The Exodus story continued in this week’s Parsha begs to be read out of context. Despite the plentiful drama Moshe and the Jewish people experienced in the recent parshiyot, Moshe continuously drew the Jewish people out of the present moment. How?

Throughout their time in Egypt, Moshe repeatedly gave the Jewish people commandments for the future. While their story unfolded, the Jewish people were given multiple commandments to share their experience with future generations. Because of these commandments and encouragement to focus on the future, the Jewish people were unable to experience and process in the present with solely their current states of mind; instead, they were forced to view the events they experienced through the lens of how they will perceive and tell over the very same events in the future. 

What was the point of this oscillation between the present and the future? Rabbanit Yosefa Fogel Wruble explains how this mentality, inherent to storytelling, is a key part of the Jewish identity. Stories provide prescriptive rather than descriptive truth; they’re not just about clarifying the factual details of an event, but about providing a purpose, vision, and an overarching message. Upon receiving these commands from Moshe to tell their stories to future generations, the Jewish people were comforted knowing that there will be a future when they are no longer slaves and there will be future generations to tell the Exodus story to. Focusing on the future allowed the Jewish people to instill meaning into their present lives, even as they sat in Egypt unsure about what the future might hold. Today, we, too, are prompted to do the same reflections that Moshe commanded the Jewish people to perform. We must ask ourselves, “How will we one day report our current situations? With which narrative will we tell over our experiences?”

In his book Future Tense, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks described the difference between the “right” and the “wrong” story. “Wrong stories” are not necessarily factually incorrect, but contain a narrative that does not serve the future. For instance, our story should avoid too strong of a “victim mentality” narrative, and instead should be focused on conveying a message of resilience. Our stories should provide a feeling of hope for those struggling in the future, rather than portray a defeatist point of view. Recently, while we have found ourselves as a people in difficult situations, to be true to our Jewish identity, we must work to craft a lasting narrative of strength, resilience, and hope.