Let My People Know

Rabi Adin Steinsaltz: “The capacity to forget things.”

Many of the awful things in the world today exist as a result of technology.

This is not because the tool itself is awful, but because its use was perverted.

Today, everyone has more free time, but few people utilize this time properly.

There are countless examples of things that once could not be done but now are possible.

But what are we doing with all these possibilities? Are we improving the world with these new opportunities, or abusing them?

Deuteronomy 32:18 can be expounded as follows:

“You neglected the Rock that begot you” – the Rock, God, created you with the capacity to forget, so that you should not remember everything that happens to you.

We experience trouble, pain, and suffering. God was concerned that all this would weigh down on us, so He created in us the ability to forget.

Yet what did people do?

The verse concludes, “forgot the Lord who brought you forth.”

God created you with the capacity to forget things that you don’t need to remember, but instead you forget God Himself.

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz