Who did the forgetting? – Vayyeshev
That is human gratitude for you. Someone helps you and you promptly forget, It seems to happen often, and it is not only when other human beings deserve your gratitude that you forget, but with God too, when we fail to recognise and aknowledge Divine as well as human boons.
One of the commentators, however, reads the verse quite differently and says the one who did the forgetting was Joseph himself. The chief butler made promises but failed to remember… yet Joseph did not cry over spilt milk but decided to forget the butler, recognising that in the end the Psalmist is right, al tivtechu bin’divim, b’ven adam she’ein lo teshu’ah, “Put not your trust in princes, in human beings, in whom there is no help” (Psalm 146:3).
The editor of the Soncino Psalms puts it succinctly, “Human aid often proves to be a broken reed”. Joseph had been let down by human beings – his brothers, his employer, and others – before. He learned that much as you hope that other people will be reliable, in the end you have to trust in God.
Having faith in yourself also helps, but, as Solomon Schechter used to say, you still have to leave a little to God. If you think you can achieve everything on your own you are bound to be disappointed. That is why Psalm 146 reminds us, “Happy is the person whose help is the God of Jacob” (verse 5).
