Satanyana taught, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Of course, we live in a day and age where people tend to rewrite history not through their own eyes, but through their own lies. It would seem that every news story we hear, no matter how much a station may claim to be unbiased, has its own spin to the story. And those stations that claim to give you the facts and only the facts … that does not mean that they necessarily give you all the facts, just the ones that help show their point of view.
I have been listening to the various sides of the story in regard to what is going on in the Middle East, and not only am I amazed at how different and biased the views are, but I am stunned when I hear different spokespeople give what they consider to be historical accounts of the situation’s origins. These voices want to explain how things went from point A to point B. They want to tell us what led us to this point in our journey. But what do you do when people can’t even agree on past history? What do you do when you have so-called historians who deny the Holocaust or those who deny a Jewish presence for ages in the Holy Land? How can people learn from history if the history they are being taught is a made up journey
The Torah has a list of 42 places that we journeyed along in our road to freedom and those who study such matters still know where the brunt of those places are.
They know what they were called in ancient days and they know what they are called in our modern world. But, in Numbers 33:19, we read, “They set out from Rithmah and encamped at Rimmon-perez.” Do you know what Rithmah and Rimmon-Perez are known by today? Do you know why you can only guess at the answer? Because we no longer know where those two areas are. Over the years of telling the story, we have forgotten some of the details.
Let me give you my midrash on this list of 42. You see, when I go to get information for a funeral eulogy, I have certain questions I ask. The questions might seem very general in nature, but each is designed to stir a memory. For instance, when I ask a widow if they went on a honeymoon, they don’t just answer, “We honeymooned in Miami Beach.” No, just the naming of that place they journeyed to brings back wondrous memories. Like the other day when a widow told me that she and her husband honeymooned in Miami and they both got so burned on the first day that they spent the rest of their honeymoon rubbing calamine lotion on each other. I think that this list of 42 in the Torah is about our honeymoon with G-d. It is about our beginnings as a married couple. It is about our beginnings as a family, and each name of each encampment is there to stir a memory, and it is there for us to add in the details.
This week, let us think not just of our ancestor’s journey; let us think of the places we have been on our journey. Let the memories flow. Share them with your children and your children’s children so those stories will not disappear.
Shalom my friends,
Rabbi Craig H. Ezring
Rabbi Ezring is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach. While the kids are going back to School, we invite you to come back to Shul and join our warm and caring congregational family.
