When Shabbat occurs on Chol
HaMoed of Passover, Ex. 33:12–34:26 is read. Included in these verses are
the story of the Golden Calf, Moses’ smashing the first set of tablets, his
return up the mountain where he carves a second set. While at his labor, Moses
learns the 13 attributed of God. “… ‘Adonai! Adonai! a God
compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and
faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving
iniquity, transgression, and sin—yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting
the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third
and fourth generations (Ex. 34:6-7).”
These
are most familiar to us from the services on Yom Kippur, when these words are
chanted repeatedly, and as the day comes to an end, with increasing fervor. But
there is an important difference. Our Yom Kippur Machzor usually ends with the
positive statement of forgiving sin to the thousandth generation. Yet the
entirety of the 13 attributes included the fact that God is a God of justice,
who does not remit all punishment, even to the fourth generation. How can we
explain this?
It
does seem injudicious to punish children for the sins of their parents, let
alone their great-great-great grandparents! Our tradition does suggest that
there is a lesson for those of us still alive. As Richard Elliot Friedman notes
in his commentary, the fourth generation is outside of the span we
encounter in life. While unusual, it is not unheard of for one to live while
one’s great-great parent still lives. But yet another generation? Friedman
suggests that the consequences of iniquity may last as long as the lives of
those who might be alive when the sin was committed.
There
is another rationale. Some commentators suggest that the punishment continues
to the fourth generation only if each generation inspires the subsequent
generation to the same errors. Thus, the idea of the parent as a role model is
ancient indeed. None of us are without sin, yet we all have the ability to
repent and display appropriate behavior to those who follow us.
