The Way We Were: The Need to Get Remembering Right
D'var Torah By: Steven Kushner for ReformJudaism.org
Chadeish yameinu k'kedem, "Renew our days as of old." (Lamentations 5:21)
Perhaps not as dramatic as "Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear" (from the opening sequence of The Lone Ranger), but the sentiment is the same. A nostalgia for a time gone by. The good old days. Simply put, the past was better than the present.
It's a common theme for the wilderness generation. Recently freed of an oppressive existence, but one nonetheless characterized by certainty, the Israelites are hard-pressed to adjust to the uncertainty of freedom. From the very moment of their redemption at the sea, they yearn for the clarity of the past. Whether it is a lack of water or food or a wanting for a more varied diet, they complain. They grumble. In time, they will even rebel. And throughout it all, their mantra is a constant: life was better in Egypt.
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