The more we know about people, the more we know about the past. The more we know about the past, the better we are able to assess the present.
Even then, as a 15-year-old, I realized that the world is the story of people, and people have their own individual stories, no two of which are alike. It struck me that maybe that was what the Torah had in mind when it said “Z’chor Yemos Olam — you should remember the days that have passed.”
Basically, it’s an instruction telling us to be curious about the past. We’re always curious about the future, and we look for people to somehow magically predict what’s going to happen. But the Torah told us to ask about the past.
Take for example the Second World War. I was a child on September 1st, 1939, when the war began. I was a precocious child, so I listened to all the news broadcasts and sat in on the adults’ conversations.
Later, I understood that the Second World War, which had such an effect on the Jewish people — and on humankind generally — was not an event; it was the story of a number of people.
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