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Do you remember when the internet was just a gleam in some tech geek's eyes? I remember using the internet in it's early publicly available form; limited access, no graphics and email to fax (because most people didn't have email addresses).
What was your reaction when you heard about this outlandish idea to sell things over the internet? I remember people saying how these types of businesses will not be able to be commercially viable, there's not enough consumers using the internet, people want to touch items before purchasing etc.
And today? Almost everything we interact with on a daily basis is connected to the internet. You can buy almost anything online and most of us use the internet as our primary method of communication.
And it's not over, the internet is continuing to grow and it is continuing to get into areas of our life that we couldn't have imagined even 2 years ago. Soon it will be affecting our life in areas that we cannot fathom today, no matter how technologically savvy we may be.
Here's the thing; although our internet today doesn't resemble the early stages of it's development, by the Department of Defense in the 1960s, there is a direct connection between what we use to view pictures of our friends and relatives and send email to the very first message transmitted from a lab in UCLA to the Stanford Research Institute.
However, for the internet to be able to proliferate the way it has, there is an integral key component needed. And that is you and I, consumers who are willing to change the way they do things and adopt this new technology. Today the internet is everywhere, and this is thanks to all those scientists and engineers who developed it over the years, but it's adoption as a primary form of communication and commerce is only thanks to us, those who use the internet.
Here’s an interesting parallel to this week’s Torah portion: When reaching out to Moses, G-d reminds him about the contribution of the forefathers and the promises G-d made to them. But then G-d emphasizes that only the Jewish people, by receiving the Torah and entering the Land of Israel, will merit to experience the ultimate G-dly revelation.
Which begs the question - why focus on the contribution of the forefathers when our contribution is so much greater?
Just like the internet, our usage today far surpases that of the 1960's, 70's, 80's and 90's put together, still had it not been for the earlier stages of development we wouldn't have the internet in it's current form. So too, without the initial contribution of our forefathers, the Jewish people would never have been able to receive the Torah and enter the land.
This idea extends to us too. We know that in the time of Moshiach, G-dliness will be revealed in a much greater way than today. One could think that our work today, living as Jews, studying Torah and fulfilling Mitzvot, is less important - after all, we don't see and appreciate the G-dly revelation that it causes.
The truth is that our Mitzvot today directly affect the G-dly revelation at the time of Moshiach. Just as the forefathers were an integral piece to the ability for the Jewish people to leave Egypt and receive the Torah, so too our choices today directly affect the revelation of G-d and our experience in the time of Moshiach.