Hidden Treasures

A commentary from the Rebbe of Lublin on the line from the Machzor:

You are He who remembers all the forgotten from eternity.

The Holy Blessed one remembers what people forget and remembers not what people do not forget.

For example, when a person does a good thing and he goes around continuously bragging and he keeps incessantly telling about the good he’s done, the Master of the Universe remembers it not, because the Holy Blessed One “remembers all the forgotten” — the good that a person does and immediately forgets about. On the other hand, when a person does good and forgets about it, doesn’t talk about it to anyone, then the Holy Blessed One “remembers all the forgotten” — the Master of the Universe remembers this.

Of course, the rebbe is obviously trying to get his constituents to refrain from boasting about their good deeds. But there is another implication to this. Although the context of the prayer makes it clear that what is being talked about is a person’s deeds that are judged on Rosh Hashana, we can also apply this notion to another context. Namely, that Hashem remembers US when we feel forgotten.

It is a common Rosh Hashanah theme to point to all the many instances in Bereshit (Genesis) where the text says, “And Gd remembered so-and-so.” But it is not that Gd ever forgot the person in the first place. It is merely that that person now comes to the fore of Gd’s attention. This is a little bit like when you’re out running errands and you suddenly realize you have to go pick your kid up from school. It is certainly not the case that you for one moment forgot you had a kid. Poooh-poooh-poooh! No, it is just that your attention was elsewhere for a moment. Similarly, I think we can sometimes feel that Gd has forgotten us. But it isn’t so. Indeed, this text proves it, because if all our deeds and our attitudes about them are counted and remembered, how much moreso the individual who performs them?