Flying today is a far cry from what it was a few years ago. It seems that every day a new security measure is introduced. First it was taking off your shoes to go through security, and then it was your belt. Laptops have to be taken out of their bags, and absolutely no vegetation of any kind is allowed through the border.

Then there are the fees involved in traveling. There’s the regular state and federal taxes, of course, but then there is also the fuel surcharge, the 9/11 tax, and a few other hidden dollars that somehow get added to the total ticket price. And there are other changes as well. One of the most annoying: baggage regulations.

Not Imagine . . . having to pay to bring your belongings with you on the plane . . . simply unbelievable.too long ago you were able to take two bags, each weighing over 70 lbs. on every flight. These days, you are lucky if you can bring one suitcase aboard and not have to pay for it. Imagine . . . having to pay to bring your belongings with you on the plane . . . simply unbelievable.

Once you have paid for your bag, there is always the worry that it will be overweight. Then you have two choices: either leave some of your precious belongings right there at the check-in counter, or pay the astronomical cost of $20 for every ounce over the limit. That may be a slight exaggeration, but in all seriousness, what does it matter if your bag weighs 2 lbs. more than it should? Often the person in front of you only used half of their baggage allowance anyway, so can’t you use some of the weight that they didn’t use? They have the space on the plane, so why the Byzantine rules?

Maybe there is something to learn from the strict regulations surrounding baggage weight restrictions.

In life, we all carry with us a suitcase in which we pack various parts of our lives. One by one we place inside our luggage: childhood memories, positive experiences, negative encounters, happy occasions, stressful moments, joyous celebrations, difficult challenges and more.

On our journey we take this suitcase with us, and the more we place inside, the heavier it becomes. At points it can become so heavy that we just can’t carry it anymore. This gives true meaning to the saying “carrying a grudge.” The more one carries, the more bogged down and weighted they become. Just like at the airport, there is a limit to how much we can carry with us. It is then that we have to reevaluate our reason for traveling, consider our final destination, sort through our belongings and identify which items we want to truly take with us and which ones we no longer need to hold on to.

Everything in our life has its purpose, its time, its place. Even difficult periods are a chance for us to mold ourselves and develop our character. What about the bitter moments? When we have reason to be hurt or angry with another? We think to ourselves, they can’t treat me like that! What right do they have? We may even decide not to interact with that person anymore!

But where does this leave us and our suitcase? Even difficult periods are a chance for us to mold ourselves and develop our character.Does this allow us to travel lighter, or does it slow us down?

In the weekly portion of Tetzaveh, Moses’ name is not mentioned even once. Why is that? After the people of Israel erred by creating the golden calf, G‑d had said that he was going to wipe out the entire nation. However, Moses stood before G‑d and put his own life on the line in order to save the Jewish people, saying that if G‑d would not forgive, He should erase him (Moses) from His book (the Torah). Everything that a righteous person says reverberates in the heavens and must come true in one form or another. Therefore, though G‑d did indeed forgive Israel, He had no choice but to remove Moses’ name from the Torah, and He did so in this week’s portion.

Why would G‑d forgive the Jewish people? If G‑d wished, He could have created a new nation from Moses that would be far superior to the Jews. In fact, if G‑d wanted, He could create a race of individuals who never made mistakes and were perfect in every way.

However, this is not the purpose of creation, and not what G‑d intended. G‑d wants that the Jewish people should have free choice, which they can use to make a dwelling place for holiness in this world. But with free choice comes the opportunity to make mistakes. In fact, it’s our ability to make mistakes and recover from them that makes us perfect for the job that G‑d has given us!

Thus G‑d found it within Himself to forgive the Jewish people. And this can be a most profound lesson for us. When someone does something that upsets us, rather than holding on to that experience and putting it in our suitcase to take with us, instead place it aside and leave it behind. The most powerful tool we hold is the ability to forgive, not only others, but ourselves as well.