“Wouldn’t it be great if a fellow could put this stuff in a bottle and stop it up so the gas wouldn’t get away, and he could drink it whenever he wanted? – Benjamin Franklin Thomas, 1887

The sad truth is that nobody made money suggesting this to Coca Cola, but it was a smashingly sweet idea, found (of course) in the Torah.

Moshe said to the Jewish people: Right now you are on a high, you have never been closer to Hashem and the purpose of the mitzvos is clear to you. You think that the rest of your existence as Jews will be the same way. You think that you and all future generations will be able to maintain this constant connection to holiness. Let me tell you about reality. One day, you are going to have a son and he will have no idea what you are doing. He will ask “What is the big deal? Why are you doing all this hard work?” G-d will not always be as obvious as He is right now.”

How do we respond to this question? Moshe told the Jewish people: “You should say to him: This is my Korban Pesach for Hashem. We did this and Hashem punished all of the Egyptians but spared us and our homes.”

The Hagada tells us that the Torah spoke of Four Sons: Wise, Wicked, Simple, and Silent. Even a distant memory of the Hagada includes the stinging answer given to the Wicked son (“knock out his teeth and tell him “Hashem did this for me when I was in Egypt – for me and not for you. If you were there you would not have been saved”).

Why did Moshe give the wrong answer?

Perhaps Moshe’s reminder was not directed at the wicked son but at the parents themselves.

“Stop for a moment”, he told them, “and appreciate the feelings and emotions of what you are experiencing. Define them, bottle them and put them somewhere safe. One day when you are challenged you will be able to pull that memory out of your pocket and say “I remember that moment when I did the Mitzvah of Pesach. I felt closer to Hashem than you can ever imagine”.

We often experience spiritual highs. We need to save souvenirs, memories or commitments, from these highs to give us support at the times when we are low.

To paraphrase Perry Como: “Catch it, Put it in your Pocket, an’ Save it for a Rainy Day”.

Never let it fade away.

Sources: For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company that Makes it, Mark Pendergrast, Basic Books, 2000, pp 69-70; Kli Yakar, Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz , Lublin, 1602, Shemos 12:26.