ירמיהו, פרק ב׳, פסוק ל״ב

Human nature is to remember what is most precious and essential. Through a vivid metaphor drawn from marriage, a sharp contrast emerges between natural human behavior and a deeply distorted spiritual reality. The Israelites abandoned the very source of their life out of sheer forgetfulness and neglect.

A woman adorns herself with special items specifically when she is a bride on her wedding day [רד״ק]. It is unimaginable that she would simply forget her jewelry [מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Similarly, she would never forget her bridal bands. Commentators offer two ways to understand these bands. They can be seen as the silk threads and ribbons a bride uses to tie and decorate her hair [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Alternatively, they represent something much deeper: a physical object given by her fiancé as a symbol of their commitment, much like a wedding ring, proving she is bound to him [מלבי״ם].

The primary approach among commentators is that this imagery exposes how completely incomprehensible it is that the nation forgot God. Just as a bride values her wedding symbols, the Israelites should have remembered their bond with God. This relationship is compared to a marriage that began at Mount Sinai [רד״ק], with the Torah itself serving as the marriage covenant that binds the two sides together. Given this profound connection, it is baffling that the people would forget their true glory and honor [מלבי״ם].

Despite this deep and historic bond, the tragic reality is that the people forgot God, the very core of their existence on earth [מצודת דוד], choosing instead to follow other gods [רד״ק]. The severity of this betrayal is magnified by its duration. This forgetfulness was not a brief lapse but an abandonment that lasted for countless days, representing a long and drawn-out period of neglect [מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This description emphasizes the sheer magnitude of the disconnect and the many years during which the Creator was entirely forgotten [רד״ק].