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In this week’s parsha we get to hear the “Ten Commandments” which we have been told to try to memorize since we were small school children. And we are also consistently reminded that G-d chooses all His words carefully, often teaching us multiple lessons in His wordiness and/or word choices. This principle of אין מילה מיותרת בתורה – there is not a superfluous word in the Torah, makes us all the more sensitive to the nuances of the text.

Keeping this lesson in mind, I have always been struck by the phrasing about Shabbat. “זכור את יום השבת לקדשו" - We are commanded to “remember” the day of Shabbat. Granted, when these commandments are repeated in ספר דברים the word is “שמור ” which means to “keep” or “guard,” but the first time we are told about שבת the word G-d uses is to “remember.” But what does that mitzvah entail?

Chazal explain that the significance of using two different words to introduce this mitzvah is that together they represent both the positive and negative commandments of Shabbat observance. Zachor represents the positive mitzvot, while Shamor refers to the negative ones. I think that the message of Chazal goes much deeper than just an explanation for the word change on how to keep Shabbat.

What does it mean to remember something? If I “remember” that it’s my best friend’s birthday today, does that create significance? If I don’t acknowledge “Mother’s Day” to my mom one year, but I promise her that I “remembered” it was Mother’s Day, does that change anything? I would imagine the answer was “no” to both questions. Because simply “remembering” in my head doesn’t actually do anything. Chazal explain that remembering is only significant if there is a positive action taken to acknowledge that memory. Without an action, the memory seems insignificant or even pointless.

My sister and I were once shopping together and I saw something that I knew a good friend would love. After I commented on it, my sister went on-line to buy it. I was surprised and said to my sister, "Wow, that's so nice of you to buy it. I just thought it was cute of us to think about my friend but I wasn’t going to actually buy it!" My sister's response struck me. She said, “No one sees what you left in the store.”

This concept applies to all of our relationships. In theory, I can think about G-d a lot during my day, or even about Shabbat many times in my week. But “remembering” is only truly significant if it comes along with an action that shows you remember. You can't just think to yourself, “I thought about my parents today, I’m a great daughter!” It only means something when you pick up the phone and call to say hi and tell them that you were thinking about them. Every relationship we have needs to be developed through our actions. Shabbat is our reminder that to show Hashem we “remember” Him and Shabbat, we need to perform actions that show Him we are thinking about Him.