On a recent trip to visit family, I had the opportunity to go down memory lane and show my children all the summer fun I experienced with my parents: Biking down the boardwalk, riding the waves in the Atlantic Ocean, and going on the same waterslides I went on over three decades ago. It was a new generation of cousins doing the same things, having the same conversations, and creating the same memories I was given as a child. Everything appeared the same and everything appeared different. The slides were not as big as I thought they were, the boardwalk was not as long as I had imagined, and the water was not as deep as I thought.

This week, we stand at Sinai once again, receiving the ten commandments.

Yet, this time is different than the first. The book of Deuteronomy is the second telling of our people’s story by Moses, our leader. We know the second time we do something in our lives is much different than the first. That is the goal each time we receive revelation–it should not be simply a second retelling, but the excitement, the thrill, the intrigue, and the love should still be there. This time with my own children and family together, three generations at the shore, it was a completely different experience. Why? Because I was now seeing these moments through the eyes of the next generation, and what it will mean for them.

That is when it became apparently clear. It was not about the size of the waves, the length of the boardwalk, or the strength of the slides. It was about how our time together will create the memory of tomorrow. Our ancestors in the wilderness, hearing this story for the second time, also had a choice. See it simply as the past, or use it to propel the next generation to the future.