Abstract:
In the OT “remembering” often denotes the experience of reliving
special events of the past and thereby making them virtually present.
Several texts are advanced in an argument that, where remembering
is aided by an external sign or symbol, its function is not necessarily
limited to the prevention of forgetting but also to stimulate constructive
mental action. It is proposed to interpret this with the help
of the thesis of “prosthetic memory” put forward by Alison Landsberg
for the visual arts. The visual aid does not only prevent knowledge
of the past to fade away, but positively stimulates new interpretive
action. It is shown that this nuance is combined with the idea
of education where prosthetic memory occurs in the OT. It is proposed
that the purpose of these prostheses to memory is the pertinent
interpretation of Torah and educational instructions as well as
their translation into acts appropriate to new contexts.
