept. Some of the animals were nocturnal and required that Noach and family feed them at night. Others had to be fed during the day. Each had specific foods and needs. There was one animal- the chameleon- that no one knew what it ate. Noah experimented until he found its food source, and labored day in and day out to produce it.

Now, there were many miracles associated with the ark. It was large enough to fit all the animals. None perished or ate one another. Couldn’t God have performed one more miracle-couldn’t manna have fallen from heaven and fed the animals rather than the family laboring to fulfill their needs?

But that’s the point. It is precisely because they lovingly cared for the animals that God remembered Noach. In an attempt to erase the world that had become evil and corrupt, God selected a family to relearn to flex the muscles of chessed of basic kindness. And, if they could figure out how to care for the animals, even a chameleon, how much more so would they be able to nurture and care for the needs of humanity.

We are Noach’s descendants. Noah wasn’t only a tzadik, perfect compared to others in his generation, as is understood by most mefarshim, but according to the Zohar (1:59b), Noach perfected all future generation, להוְּכֻל ְליםִשׁ ְאַ הוּא ,each of us are forever changed by his ability to become a person of chesed and kindness. It is true that Noah will make more mistakes in his future, nevertheless, his most basic and foundational character has become one of compassion.

And that is what God remembers. God saw that Noach has changed. And so, we recall the story of Noach- that moment in our history- to remind us that we too, can and must change our ways. Remembering must shape our behavior. We remember in order to effectuate change in our future.

When we look history in the face- really confront the events of the past, we cannot remain impassive. When we look at the ways people have treated those who are different from them, be it in Nazi Germany or here in America, we must commit to work harder to treat others with the respect and dignity that all of us deserve. When we examine the history of racism in our country, we must not repeat our mistakes. And, when we look and see the effects of a disease, and the ways in which people did or did not strive to protect themselves and others a century ago, we must commit to take responsibility for ourselves and others, and learn from the past.

I am still learning. If I am honest with myself, a willingness to change, even with history as my guide, is hard. I make the same parenting mistakes with each child, even though I know better; I repeat the same bad habits, and find myself in a cycle of the same conversations that echo back and forth without doing anything different. But this year, I commit to really examine the past. I want to remember the ways in which I fell short and the ways I didn’t, so that I can consciously effectuate the person I want to be and the world I want to live in.

On this Rosh Hashanah in particular, with so much darkness, chaos and unrest surrounding us, it would be so much easier to just forget. To close our eyes, turn a blind eye, and simply ignore what the past has to teach us. But that is not our destiny. Zichranot teaches us that God remembers for the future, and so must me. On this 5781, may we remember so that we can shape our future.