In our prayers we refer to Rosh Hashana as Yom Hazicharon, usually translated as the Day of Remembrance, and accordingly one of the main sections of the prayer service is called zichronot – remembrances.  Gd is omniscient, so why are we asking for remembrance when there surely can not be any forgetting?

In Modern Hebrew the word zicharon means memory, but we see several verses in the Torah which clearly indicate that zicharon can not mean memory.  Every Hebrew word has a three letter root; any combination of words can be made using this root according to set grammatical patterns.  For example, zicharon is the noun we call memory, lizkor is the verb to remember, and zecher is a remembrance.  In the story of the flood, the bible relates that "Gd remembered (viyizkor) Noah and all the animals in the ark".  During the slavery of the Jews in Egypt the Torah relates, "And Gd heard their cry and remembered (viyizkor) the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob".  Our definition of zicharon proves irresolvable in these verses – since Gd cannot forget, what does it mean to remember?  Furthermore, in the Rosh Hashana prayers themselves we ask Gd to "remember us with a good memory before You", while in the very same prayer conceding that "there is no forgetfulness before Gd's Holy Throne". 

To better understand the word zicharon, we can look to its root letters, similar to the way we can dissect the original meaning of English words by sourcing them to their Greek or Latin roots.  In Hebrew it is possible to cross-reference to another word with the same root.  Zicharon has the root Z-Ch-R (zion, chaf, resh); those three letters also make up the word zachar meaning masculine. Since the two words share a common root, understanding the idea of zachar, male, will help us understand the meaning of zicharon. In biological terms, the male represents the smallest possible building block for life, the seed which is the blueprint, but without any of the physical matter which sustains it: the essence. 

The feminine also contributes the blueprint for life, but her contribution is combined with the physical sustenance that life needs.  From the beginning the female feeds new life through the egg, development of the fetus and nursing the young.  The male contribution is only a drop, the absolute minimum, an idea for building life without the practical ability to carry it out.  I believe this is why prayers for the sick are said with the mother's name: when someone is sick we are praying for their physical well-being and their whole physical being is connected to the mother. 

The root word of z-ch-r refers to something in its essence, its most boiled down state, which is just potential because as soon as the actualization is realized it loses the simplicity of its essence. Zicharon, memory, shares this core meaning with zachar, male.  The Hebrew word zicharon would better be translated for the biblical context as the essence of something, or the potential nature of the thing.  Of course, this is related to how memory works.  Memory is not simply recalling something that happened; if this were the case, to remember something would take as long as the actual experience.  Rather, memory is the mental ability to recall the essence of something, whether it be a person or an event.  The very act of remembering almost always folds time and space, combining different actual events into more condensed thought which we call memory.  Through smell we can remember the entire essence of a person or experience in one moment.  Memory is much more than the opposite of forgetting, it is "essentializing" life experiences, and boiling life down into a very powerful mental experience.

The zicharon of something always refers to its essence.  Rosh Hashana is Yom Hazicharon, the Day of Essence.  The essence referred to here is to us, to people.  Adam, the first person, was created on Rosh Hashana; people were created with an essential purpose, a potential to be in the image of Gd.  This is the essence we are asking Gd to recall on Rosh Hashana and that we are remembering in ourselves.  The actualization of our lives lies out of balance and off target from our true nature, and we are asking Gd not to judge us on our actualization, but to see our potential, our essence, and to give us time to right ourselves.  The day of Rosh Hashana is for us to contemplate what this essence is for ourselves, and what we believe our true nature is. 

Rosh Hashana is of course also the beginning of the eseret yamai tshuva, the ten days of tshuva. Tshuva literally means to return.  Most people think that the act of tshuva is to identify aspects of ourselves which we don't like and to get rid of them. That may be part of tshuva, but it isn’t how tshuva starts. Tshuva is a process of becoming more ourselves, of identifying what makes us great or unique and connecting our lives to that core.  Tshuva has to start with a self reflection on what makes us great, and only then to ask ourselves what is stopping us from achieving that potential. That is why Rosh Hashana is the beginning, crucial step in the process of tshuva: connecting to ourselves in essence, as individuals, Jews and humans.  The rest of tshuva is figuring out how to live more in harmony with that true nature, thinking about what hinders the fruition of that seed.

On Yom Hazicharon, the work is to recall our essential nature before the Almighty in a sincere and personal way; to break ourselves down to a seed, our smallest most essential selves and connect with what's there.  To refocus on what makes us unique as individuals, identify as Jews, and connect to humanity at large.  Of course there is no forgetting before Gd, but the act of remembering ourselves is much more than the opposite of forgetting, it is the most profound act of self-consciousness, to "essentialize" ourselves, and that is the first and most fundamental step in tshuva.