The story is told that Napoleon was walking through the streets of Paris one Tisha B'Av (the saddest day of the Jewish year; when Jews mourn the destruction of the first and second Temples). As his entourage passed a synagogue he heard wailing and crying coming from within; he sent an aide to inquire as to what had happened. The aide returned and described seeing a synagogue full of Jews all sitting on the floor in dim candlelight, chanting lamentations while shedding tears. Distraught, Napoleon inquired about the terrible tragedy that had occurred. The aide replied that they were mourning the destruction of their Temple. Napoleon was indignant! "How come I wasn't informed? When did this happen? Which Temple?" The aide responded, "They lost their Temple in Jerusalem on this date 1700 years ago." Napoleon stood in silence and then said, "Certainly a people that have mourned the loss of their Temple for so long will survive to see it rebuilt!"

The Jewish people are a nation that has an incredible collective memory, one of our most important qualities. This is evident in an interesting description of the Jewish nation at the beginning of this week's Torah portion, Balak.
First, some background. Balak the Midianite king was desperate to harm the advancing nation of Israel. He understood that he could never beat them in battle, so he tried to hire Balaam, the renowned non-Jewish sorcerer/prophet, to "curse" the Jewish people. The Torah records King Balak's words: “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, Behold! It has covered the surface of the earth... so now, please come and curse the people for me, for they are too powerful!"
The Torah continues the story with Balaam responding that he first had to speak to God before agreeing to Balak’s plan. God appeared to Bilaam and Bilaam said: "Balak son of Zippor, King of Moab, said to me: ‘Behold, the people coming out of Egypt have covered the surface of the earth. Now go and curse them for me...’" Eventually, God allowed Bilaam to go along, but warned him that only the words that God spoke to him would be permitted to be uttered. In the end, instead of cursing the Jews, Balaam gave them a beautiful blessing!

As you may have noticed, King Balak and Bilaam referred to the Israelites quite differently. King Balak described the Israelites as a people who “came out of Egypt” - all their miraculous experiences of salvation were safely in the past. They had been slaves, but by now they were free men. On the other hand, Bilaam, who was a prophet, depicted the Israelites as”coming out of Egypt” - a people who retained the same heightened state of pride and excitement that they originally felt during the Exodus. They were constantly reliving the miracles and revelations that they had experienced, and were very much in touch with their roots and origins.

As Jewish people, we must always remember our roots; we cannot for a moment take our history for granted. We Jews don't subscribe to the adage "the past is history, the future is a mystery, and the present is a gift". Instead, the Jewish nation always has its feet firmly planted in the present, has an eye on the future, but never for a moment forgets its past As Bilaam understood best, our present is a gift because of our past history.