L’dor v’Dor, “from generation to generation,” is a cornerstone of Judaism. The source is in the repetition of the Amida service, when we recite: “To all generations we will declare Your greatness, and for all eternity proclaim Your holiness. Your praise, O G-d, shall never depart from our lips.”
“L’dor v’dor” has become shorthand for Jewish continuity, for transmitting our Jewish beliefs.
But “L’dor v’dor” — without the follow up of “we will declare Your greatness” — isn’t always a positive. How many things passed on from generation to generation aren’t positive?
A novel I recently read was Etaf Rum’s A Woman is No Man. The book has one of the most powerful opening pages I’ve ever read, in which Rum establishes that in the world she is writing about — the Palestinian Arab one — women have no voice.
What follows is a harrowing tale of a woman who cannot escape a destiny of abuse, denigration and powerlessness.
I picked up the novel because I’m always interested in reading “the other side of the story,” but while the book touches on issues of Palestinian identity, it’s primarily about gender roles, and the cycles of violence — “from generation to generation” — that keep women trapped in unfulfilled lives.
Years ago I found myself in a rural area of Hungary tracking down my ancestry. The deprivation — the vacuum of opportunity — was evident. I was told that in this region there is generational unemployment — up to three generations of grown men who have never held a job.
While both of those examples are evidence of why “from generation to generation” isn’t inherently a good thing, they do both show that “from generation to generation” can become part of your DNA.
This Shabbat, in the Jewish world, we restart the cycle of reading the Torah. Let’s make the most of this positive opportunity of “L’dor v’dor.”
Shana Goldberg may be reached at [email protected].
Copyright © 2019 by the Intermountain Jewish News
