UNTO THE 3RD OR 4TH GENERATION
My daughter Arianna, a student at the University of Maryland, was accepted this week to a summer program in Austria. She will be working on an archeology dig in the remote countryside, the site where an American bomber, a B-14 Liberator, was shot down during World War II. All twelve servicemen were killed. For the past 80 years, families have not known the details about the fate of their sons, fathers, husbands and brothers. Arianna and her fellow students are hoping to find bones, remains of uniforms and plane parts to bring closure for these families. It is a grim task, but an important one. I’m proud of her for taking it on.
Her trip made me think about the burnt-out pictures from current-day Ukraine. The destruction is so vast. And, it may take generations to fully recover, rebuild and bring closure to today’s conflict. Will my great-grandchildren be studying forensic anthropology in Kyiv or Kherson or Melitopol or some remote village in between?
In the Torah, we read repeatedly about the impact hatred and wrongdoing lasting far into the future. For example, in Deuteronomy, we read, “the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and to the fourth generation.” This phraseology is repeated at least 4 times in the Torah text! In addition, because of one generation’s wrongdoing, Moabites and Ammonites were barred from admittance into the Israelite community for a shocking 10 generations.
In the Torah, the verses about trauma lasting to the 3rd and 4th generation often pertain to God’s punishments. As humanists, we reject the notion of divine punishment. Society’s ills are all our own. Yet, the concept of trauma lasting generations certainly holds merit and we can learn from it. There is something to intergenerational trauma. Just ask the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. That’s why the terms “second generation” and “third-generation” Holocaust survivors were coined.
Like you, I am very concerned about the immediate impact of the war in Ukraine – on its citizens, about the threat of escalation and a myriad of other concerns. But, I am also concerned about the war’s impact on future generations. I am so proud of Arianna, but I hope that great-great-grandchildren can visit Europe to study its art, literature, architecture, languages and food - and not its bones.
Breaking the cycle of violence and hatred, well, it seems like something of a pipe dream. But, if we don’t dream, where are we?