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Lesson 055 · posted Tue Sep 15 2026

Can't Let Go of the Past?

What Judaism says about moving on: five ideas, each with its source.

5 things Judaism can teach us about moving on. The past is a place you visit. Not a place you live. Turn around before the salt sets.

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  1. 1

    Don't look back.

    נציב מלח
    “Don't look”Genesis 19:26

    Lot's wife looked back at the burning city and became a pillar of salt. — Genesis 19:26. Some pasts turn you to stone if you keep staring.

  2. 2

    Remember not the former things.

    אל תזכרו ראשנות
    “Remember not”Isaiah 43:18-19

    “Do not recall what happened of old… I am about to do something new.” — Isaiah 43:18-19. God's own instruction about your history.

  3. 3

    The old days weren't better.

    לא מחכמה
    “The old”Ecclesiastes 7:10

    “Don't say, ‘How has it happened that former times were better than these?’ For it is not wise of you to ask that question.” — Ecclesiastes 7:10.

  4. 4

    Sins can become merits.

    זכיות
    “The past isn't erased. It's re-filed.”Yoma 86b

    The Talmud: when you return from love, even your past sins are counted as merits. — Yoma 86b. The past isn't erased. It's re-filed.

  5. 5

    Tell them to move.

    ויסעו
    “Tell them”Exodus 14:15

    “Tell the children of Israel to go forward.” — Exodus 14:15. Egypt was behind them. The sea was ahead. The only instruction was forward.

The past is a place you visit.

Not a place you live. Turn around before the salt sets.

Save this for the anniversary you keep re-living — and send it to someone still standing in the old city.

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Sources

Art on the slides: Pieter de Hooch, Paying the Hostess (ca. 1670) · Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses (ca. 1890) · Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée), View of La Crescenza (1648–50) · Anton Mauve, A Shepherdess and Her Flock · Pietro Longhi (Pietro Falca), The Letter (1746) · Camille Pissarro, The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning (1897) · Johan Thomas Lundbye, An Evening beside Lake Arresø (ca. 1837). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, open access.