131 Torah Book & Portion, Book of Deuteronomy, Va'etchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11), Source Book Keys, TZADIK DEUTERONOMY | 4:9 forget — DEUT77 One who is forgetful must provide reminder... DEUT77 One who is forgetful must provide reminders for himself and he must erect formidable fences so that he not forget the Torah, as it is written [this verse]. And one must take care not to forget the good traits. But one should employ the trait of forgetfulness to forget the mitzvos which he has done, for if he sets his heart to remembering his mitzvos and his good deeds and to forgetting his evils and his errors and his machinations, he will be righteous in his eyes and will not repent. But he should remember his offenses and write them down in a book and peruse them, so that he will remember them all and repent of each one and confess them. The mitzvos that he has performed, however, he should not take care to remember, and it should always appear to him that he is empty of mitzvos and filled with transgressions (Niddah 30b). And he should forget his friend's offense and pardon him, and he should cause to be forgotten from his heart hatred and envy and lewd thoughts. And while praying he should cause everything in the world to be forgotten from his heart, and summon up to his thoughts the lovingkindness of the Blessed One and cleave to Him in great intimacy. And when he attends to his bodily needs, he must cause to be forgotten from his heart all matters of Torah and of holiness (Berachos 24b). He should think at that time of his household affairs and he should reflect that he is full of dung, thus lowering his pride. In sum, with respect to each mitzvah, he should do something not to forget [to observe] it, (Mishlei 6;23): "A mitzvah is a lamp, and Torah is light." Share Print Source KeyTZADIKVerse4:9Keyword(s)forgetSource Page(s)355-7 Switch article DEUTERONOMY | 4:9 forget — DEUT76 Because of the centrality given study of t... Previous Article DEUTERONOMY | 4:9 heed — DEUT78 In Judaism, faith is grounded in memory. H... Next Article