-*-*-*-*-*-
Sins of the Great-Grandparents
In
a fairer world, people would receive rewards and opportunities based on their own merits. We’d begin the “race of life” at the same starting line.
Well, sadly, that isn’t how it works in the world we have today. Some people are born in poverty and deprivation. Others are born in comfort and security. Some have loving parents. Others have parents who are
absent, incapable or neglectful.
In this Passover Shabbat’s special Torah reading (Exodus 33:12-24:26), God tells Moses that the descendants of good people will be rewarded “to the thousandth generation,” but the descendants of bad people face punishment “to the third and fourth generation.”
Granted, bad choices have an intergenerational effect: I think my great-grandfather’s harshness to his sons shaped the character of my grandfather and his ability to relate to his own children, including my dad. Are my bad memories of Dad’s temper the long arm of God’s response to Great-grandpa’s failings? I find that idea shocking and repulsive.
Sure, intergenerational trauma is real. Is it “God’s will?” Let’s talk!
