Getting over the hump

It sounds so simple.  Yet, it speaks volumes about who a person really is.  The Stanford Marshmallow Test conducted in 1972 went as follows:  it took four year olds and placed a marshmallow in front of them.  The children were promised a second if they could wait twenty minutes and refrain from eating the first.  Some children could control their impulses and some couldn’t.  Particularly noteworthy, was the fact that the children were followed over the next fifteen years, and those children who had self-control scored significantly higher on various measurements of aptitude throughout.  Given the importance of this idea, it is no wonder this was the first lesson given to the Jews right after they walked triumphantly through split seas. 

                It is subtly hidden in the verse, as it says in verse 15:25: ‘And He cried out to Hashem , and G-d threw him a tree and he threw it in the water, and they became sweet, there he gave them irrational and rational laws, and they were tested’.    The context of the verse resides on the heels of the split sea where the Jews were without water for three days.  And finally, when they reach water, it happens to be bitter and undrinkable.  So Moses is given a tree by G-d which he throws to sweeten the water.  The verse above then concludes the episode, almost parenthetically, that the Jews were then taught parts of Torah and they were tested.  Bear in mind that is forty nine days before the Torah was given.  Why are the Jews given a sneak preview of what is to come, and particularly, at the bitter waters?  

                The reason is as follows.  There are two types of satisfactions in life.  Satisfaction number one is the satiation one gets after many hours in the desert sun, on the verge of real dehydration, when he stumbles upon cold water.  His parched mouth and lips savor every drop of water.  Imagine, in the same situation, that a person stumbles upon a freshly made \crème brule.  Granted, there is some pleasure there, but compared to simple glass of water, this is a huge disappointment.  Crème Brule is something that is meant to be appreciated only as a result of previous satiation. In other words, this is the second type of satisfaction- a pleasure that comes from an inner drive to be there, but not because there is a need.  A person does not need to eat dessert because he is hungry and feels a bodily need for it. Rather, there is higher faculty involved that wants to appreciate a refined and sweet taste unlike the staple foods used to keep him alive.  In the first pleasure, it is because he is so empty that the water is so tasty- it comes from need.  In the second pleasure, it is because he is so full that the crème brule is so tasty.  

                The catch is that life’s crème brule’s come at the end of what is often a bitter opening process, or at the very least, a comparatively dull opening meal.  Anything internal works this way.  Any intellectual subject matter works this way.  Any math professor will speak glowingly about the fascination of his subject, but what he won’t mention is that his current groundbreaking  research is piggy backed on years of grunt work that he did not want to do, but needed to do.  This is the lesson of the bitter waters.  G-d wanted the Jews to approach Mount Sinai with a taste for spiritual wisdom already developed in their mouth.  So G-d had to take care of their initial need for spiritual wisdom, and filled them with certain laws.   However, when coming from a place of need, the results tend to be bitter.  But, after the difficult start, comes the possibility of real pleasure-growth because of want rather than need.   The beauty of this satiation is that it knows no limits. To the extent that a person wants to grow he can, since it is intrinsic and not bound by fulfillment of a need. All we have to do to get the real pleasure is get over the initial hump, and  then we can wait for that second marshmallow to come.