Although the timing of the word prompt “ram” pointed a big red arrow at the topic of shofar, the first thing that popped into my head when I saw “ram” was the acronym for a type of computer memory called random access memory. While this word association seems random, the concept of memory is actually an integral part of Rosh Hashana.
During the Zichronos portion of the Musaf davening, we ask Hashem to do the impossible – we ask him to remember. Hashem can’t remember because He never forgets; what are we actually asking Him to do? Hashem transcends time, existing in the past, present and future simultaneously. If we ask Hashem to judge us based solely on our existence in this frozen moment, we would fail miserably.
Instead, we ask Him to judge us while looking back in time, to judge us as the children of Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov. We ask him to judge us while looking forwards, to judge us as the ancestors of the Yiddin who will bring Moshiach and build the third Temple. It is within that confluence of past, present and future that G-d’s “memory” exists. Alone, we are unworthy, but as children of the past and parents of the future we can transform our present.
