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The Jewish New Year is referred to as the Day of Remembrance!
But in the year 2025 / 5786, memory has become overrated — maybe even useless. For example, we do not need to remember our way home; we can just ask Waze or Google Maps. When I asked one of my patients what his wife’s number was so I could reassure her that her husband’s procedure went well, his answer was, “It is in my phone!”
As Jews, we are not allowed to forget!
The memories we share are filled with deep emotion. In our liturgy, there are many beautiful expressions of how God remembered the people of Israel:
“Is not Ephraim my dear son? Even though he may act out, I still remember him fondly.”
Or, “I remember the commitment you made to me in your youth, when you followed me through a land unsown.”
These statements, even after years of repeating them, still strike me to my core with regard to their mercy and compassion. But the Jewish version of remembrance is not just about recounting historical events or enumerating the multiple times God remembered Israel — rather, it is a call to action. For Jews, memory is just an appetizer, not the main course.
Three times a year, every year, we are reminded to act based on a historical remembrance. We are not allowed to simply remember or recount the Exodus from Egypt, but rather we are commanded to see oneself as if I left with the Exodus from Egypt. We are not allowed to simply recount the experience of the Jewish people wandering in the desert, but rather we are commanded to sit or dwell in our sukkah. On Shavuot, when we recount the story of the giving of the Torah, we are transported back to the base of Mount Sinai and feel the shaking, trembling, and understand that we — today, not just our ancestors — are making the choice to receive Torah.
Next week, the prophet Isaiah is going to scream into our ears and ask us, “Is this the fast that I have chosen?” To just dutifully remember that on the 10th day of the seventh month we should fast? No!! He says the fast that God has chosen is for us to get out and act — to feed the hungry, put clothes on the needy, and help the oppressed go free.
Finally, when we greet each other in English, we say Happy New Year. But in Hebrew we say L’shana tova — have a good year, marked by good deeds that have impact, as opposed to only words.
