“Some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.”
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Psychologists tell us that we are the product of that which cannot be changed. We are carrying within us generational trauma or collective trauma that is almost impossible to break free of.
Should we stop carrying this “trauma” with us? After all, we have been like this for generations, so why should we change now? Is it even possible to go back to living like how it was before the suffering of the past?
In Parashas Bechukosai, we reach the end of the description of the covenant between Hashem and the Jewish people. Hashem describes the immense blessing we will have, if we keep to our side of the deal and do the mitzvos; and the immense suffering we will have if we do not keep to the deal.
Towards the end of this Godly rebuke, we read that those who survived all the previous calamities, will be heartsick over the sins of their parents, and they will do teshuvah for their sins and the sins of their parents.
וְהַנִּשְׁאָרִ֣ים בָּכֶ֗ם יִמַּ֙קּוּ֙ בַּֽעֲוֺנָ֔ם בְּאַרְצֹ֖ת אֹיְבֵיכֶ֑ם וְאַ֛ף בַּעֲוֺנֹ֥ת אֲבֹתָ֖ם אִתָּ֥ם יִמָּֽקּוּ׃
Those of you who survive shall be heartsick over their iniquity in the land of your enemies; more, they shall be heartsick over the iniquities of their forebears;וְהִתְוַדּ֤וּ אֶת־עֲוֺנָם֙ וְאֶת־עֲוֺ֣ן אֲבֹתָ֔ם בְּמַעֲלָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֣ר מָֽעֲלוּ־בִ֑י וְאַ֕ף אֲשֶׁר־הָֽלְכ֥וּ עִמִּ֖י בְּקֶֽרִי׃
and they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forebears, in that they trespassed against Me, yea, were hostile to Me.אַף־אֲנִ֗י אֵלֵ֤ךְ עִמָּם֙ בְּקֶ֔רִי וְהֵבֵאתִ֣י אֹתָ֔ם בְּאֶ֖רֶץ אֹיְבֵיהֶ֑ם אוֹ־אָ֣ז יִכָּנַ֗ע לְבָבָם֙ הֶֽעָרֵ֔ל וְאָ֖ז יִרְצ֥וּ אֶת־עֲוֺנָֽם׃ When I, in turn, have been hostile to them and have removed them into the land of their enemies, then at last shall their obdurate heart humble itself, and they shall atone for their iniquity.
God is telling us, yes, you will learn all about the idea of generational trauma, and then you will change, returning back to the ways of the eternal Torah, which does not change. You must change. You must use those circumstances of curse and subsequent trauma to initiate and complete that change.
We need to understand that we need to keep our side of the deal in order for there to be true peace in the world. We must forget all that we have learned about how to live and begin to live our lives as Hashem directs us.
Once we do this, Hashem will remember this bris and we will have a complete Geulah.