There is a fascinating paradox at the core of human experience: we know what is required to live healthy, happy lives and yet, we often make choices that directly contradict our own well-being. This is well-documented. For example, the consequences of smoking cigarettes have been studied intensively, and the results of those studies have been widely publicized. And yet, experts estimate that there are still1.1 billion smokers world-wide, a number which has remained constant despite intensive efforts to protect public health. In other words, knowing what is healthy and what is not is not necessarily predictive of whether or not we will be able to actualize our own best interests.

That's where our Torah is so important. As we open Exodus, we see a pattern that we know all too well. Pharaoh in the midst of a plague is open to change. With locusts devouring the land or under cover of darkness, Pharaoh repents and offers to change his behavior for the better. But as soon as the plague recedes, Pharaoh reverts to his cruel ways and to his refusals of our people. How many times have we done the same?

Interestingly, God is also aware of this pattern and the dangers of the human condition. God asserts that the signs and wonders are in order to show Pharaoh and the Israelites that God is powerful and present, with the hope that the Israelites will forever remember God's intervention in their lives and remain thereafter faithful.

But like Pharaoh, the Israelites recognize God's glory in the midst of the signs and wonders and do not always remember God's glory when memory of those miracles recedes. God's answer to this collective amnesia is ritualized memory. But what is ours? How do we subvert our own attention and memory such that we can make the best choices in every moment, even when we are not suffering from a particular plague?

Here are the sources.