Does Hashem Forget?

Chazal say that Hashem "forgets" the cheyt ha-eigel but doesn't forget the receiving of the Torah. Many commentaries wonder why He forgets one and not the other. One explanation is that the Torah was given with the word אנכי. One doesn't forget HIMSELF. The real "I" of the Jewish people is the giving of the Torah. All sin and particularly the sin of the golden calf was an external one time failing which can and should be forgotten. The giving of the Torah related to the essence of the Jewish people which cannot be forgotten.

There is a great lesson here in how to relate to others. Not based on their external behaviors but on their true self which is really the נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא - The pure soul which Hashem "blew" into us.

Rav Hutner [Purim 1970] explained that we sinned with the eigel only once while the receiving of the Torah happened twice - on the sixth of Sivan [Shavuos] and at Purim time [Shabbos 88]. What happens a second time is not to be forgotten while a one time event is.

לזכות שמואל אלכסנדר בן נעכא גיטל