Torah Reading: Be'halot'cha

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Memorize What's Important

by Mrs. Lori Palatnik

How's your memory?

Published: July 12, 2009

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Visitor Comments: 10

(10) David C., June 25, 2010 12:56 AM

Very logical!

If you give me a Ferrari, I'll memorize all 613 commandments. :D

(9) Anonymous, August 25, 2009 12:41 PM

email me next time your planning to go to Israel? maybe I will join in and help you. Thanks, B>

(8) Anonymous, July 25, 2009 10:52 PM

how do you get rid of junk?

Thank you, you said it. I also remember lots of junk but B"H after listening to 48-ways some years ago, I became much more selective in absorbing info. Now I am looking for ways of getting rid of junk that already exists.

(7) Odelia, July 20, 2009 3:38 PM

Thank you Lori!

I definitely needed to hear that right now. I have so much to study and a load of tests coming up and I was starting to get discouraged and overwhelmed. Thanks for the encouragement!

(6) Dicken, San Diego, CA, July 18, 2009 7:20 AM

Good thoughts, not trashy thoughts

She's right, folks. For over 20 years I've been reciting the same 5 basic intercessory prayers for about 400 people. The prayers are still basically the same, for healing from diseases, or losses through death, or for many family problems, relationships, pregnancies and even my country's healing. The prayers are nearly the same as they were 20 years ago, but aside from immediate family, there are few names now that were there back then. Many of the situations for which I prayed did not turn out the way I wished, but the fact is that I attempted to intercede with our G-d on behalf of OTHERS! What a sense of peace, just to have all those people's names in my mind to be able to pray for them at a moment's notice. Once again, Lori is so right - to be able to keep trashy thoughts out of my mind by putting worthwhile thoughts INTO my mind.

(5) Dawn, July 15, 2009 7:23 PM

genius

Lori really has ways to help you remember things. I really appreciate her wisdom!

(4) Ruth Housman, July 14, 2009 11:01 PM

Re Member ing

There's something deep about memory the word, containing as it does, the Hebrew letter MEM. We are all sailing in the current of life, and time itself seems to flow around us. We can stop time with memory and it's really important, I think, in agreement, to remember those things that we are "committed to", those things that bring us into a kind of memory of who we are and why we are here, a re member ing. There is so much that could be said about memory. REM sleep for example, standing for rapid eye movements, strangely contains the beginnings of the word REMEMBER. I am thinking this is not random, namely the alchemy we find within words themselves. I do believe that this story is about LOVE and that remembering brings us into contact with identity because it's in relation to each others, through time, that we also remember our respective stories. It is terrifying to lose one's memory, particularly of that identity that connects us to each other and so it is particularly poignant to work with those who have Alzheimer's and other dementing problems. I think the only answer to this is the human touch and also, it's very interesting, as others have noted, that music helps us remember and it is music, that also moves those, frequently, whose memories have gone south.

(3) Ashley Bell, July 14, 2009 7:22 AM

Memory Mitzvah

I've assisted residents living with dementia to lay tefillin & one thing that has struck me that with their decline in relation to procedural memory what remains intact is their ability to kiss the ballit, unfurl the tefillin respectfully & make the initial steps unassisted when fastening the seven circuits around their arm. These are dementia residents who can not initiate for themselves the awareness of needing to pick up a spoon to eat their breakfast cereal but can manage to start the intricate process of prayer -- remembering the Shema Y'Israel with no prompting, reciting the excerpt of Deutronomy that lays inside the ballit that commands them to pray & can tell you why laying tefillin during the entirety of Pesach is not permitted/necessary. I was told once that an old Jewish man living with dementia shouldn't really be laying tefillin as he can not mindfully connect to God & the mitzvah is redundant. I know better....

(2) malka, July 13, 2009 2:46 AM

Songs are really easy to remember. A good way to learn is to sing. What happens though is sometimes we don't remember unless we sing it :) That's interesting about the acronyms RPAT, and SRVP

(1) Rosen, July 13, 2009 2:33 AM

memory

I happen to have a very good long-term memory where I can remember what people say, even years later. Therefore, I consider myself an excellent auditory learner. Now, I had a tutor once who suggested that it is better to remember than memorize. Perhaps "memorizing" can take a lot more work than remembering. Hopefully aging and bad memory doesn't have to come with the territory, because as we grow older, we generally get wiser, depending on our willingness to learn.

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About the Author

Mrs. Lori Palatnik

More by this Author >

Lori Palatnik is a writer and Jewish educator who has appeared on television and radio, and is the author of "Friday Night and Beyond: The Shabbat Experience Step-By-Step," "Remember My Soul - What to do in Memory of a Loved One," and co-author of "Gossip: 10 Pathways to Eliminate It From Your Life and Transform Your Soul." She is a much sought-after international speaker, having lectured in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Central America, South America, South Africa and Israel, including featured talks at Yale, Brown and Penn. She lives in the Washington D.C. area, with her husband, Rabbi Yaakov Palatnik. Lori is the Founder of The Jewish Women's Renaissance Project, an international initiative that brings over 1,000 women to Israel each year from ten different countries on highly subsidized programs to inspire them with the beauty and wisdom of their heritage. She is the busy mother of five children, ages 24 to 14; and her son, Zev, just finished serving as a sharpshooter in the IDF. Her weekly video blog, "Lori Almost Live" is a popular feature on aish.com, viewed by over 50,000 people each month.

Follow Lori on Twitter, @LoriAlmostLive

May 21, 2013 / 12 Sivan 5773

Memorize What's Important

How's your memory?

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