4/12/20 Sunday: Trying to Remember Afraid To Forget

          I am always amazed at how three days can be so exhausting: the first two days of Pesach and then Shabbat, three days of praying, eating and taking walks.  Now we have a couple of days until the last days of the Pesach which are also a Yom Tov. No, there are no more seders to prepare for, rather just Pesach food. One of the additions we make to the liturgy is the same addition we make when it is Rosh Chodesh and when we say Birkat HaMazon. We add the prayer Ya'Aleh v' Yavo. Throughout the prayer, the word V'Zichron appears throughout. Other forms of ZaChaR also appear including Zichroneinu and Zacharnu. Throughout the prayer, ask God to remember us. A few nights ago, when we sat at the Seder table, the Hagaddah reminded us to see ourselves as if we were slaves and we were the ones leaving Egypt. Well, in the narrative of Yetziat Mitzrayim,  we are told that God heard the cries of Bnei Yisroel and remembered his covenant with the patriarchs. In a sense, the process of Yetziat Mitzrayim began when and only when God remembered, Zachar. Of course, that raises a question about God's memory, but I suppose that is a discussion for another day. The point is, when our people were at their physical and spiritual nadir, God remembered the covenantal relationship.

          No, I don't think we are some spiritual nadir. However, we all are enduring something very extraordinary and even frightening. We may no people who become stricken with COVID 19 or have passed away from COVID 19. Some are already experiencing unemployment and some may see unemployment as imminent in the coming weeks.  or months. Indeed, this is an anxiety-filled moment when invoking memory for good things might not be such a bad idea. So, even though a Chag, a Festival is an intrinsically happy occasion, asking God to be remembered not only as people but as an individual is not only appropriate but required of us.

Peace,
Rav Yitz