Shabbat Shemot: Knowing, Forgetting, remembering
A new king arose who did not know of Joseph (Exodus 1.8).
Rashi quotes the Talmudic giants Rav and Shmuel who regularly disagreed with each other about the narratives and implications of the text of the Torah. “One says it means a new king. The other says it was the same one who elevated Joseph, who now said he did not know him.” A simple question. Is one right and the other wrong? Of course not. This is the genius of Midrash and Rabbinic interpretation in that it offers different perspectives. Throughout our rabbinic literature, there are many ways of looking at a text and coming to conclusions. But if you are a pupil in a Jewish school today, the chances are that you will be taught that Midrash, interpretation of the Torah, however fanciful, has to be taken literally.
Here is what Maimonides said about the literal understanding of rabbinic Midrashic and Aggadic texts.
“You should know that concerning the works of the Sages, human beings are divided into three classes: The first, which, as I have observed, comprises the majority which accepts them at face value, not interpreting them in any hidden ways whatsoever, and view all the impossible things as necessarily real. Indeed, they do so in their folly and their lack of science; They believe that the Sages, meant nothing more than what they are capable of understanding by their own knowledge, which is the superficial sense. This class of the intellectually weak is to be lamented for their folly, for they respect and elevate the Sages according to their intellectual ability, thereby degrading them to the lowest degree without understanding this. They lose the Torah its glory and obscure its radiance, for they make the Teaching of the Lord the opposite of what was intended” (Maimonides Introduction to the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin, Chapter Chelek).
Freud helped us understand the nature of forgetfulness. We often forget because we wish to avoid the unpleasant. Or because we are careless. Our brains are selective in what they remember and retain. As the rabbis tell us, what we learn when we are young remains vividly in our memories, and much gets forgotten as we get older. So here we have two examples of rabbis recognizing the difference between not knowing and wanting to forget. Either because it is inconvenient, fashions and policies have changed or because there was something in the past we wish had never happened. Very often, the people we owe most to are the ones we prefer to forget because we resent our own vulnerability and dependence or because we have no sense of history.
Forgetting seems to be quite common in Egypt. The butler forgot Joseph who had interpreted his dream and begged him to remember him. But he did not until it later proved convenient (Genesis 40.23). Was it genuine or simply inconvenient until it could benefit him? There it seems that not only did he not remember but he actually forgot him intentionally because it reminded him of his original crime. “I remember my sins today” (Genesis 41:9). Implying intent rather than accident.
Remembering and forgetting are used frequently throughout the Torah. God remembers Noah, our forefathers, and their covenants with God. Laws, such as remembering the Shabbat and all commandments. And events like the battle against Amalek (Deut.25:17)and much more often, our slavery in Egypt (as well as individuals, negatively like Miriam (Deut. 24:9) and later positively, Abigail ( 1Sam 25:31).
Conversely forgetting also applies in these three areas. To Israel forgetting God, and God forgetting us in return; in the obligation to keep laws, and specific events and individuals good and bad, like Bilaam.
The message seems to be that memory needs to be linked to an ethical, moral imperative to behave in a positive spiritual way. Memories remind us of the good and the bad and the obligation to strive for a just world. Whereas forgetting, and dereliction can lead to cruelty suffering, and inhumanity.
However, in the Torah this week it says not that Pharaoh did not remember, but that he did not know Joseph. There was a failure in education. They did not teach history. Here the word forget is not used, but “ not knowing.” Pharoah also uses this phrase, “not knowing’’ about God (Exodus 5:2). In other Semitic languages it can mean not acknowledging. Is that through ignorance or intent? Both are possibilities. And in contrast, Exodus (2:25) says that God knew the suffering of the Israelites. That knowing implies identification and caring.
Forgetting history is as dangerous as not wanting to know the truth of the past, and not caring, which is what we Jews are now experiencing as our enemies want to rewrite history and distort facts to suit their agenda. Pharaoh claimed there was no Joseph, rather than admitting how Joseph saved Egypt from disaster. There is an old proverb that says “ He who only looks to the past is in danger of losing an eye.
But whoever ignores the past will lose both eyes.”
It’s never truer than now.
Exodus 1-6:1
Rabbi Jeremy Rosen lives in New York. He was born in Manchester. His writings are concerned with religion, culture, history and current affairs – anything he finds interesting or relevant. They are designed to entertain and to stimulate. Disagreement is always welcome.
