Remember when?
We all have those cherished moments of the past. Time doesn’t dull those memories — to the contrary they become rosier with time.
Stresses associated with events, trips, milestones, you name it, fade away.
There are good parts to that. After all, those stresses should never have presented themselves to begin with. If memory can blot them out then surely they were never too significant to begin with.
At times however, forgetting the reality of the past can be disastrous in navigating the future.
In this week’s Parsha, as the Jewish nation begins to travel around the desert — a group of complainers emerge. Kvetchers if you will. Nothing is good enough for them. Even the coveted Manna from Heaven was insufficient.
The memories of their experience in Egypt and the foods that they purported to have had there, suddenly became attractive. More attractive than their miraculous Heavenly Manna.
How is this possible? Were they not enslaved in Egypt. Were their lives not embittered in Egypt? How could that seem alluring? Do we not speak of this every year at the Seder?
Perhaps the Torah is sharing the power of living in the moment whilst “building” and not comparing to the past. For after all, life’s blessings at each juncture takes a different form, molded to the contours of that particular time and stage. It’s too easy to glorify the past whilst conveniently editing and photoshopping the challenges that were inherent. Whilst that has some advantages, it’s destructive for “appreciating” the current moment.
Appreciation. The key to happiness, success and recognizing our version of Manna from Heaven.
May Gd grant us all continued blessings and an inspired heart to recognize and appreciate all the blessings that we have — to build on the part and to create an even more glorious future!
With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,