When our ancestors wandered in the wilderness they were fed manna from heaven. The manna had many remarkable properties. It was the first “convenience” food, requiring no preparation. It had whatever taste a person wanted it to have.

Nonetheless, our ancestors detested the manna. They hated it. Perhaps the reason is that it came to them too easily. Since they did not earn it, they did not appreciate it. When life is too easy, we appreciate nothing.

In many ways, life in our time has become too easy for us. We have too much. We do not have to work all that hard to earn our daily bread. Economically times may be difficult and money may be tight. And yet our standard of living is higher today than it has ever been. Very few of us know what poverty really is. Very few of us know what it means to be hungry. Our problem is the reverse. Our bellies are too full. We worry about dieting. We have too much and we have it too easy; therefore we do not appreciate what we have.

And, we give our children too much. Everything is given and nothing is demanded. We have made life too easy for them. We rarely ask them, at least in some way, to earn the things they want. And then we wonder why they seem so unappreciative.

What all of us need is not to he given things or to receive things easily. What we need is a challenge, a goal, an opportunity to work, to create, to develop something, to achieve. Life means involvement, participation, doing things. Manna from heaven may have been necessary to sustain our ancestors in the wilderness because the desert was such an inhospitable place. But the last thing we need is a substitute for our own personal involvement.

We must rediscover the art and the inclination and the will to do things ourselves. We must walk —not just go everywhere by car. We must read— not just rely on television or the internet for pre-digested information. We must think— not let others form our opinions for us. We must work —and not let others do it for us. And especially we must ‘do-it-ourselves” when it comes to Jewish learning. We Jews used to be known as “Am HaSefer,” the People of the Book. We did not acquire that designation by leaving Jewish studies to rabbis. Every Jew studied. We must recapture this again. We need to recapture the joy of discovery that a person makes himself or herself by his or her effort, his or her involvement, and his or her hard work.

In the Pirke Avot, Ben Hay Hay observed: “According to the effort is the reward.” Personal involvement can bring all of us true fulfillment.