Sha'ar Ha'Zechira - Introduction

Thoughts on Orchos Tzaddikim:
Sha'ar Ha'Zechira

Introduction

הזכירה היא מדה שאין העולם הזה יכול להתקים בלעדיה, כי כל משא ומתן של העולם הזה - הכל תלוי בזכירה, כי לא היה אדם מאמין לחבירו או מלוה לו, אם לא היה זוכר, וכל הענינים שבעולם, כגון מקח וממכר – אם היו שוכחים דבריהם, לא היו יכולים לעשות  מקח וממכר או לעשות שום תנאי ביניהם בלא הזכירה. ואין צריך להאריך בזה, כי הדבר ידוע לכל

לכן יקח האדם זאת המדה להשתמש בה לכל עניניו, כיהזכירה היא גדר לאמת. היאך יזכור נדריו שנדר לקים; ואם יש דבר בינו לחבירו, יזכור הענין כהויתן ולא ישנה דבריו; גלה לו חבירו דבר סתר וצוה עליו שלא לגלות, יזכור צוויו ולא יגלה; לוה מחבירו מעות או שאל ממנו כלי ביתו, יזכור כמה מעות לוה ממנו וידקדק בחשבונו וישלם הכל. ומי שיש לו עסקים רבים והוא טרוד, צריך להזהר מאד שלא ילוה מעות או שלא ישאל ענינים מבני אדם, כי כיון שהוא טרוד, ישכח הכל ולא יזכור

            Zechira (remembrance) is a a trait without which the world cannot function All of the dealings of the world are dependent on remembrance. People would not trust one another or lend each other things if he would not remember. Similarly all matters of the world, for instance business. If people forgot what they said, they would not be able to conduct business, and they would not be able to make any conditions if they did not remember. There is no need to elaborate further because this matter is known to all.

Therefore, one should adopt this trait and utilize it in all his affairs, for remembrance is a fence to the truth. He must remember his promises which must be kept; if he has agreed in something with his friend, he must remember the matter exactly as it was and not change any words; if his friend told him a secret and asked him not to reveal it, he must remember this and not reveal it; if he has borrowed money or utensils from his friend's house, he must remember exactly what he borrowed and repay everything. And one who involved in many dealings must be careful not to borrow money or other items, because since he is preoccupied, he will forget everything and not remember.

            The bulk of Sha'ar Ha'Zechira is the the list of thirty things that the Orchos Tzaddikim writes one should think about every single day. In his preceding paragraphs before the thirty items, the Orchos Tzaddikm writes about common usages of memory and stresses their importance. From his opening paragraphs, we could extrapolate that there are three levels of zechira. We will start with the first two:

1. The first level of zechira is simply - memory.  Despite the wide range and types of memory people have – long term, short term, photographic, etc., there is no doubt that memory plays an essential role in the world. Often-times the things we take for granted go unnoticed, but if we were to stop and think about the multitude of ways that memory effects our daily lives we would begin to understand how fundamental and necessary memory is in order to have a functional society. Business would be quite difficult if people would not remember what to do or when to arrive at meetings. Loans would stop being originated if borrowers would not remember to pay; deals would not be conducted if contracts would be forgotten. Personal life as well would of course be deeply affected. Imagine friendships that must be with no trust as promises are not remembered; and imagine family if secrets would be told without remembering what is sensitive and what is not. Indeed, memory plays an important role on every level of our lives. We know this to be true, and some of us are even responsible enough to know when we could be trusted to remember and when we cannot. If you are someone who tends not to remember what is supposed to be kept secret, then you should not make people tell it to you. If you are someone who does not remember to pay people back, then do not borrow money. Memory and trust are directly related. Society functions because of its trust in others' memory to keep their word.

   גמל לו חבירו טובה, יזכור כדי שיוכל להשיב לו. ולענין הצדקה צריך לזכור העניים ולהעלות על לבו דחקם, ומתוך כך יעזר להם. ואם יבוא להעיד בבית דין על מה שראה וידע, צריך האדם שיזהר מאד שיזכור, ולא יפחות ולא יוסיף על מה שראה וידע

            If his friend has done him a favor, he must remember it so that he can return it. Regarding charity, he must remember the poor and bring their struggles to his own heart so that he will help them. And if he comes to testify in court concerning something he saw and knows, he must be careful to remember everything and not add on to nor detract from what he had in fact seen.

2. What we will term as the second level of zechira is remembering with a feeling. We know that when we associate things with other things, they become easier to remember. Whether it be turning a grocery list into a song, remembering items by mentally putting them into various rooms in your house, or associating numbers with color, memory through association is something that is real and works. However, the strongest way to remember something is to feel it. Just as one does not have to remember he is hungry because he feels hungry, so too it is possible to remember others by feeling their pain. It is possible to remember an incredible amount of information when one makes that information as important to themselves as if it were their own. Utilizing this form of zechira is extremely important. For example, one should feel the pain of the poor to remember them and give them money and food. Also, if a friend does something nice for you, it should be meaningful to you that he cares, and you should remember with that feeling to go out of your way to help in in return. At the same time, one must be careful with the middah of zechira at this deeper level because if we allow for dishonest feelings and subjective emotions to get involved with our memory, we will end up with adulterated, inaccurate memories while thinking that they are accurate – a very scary thought indeed! Imagine a baseball player hits the ball and runs to first base. The outfielder on the opposing team fields the ball and throws it to the first baseman just as the runner’s feet touch the plate. An argument will undoubtedly start between the runner and the first baseman – each one swearing with certainty that they got there first. Unless it was a perfect tie, only one of them could possibly be correct. Many of us find ourselves in similar circumstances where emotions and bias could play an active role in forming memories. We must try to separate and filter our emotions from our developing memories in order that we remember them accurately and honestly instead of perhaps how we would have preferred the events to occur in retrospect.

 ראה איך הזהיר הקדוש ברוך הוא על הזכירה, שנאמר: "השמר לך פן תשכח את ה' אלוקיך לבלתי שמר מצותיו ומשפטיו וחקתיו". וזה דבר גדול הזוכר את השם יתברך בכל מעשיו. וכן אמר דוד: "שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד".י

הזכירה  היא מעלה עליונה, והיא כלי שמחזקת כל המצוות וכל התורה. בציצית נאמר: "וזכרתם את כל מצות ה' ועשיתם אתם וגו' למען תזכרו ועשיתם את כל מצותי". בתפלין נאמר: "והיה לך לאות על ידך ולזכרון בין עיניך, למען תהיה תורת ה' בפיך", "וזכרת כי עבד היית במצרים, ושמרת ועשית את החוקים האלה". ו

וכיון שהכל תלוי בזכירה, יש לי לכתוב שלשים דברים שתזכורבכל יום שתי פעמים, ותכניסם בעמקי הלב ובמחשבותיך. לא תזכרם בפיך בלבד, אך תכתבם על לוח לבך, ואז תהיה עבודתך מקובלת לפני המקום ברוך הוא, ותשא חן וחסד לפניו.י      

            See how Hashem has warned us about remembrance, as it is written, “Take heed to yourself lest you forget Hashem your G-d,not to observe His mitzvos, His judgments, and his statutes.” Remembering Hashem in all of one's actions is a tremendous accomplishment, as King David said, “I have set Hashem always before me.”

Remembrance is an exalted trait and a vessel which contains all the other mitzvos of Hashem and all of the Torah. In relation to tzitzis it is written, “And you shall remember all of the mitzvos of Hashem and perform them...so that you should remember and do all the mitzvos.” In relation to tefillin it is written, “And it shall be for you as a sign on your hand and as a remembrance between your eyes, so that Hashem's Torah will be in your mouth,” and: “And you shall remember that you were slaves in Egypt and you shall heed and follow these statutes.”

And since everything is dependent on remembrance, I shall set down thirty things which you should remember twice a day and allow them to enter to the depths of your heart and in your thoughts. You should not remember them in speech alone, but rather inscribe them on the tablet of your heart. If you do so, your service will be acceptable to Hashem and He will bestow favor and kindness before upon you.

            Throughout the Torah are many warnings not to forget, “Guard yourself lest you forget Hashem”. And it is important to achieve the level of “shivisi hashem l'negdi samid....” The Orchos Tzaddikim, in his introduction to his whole sefer, offers a moshol (parable): One needs a solid vessel constructed of good middos, as well as emunah and bitachon in order to properly be filled with good wine and hold it securely. Otherwise, the “wine” - i.e. - the Torah and mitzvos will eventually leak out; and even the parts that you may have gotten the chance to drink will have a bad tinge from the bad quality barrel it was in.

            Part of this underlying foundation are the things we must keep in mind on a constant basis in the back of our minds. This is why zechira is such a vital aspect of so many things we do – wearing tzitzis and putting on tefillin, keeping Shabbos, and so many other mitzvos are filled with opportunities to remember, especially zecher l'yitziyas mitzrayim and zecher l'sheishes y'mei beraishis.

3. As we move to the third and highest form of memory, we should stop and notice a pattern. The first level we listed was the simplest; on the surface purely remembering something, not necessarily inherently significant, but merely important because you chose to remember it. The second tier was a level deeper: memories that we could feel. On this level, because of the emotional attachment, there are constant reminders that get pushed into our brain to the extent that the hardship is not the actual remembering itself, but rather the intellectual honesty regarding what is really being remembered. The third level we will now discuss is an even deeper part of us – our subconscious which causes us to act in ways based on ideas and feelings that are a very deep part of us. This may be based on how we were raised as children, traumatic experiences we had to overcome, brainwashing of an external source, or what we have perhaps talked and etched into ourselves. We may not directly sense these inner feelings which control us, but they are present and they influence our decisions. Deep within us are layers upon layers, networks upon networks, of assumptions, biases, and past experiences through which all our decisions must subconsciously get filtered through. Once these things become a part of us deep inside they run constantly and quietly in the background. The more triggers we set up to stimulate these thoughts and feelings, the stronger the influence this background process will have. Conversely, without the constant triggers, the background program gets blurry and begins to fade away. We have the ability to stop and introspect and determine what filters we have within us and even actively decide what should be there instead. Training ourselves to think properly and clean the internal filters through which all of our thoughts, speech, and action must go through before exiting into the physical world is also a form of zechira. It is the middah of zechira.

            Part of the integral aspect of every Jew is a spark of emunah and bitachon and desire to come closer to Hashem. Therefore, the Orchos Tzaddikim writes thirty things which we should remember twice a day each day to drill into the depths of our hearts. Some people remember things with their lips alone like when you borrow money from a friend to buy a soda and you say, “I'll pay you back later, thanks” (yeah right), but that is not real memory. After all, the tongue does not have a brain. Rather, it must be inscribed and etched into the proverbial board of our heart in order that the avodah we do for avodas Hashem is true and real and consequently fully desired and accepted by Hashem.