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\\nThe holy grail in Jewish education is \\u201ctransformational.\\u201d\\n\\nAn Israel trip like Birthright or any of our Passport experiences are supposed to be \\u201ctransformational.\\u201d Going to any of our wonderful day schools is supposed to be \\u201ctransformational.\\u201d Jewish summer camp--24-7 immersion, lifelong friends--is supposed to be \\u201ctransformational.\\u201d The idea of a \\u201ctransformational\\u201d experience is that the person is different on the other end.\\n\\nBut the two big salvation stories in Exodus suggest that \\u201ctransformational\\u201d experiences may not transform. That the very notion of a transformational experience may be an illusion.\\n\\nYou might think that the splitting of the Sea of Reeds would be transformational.\\n\\n\\u201cWhen Israel saw the wondrous power which the Lord had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord; they had faith in the Lord and His servant Moses.\\u201d (Ex. 14:31) And yet three days later the afterglow of the miracle has already dissipated as \\u201cthe people grumbled against Moses, saying, \\u2018What shall we drink?\\u2019\\u201d (Ex. 15-24)\\n\\nIn our reading this Shabbat, the Israelites stand at Sinai. God comes down and reveals the Torah. The first commandments are I am the Lord your God who took you out of Egypt. Don\\u2019t make idols. You might think that standing at Sinai, the thunder and lightning, divine revelation, is transformational. But famously while Moses is getting the ten commandments, the Israelites are already busy violating them, building the golden calf and saying that the golden calf brought them out of Egypt. These stories suggest that transformational experiences may not transform.\\n\\nAnd yet, October 7 did transform. As Rachel Korazim taught us in her recentsessions on Israeli poetry since October 7, Israel is not the same. Israelis are not the same.\\n\\nPutting this all together is confounding. Splitting the Sea of Reeds does not transform. Standing at Sinai does not transform. But October 7 transforms.\\n\\nWhat does it say about us, what does it say about the human condition, that positive experiences like standing at Sinai or the splitting of the Sea of Reeds do not transform, but that the horror and loss of October 7 do transform?\\n\\n