Jews have long employed simanim, mnemonic devices comprising letters which spell out a formula or list to be remembered. One of these is employed to help remember the structure of the Mishnah, the foundational work of Jewish law. Its tractates are arranged according to six sections, and the acronym employed to remember the traditional order is זמ“ן נק”ט, Zeman Nakat. These two words, when read not as initials for six other terms but in their own terms, have meaning. From the Hellenistic period, zeman has meant “time”; nakat, however, can be interpreted to mean several quite different things: “hold” or “take,” on the one hand, “abhor” or “reject,” on the other. This chapter focuses on a historical sensibility, seeking to understand when and how beliefs and practices found their way into Jewish life. The chapter relates to traditional Jewish concepts of time and to the rupture engendered by modernity. History has been portrayed as the salvation of Jewish life and as its downfall. This chapter makes the case for a vigorous embrace of historical consciousness not in order to desiccate Jewish life but in order to strengthen and deepen it.