Questions tagged [memory]
The memory tag has no usage guidance.
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Method for practicing Torah reading
What is your method for practicing reading a Torah portion and thus memorizing the associated vowelizations and intonations? I'm looking for ideas for maximizing your effectiveness at performing a ...
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How does one improve memory?
Does Judaism provide and tips, tricks or rituals for improving memory or preventing forgetfulness?
user2110
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How could Rebbi Zeira forcibly forget his learning?
In Bava Metzia 85a it says that
ר' זירא כי סליק לארעא דישראל יתיב מאה תעניתא דלשתכח גמרא בבלאה מיניה
Rebbi Zeira, when he left to the land of Israel, fasted 100 times to cause himself to forget ...
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Memory techniques for torah?
What are some good mnemonics for remembering Talmud and Mishna? The Talmud refers to it as making simanim for what you learn.
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What does it mean that God "remembers" something?
In verses such as Noach 8:1 ("And God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a spirit to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided"), ...
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I forget his name. Now what?
If someone was given the name of a sick person to daven for them, and when they get to refa'enu (blessing for healing) they can only remember the person's name but not their mother's name, how should ...
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Why did R. Zera want to forget the Talmud Bavli?
I read that R. Zera fasted one hundred days to forget the Babylonian Talmud before he left Babylon to live in the Land of Israel. Why would he do this when I've understood that the Babylonian Talmud ...
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Being Mekayem a zecher
According to the gemara (Megilla 29b, S"A O"C 685) there is a mitzvah to read the special reading of Parshat Zachor on a particular Shabbat (before Purim). This mitzvah is listed as one of the 613. I ...
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Two types of forgetting?
Bereishis 41:51
כי נשני אלהים את כל עמלי ואת כל בית אבי
God has caused me to forget all my toil and all my father's house
Devarim 25:19
תמחה את זכר עמלק מתחת השמים לא תשכח
Erase the memory of ...
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Reviewing studies 40 times or 101 times?
The Gemara in Pesachim 72a says, "One, who reviews a subject 40 times, is guaranteed it will be rooted in his memory as if it were placed in his pocket."
However, the Mishnah Berurah 114:41 says, "...
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Learning to chant Torah with trope
It takes me at least 3-4 hours (cumulative) to learn 5-10 psukim (sentences) in trope. This is just one Aliyah! And unlike many of you, I know the notes, the grammar, and understand most of the words. ...
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Aryeh Kaplan and Talmud memorization
Aryeh Kaplan’s Jewish Meditation, page 27:
I recall that when I was in yeshivah, a few friends and I decided to have a contest to see who could memorize the most pages of Talmud. For me, it was an ...
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May one memorize large swaths of Tanach?
It feels like a waste to memorize Keats or Cavafy when I can memorize Torah; however, I learned in yeshiva that one may not memorize psukim. What are the sources for this?
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Not Forgotten Until Name is Forgotten
There is this really thoughtful project, called Stolpersteine of Gunter Demnig, a German artist, to place a cobblestone with an inscribed brass plate in front of houses, where victims of the Holocaust ...
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Teshuva where Rambam says he forgot a Gemara
I once heard that there was at least one case in which various Acharonim offered complex explanations to explain how the Rambam did not contradict certain Gemaras, and subsequently there were responsa ...
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Is there an order to the 6 daily remembrances?
In my siddur I find a list of 6 daily remembrances. But they seem to be out of order, for example Sabbath is last when it was commanded before the incident with Miriam. Is there a reason for this ...
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Why does 'sharpening' depend on effort, and memorization on divine assistance?
The Bavli, M'gila 6 amud 2:
ואמר ר׳ יצחק אם יאמר לך אדם יגעתי ולא מצאתי אל תאמן לא יגעתי ומצאתי אל תאמן יגעתי ומצאתי תאמן הני מילי בדברי תורה אבל במשא ומתן סייעתא הוא מן שמיא ולדברי תורה לא אמרן ...
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Mezuzah - Copying from memory
The gemara Menachos 32b says that even though a Sefer Torah may not be written except "מן הכתב", copied from another text, tefillin and mezuzah don't have that requirement and may be written ...
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The forgetful Shomer
With regards to some of the mitzvos(shema,sefirah,Chanukah lighting) one cannot sit down to a set meal until he completes the mitzvah once a certain time comes (30 min before shekiah or tzeis -its a ...
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How can one make repentance for things he can't remember?
Say an unmarried Baal Teshuvah at the age of 30 decided to make repentance. A lot of time has gone by and he doesn't remember who he cheated, lied to, stole from, spoke loshen hara about, and so on. ...
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Why does the gemarah use Amalek as a mnemonic siman?
I don't know if there is any meaning that can/should be attached to the mnemonic signs in the gemarah. I usually assumed they are chosen based on being easy to remember. In Bava Batra 46b the gemarah ...
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Ashkenazi Mishna memorization tune?
I once came across a website with an audio recording of someone singing mishnayot in Ashkenazi pronunciation with a tune for memorization. Where can I find an audio with mishnayos sung in Ashkenazi ...
user17319
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Someone left a sefer open. Who is affected by increased forgetfulness?
Amongst the things that encourage forgetfulness דברים הגורמים לשכחה is
השארת ספר פתוח בעת הלימוד
leaving a book open at the time of learning.
Is the possibility of forgetfulness just for the ...
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Memorising large swathes of Torah by heart
Before gemara was written down, (and a long time afterwards too, according to this lecture J. Woolf on rishonim and achronim), people knew all of shas off by heart. According to the aforementioned ...
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Value of Forgotten Torah
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 99a) asserts that "anyone who learns Torah but does not review is considered like one who sows seeds but does not harvest his crop."
Does this mean that a person will not ...
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What does "May his name and his memory be annihilated" really imply?
It is said that the worst Jewish curse is Yemach shemo vezichro -- May his name and his memory be annihilated.
But the vast majority of people, Jewish or not, are not remembered. They do not leave ...
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Have to repeat shmoneh esrei on motze'i Shabbat. Say "ata chonantanu" again?
Suppose on a Saturday night, someone says shmoneh esrei with "ata chonantanu" but forgets another part that requires repeating shmoneh esrei (like ya'aleh v'yavo on chol hamoed). When he repeats ...
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Does Ata Chonantanu count if one didn't have requisite Kavana in the Amida?
According to Rambam in Hilchot Tefilla 4:15, if one does not have Kavanat HaLev for the Amida, the recitation of words does not comprise Tefilla. Tefilla is defined by "standing in the presence of ...
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Going through a window -- causes to forget?
Someone told me today that they heard that going through a window to get from one place to another (from one room to another or from outside to inside or vice versa) is one of the things that causes a ...
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Where in the Gemara does it say a woman never forgets her first
Where in the gemara does it say a woman never forgets the first man she was ever with intimately? This is something I have recently heard. Is this referring to all women or just specific cases?
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Possible causes of divine judgement of losing one's memory, measure for measure?
This is definitely not to imply that anyone who gets Alzheimer's or has memory issues is being judged for sin. Who knows the ways of Hashem in every situation? But in some cases, we see in Tanakh that ...
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wearing two hats at the same time-is that a probelem?
I grew up hearing that if you put two hats or two yarmulkas at the same time that you could forget your learning- is there any source for this?
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"El Male Rachamim" on Tisha b'Av
Typically we do not say "El Male" on days when tachnun would not be said, however, is this true of Tisha b'Av, when we have our national day of aveilut?
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Are there any sources for types of learning to memorize?
I am interesting in working on memorizing something - anything that I can have with me in my head that I can review at random times throughout the day. In terms of the “what” to memorize, I am curious ...
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What is the reason for non-linear structure in many mishnayot?
What is the reason that many mishnayot are structured in non-linear fashion, where the first case discusses Topic #1, the middle case discusses Topic #2, and the last case returns to Topic #1?
One ...
user17319
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Recover Forgotten Torah
The Gemara Niddah (30b) says that a fetus learns its entire Torah while in the womb but then the angel hits it on the mouth to forget everything it learned.
ומלמדין אותו כל התורה כולה שנאמר (משלי ד ד)...
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How did the Tannaim/Amoraim learn Tanach?
Where the question is coming from:
An absolute essential requirement for any Tanna/Amora would be to have the whole of Tanach at their fingertips. Maybe not photographically memorized, but they should ...
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Is speaking ill of the dead permitted if you are expressing the act as a means of educating someone of a mistake?
In Judaism, there is the established rule of not speaking ill of the dead. It's a forbidden act.
According to the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, if one insulted someone who died, he should ask forgiveness ...
user15672
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Mnemonic for the names of all parshiot?
Is there a mnemonic device (like an acronym, acrostic, notarikon, poem etc) to remember the Hebrew names of all the parshiot in the order they appear?
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Algorithm to prepare laining [duplicate]
It takes me forever to prepare laining (i.e. to memorize the trop).
Does anyone know of an algorithm, whether brought down anywhere or not, of how to prepare quickly and efficiently?
I.e. just read ...
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Is eating olives daily OK?
Is there an issue [transgressing the Mishna Avos (Avos 3:8) of causing oneself to forget his learning] to eat olives seeing that Horayos (13b) writes olives eaten frequently will cause one to forget ...
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How to translate העלם in the context of שבת
The beginning of the seventh chapter of Bavli Shabas (and its commentaries) speaks of instances in which someone forgets that the day is Shabas, forgets that there is such a thing as Shabas altogether,...
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What happens in Gehinnom?
The Rambam said:
Gehinnom, however, is the name for the pain and the punishment that will come to the evildoers [after they die], but the Talmud did not give a [definitive] description of this ...
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Difference of term to mean "remembrance"
In Vayikra (Lev. 24:7) , the term אזכרה is used. It seems to mean "remembrance" (gleaning that from Rash"i's translation.) However, another word used to mean remembrance is זכרון .
I ran a word ...
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What is the point in the mnemonic פמג"ש ממקגט"י ככסע"ז?
In Bava Metzia 21b, there is a mnemonic given which I find quite odd - פמג"ש ממקגט"י ככסע"ז . See http://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Metzia.21b.18?lang=he&layout=block&sidebarLang=all
The way I ...
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Does one forgetting swallow another? Forgot if one davened during first 30 days after Pesach
In a general situation if someone forgot if they davened shacharit or mincha on a regular week day, they should do a Tefilla Nedava to make up for it1 (based on a Korban Nedava).
If someone (e.g. a ...
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