Forgetting the Torah’s Essence

בענין מ"ש להשכיחם תורתך.

“Regarding what is said: ‘to make them forget Your Torah.’”

The Sefat Emet begins by explaining the phrase from the Chanuka prayer, focusing on the spiritual meaning of ‘forgetting the Torah.’

יובן עפ"י מ"ש בזוה"ק סוף פ' וישב ולא זכר שר המשקים את יוסף וישכחהו.

“This can be understood by what is written in the Zohar at the end of Parashat Vayeshev: ‘But the chief butler did not remember Joseph, and he forgot him.’”

The Zohar’s comment on the butler’s forgetting Joseph serves as a model for understanding spiritual forgetfulness.

דמיותר.

“This is redundant.”

The verse seems to repeat itself unnecessarily, prompting deeper interpretation.

ופי' ע"י שאמר יוסף זכרתני עשה פגם גם בזכירת יוסף ונפל למדריגת השכחה ע"ש.

“And it explains that because Joseph said ‘remember me,’ he caused a blemish even in the aspect of memory, and he fell into the level of forgetfulness.”

The Zohar teaches that Joseph’s request for human remembrance weakened his spiritual attribute of divine remembrance.

וכמו כן נאמר ע"י שהתערבו בלשונם לפרש להם התורה יונית כאלו הי' להם שייכות אל התורה ומצד זה היו מבטלין הזכירה מבנ"י כי זכירה היא דביקות בנפש.

“So too it is said that when Israel mixed with their language to translate the Torah into Greek, it was as if the Greeks had some connection to the Torah, and through this they nullified the faculty of remembrance in Israel, for remembrance is a form of soul-attachment.”

By allowing Greek interpretation, a false sense of Greek partnership in Torah emerged, damaging Israel’s inner spiritual memory, which is a form of cleaving to God.

ובאמת התורה אינה חכמה בעלמא כשאר החכמות רק היא אלקיות ממש.

“But in truth, the Torah is not mere wisdom like other forms of knowledge; it is actual divinity.”

The Sefat Emet emphasizes that Torah is not comparable to secular disciplines; it is divine essence.

והיונים ימ"ש רצו לעשות ממנה חכמה בעלמא.

“And the Greeks, may their name be erased, wished to make it into ordinary wisdom.”

The Greek goal was to recast Torah as a human intellectual system rather than divine revelation.

וזהו נקרא להשכיחם תורתך דייקא ולהעבירם מעל חוקי רצונך שהוא עסק התורה לשמה.

“And this is what is meant by ‘to make them forget Your Torah’ specifically, and ‘to cause them to stray from the statutes of Your will,’ which refers to Torah study for its own sake.”

Forgetting the Torah means losing the divine quality of Torah and shifting away from learning it as a fulfillment of God’s will.

כמו שהוא רצונו ית' ולא לשם חכמה בעלמא כמ"ש.

“As it is His blessed will, and not for the sake of ordinary wisdom, as was said.”

True Torah engagement must reflect God’s will, not intellectual curiosity alone.

Summary: The Greeks sought to detach Torah from its divine essence by reframing it as mere human wisdom. This caused spiritual forgetfulness, undermining the soul’s bond to Torah, much like Joseph’s misplaced reliance on human remembrance diminished his spiritual remembrance.