The Faith Test: Why Do I Forget Important Things?

Someone who is naturally forgetful, which causes him a lot of sorrow, comes from the power of forgetfulness assigned by the angel of forgetting to make people forget their learning and what they need to do. The sorrow he experiences thus atones for his sins. Therefore, nowadays, as the negative forces have increased, forgetfulness has also increased. But if a person purifies his soul, forgetfulness leaves him, as the righteous's interpretation "there is no forgetfulness before Your glorious throne" indicates—it is great repentance that reaches to the throne of glory. Whoever engages in repentance so thoroughly that it reaches to the throne of glory, then he will no longer experience any forgetfulness.

The Path of Faith for Those Tested with the Sorrow of "Forgetfulness"

Therefore, one who is naturally forgetful should not attribute this to chance or weakness of nature or of veins and nerves as the way of the world, although these indeed cause forgetfulness, as experience testifies. Yet, he should know and understand that when sorrow or weakness was decreed upon him, heaven forbid, forgetfulness rolled and was created for him for this reason. And if the tools of memory weakened, heaven forbid, naturally the sense and power of memory were removed, which is one of the three [and some say four] senses and powers in the brain tools. And at that moment, it was decreed in heaven how many times a day he will be made to forget because each day of his counted days is an independent matter.

And if one places this faith in his soul and says each time that it is for divine watching to purify his sins, then after his long days and years, many unspeakable punishments are removed from him. Because every time he experiences sorrow from forgetting, he thanks Hashem for it and seeks atonement for his sins, then over time it accumulates into a great account.

Similarly, if he goes along the way and errs and walks to another place, even in a city—if he errs from street to street or from house to house—he should believe in individual divine providence.

A story is told about the Baal Shem Tov ztz"l who once erred and wanted to enter a certain room and entered the basement instead and commanded to check the mezuzahs. Someone asked him: When you err from room to basement, should you check the mezuzahs? And he replied that there is no chance occurrence in the world. If heaven arranged for me to err into the basement, it surely requires checking the mezuzahs. This was the way of the Baal Shem Tov ztz"l—that all his ways were in simple faith. (Shomer Emunim Vol. I, p. 133)

The article is from the book "Living in Faith." To purchase the book by Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Lugasi click here.