Beha'aloscha

‎The second year after the exodus signaled that it was time for the Jews to start their journey from Sinai to the land of Israel. Hashem wanted them to get there quickly so He had them travel a three day’s journey in one day. Yet, the people complained how they struggled so much on the journey & didn't rest for three days. Then, the rabble that was among them, riled them up to complain more, so they started complaining about the food saying, “who will feed us meat?” זכרנו את הדגה אשר נאכל במצרים חנם, we remember the fish that we would eat in Egypt free of charge. 

Rashi tells us that they definitely did not get fish for free; the Egyptians wouldn't even give them straw’ they surely didn't give them fish. The Chasam Sofer explains the posuk with a teaching that's brought in the חובות הלבבות, which says that the power of memory that a person has, is one of the greatest gifts Hashem gave us.  Without it, the world could not exist . 

Imagine if a person would walk in one door & have no memory, he wouldn’t know how to get back out. Also, if one eats something good the memory serves him to remember it, so one will want more & that's what keeps him alive. This is what the Jews meant when they said, "we remember the fish that we ate for nothing"; we are remembering it for nothing because here in the desert there is no fish so the memory is useless to us.

For us, it's difficult to understand that a generation that was freed from national servitude by Hashem, saw all the miracles that He did by the splitting of the sea & now they have this heavenly food which tastes like anything one wants & they're complaining about fish & melons? 

Many answers are given to this question but, perhaps for us, the lesson to learn is to be thankful for what we have. For although it seems that they had everything, they still complained. People become complacent with what they have & then, no matter how good one has it, he could always find something to complain about. 

The power of memory is only one of the many great things that Hashem gives a person. There are times, says רב יצחק זילברשטיין that a person looks around & sees all the good that Hashem does for him & just wants to shout it from the rooftops, but he doesn't & the moment is gone. So how does one go about keeping that feeling alive? Someone wrote to Reb Zilberstein that many great things happened to him that he wanted to remember & thank Hashem, so he decided to write down everything as it happened. Then, before he went to sleep, he would read the paper and thank Hashem for the good he did for him that day.

I heard a similar concept from Rabbi David Asher who repeated this story   A man who in charge of raising the funds for a very large Kollel in Israel, once came to Rav Shlomo Zalman Orbach zt"l with the following problem. He said that, for years, he had been able to raise the money. However, recently it had become very tough, and his days were filled with stress and worry. He went to a doctor, as his health was declining due to the stress. The doctor said that his only solution is to close the Kollel and stop the fundraising. 

Rav Shlomo Zalman told him, "The doctor is right. You must get rid of the stress. Yet, there is another way of doing it. If you follow it, it will also bring you blessing in your efforts. Take a little notebook and start writing down each time you see that Hashem helped you in any way. Then, before each Tefila, read over the list and make sure you thank Hashem for each one of them in מודים -  the thanksgiving Beracha. This will be the key to your salvation." 

The man followed instructions and started writing down small things. For example, one day, he wrote about how he was in a big rush and had to stop at a grocery store to buy milk. Just as he walked in, a shipment of milk arrived and the cartons were all piled up in front of the cash register. He was out of the store in less than a minute. One day, he was running late for work and arrived at the bus stop a few minutes late. However, that day, the bus was even later, and he still made it on time. He continued the process of writing and thanking. Eventually, he started giving thanks for the big checks that were arriving, just in time for him to pay all the stipends.

Perhaps if we take this advice & write down even the littlest things that we saw Hashem helped us with & read it every day, then we will not become too complacent & complain; rather we will always be thanking Hashem who then will want to shower us with everything that's good!