Escape Your Genes – Parshat Pinchas

It can be quite touching when you see a TV show where the parent and the grown child act alongside one another as parent and child. I remember noting it on Mission Impossible.1 This has also happened in the movies and on TV. It also happens in the corporate world as well as in the yeshivah and Chassidic worlds. Yet it seems that even more often children don’t follow exactly in their parents' footsteps…and that can actually turn out for the better.

In this week's parsha, Parshat Pinchas, the Torah is re-counting the people as they prepare to enter the Land of Israel. Surprisingly, right in the middle of the counting, it decides to remind us of the story of Korach. Even more surprisingly, the Torah adds a detail not mentioned in the original telling of the story. The Torah tells us that the children of Korach did not die.2 There are differing opinions as to what that exactly means – but whatever the opinion, they are all agreed that these children were not swallowed up in the manner that Korach was. They escaped that fate. They recognized that the path their father was taking was going in the direction of disunity and argument and decided to distance themselves from that path, explains the Netziv.

Our genes do not determine who we are. Our upbringing does not predetermine how we will behave. Our own history does not force us into one pattern of behaviors. Does it give us a predisposition? Yes. Does it force us into making a specific decision? No. We are always free to choose our path. And even when that choice is limited there are still options that we have.

"Even when everything is taken away from us we will always have the ability to choose our attitude,"3 said Dr. Viktor Frankl. Dr. Frankl wrote this after having survived the Holocaust. He understood that there are times in life when everything can be taken away - the clothes you wear, what time you wake up in the morning, where you will sleep. Yet even then, there is still a choice. We still have some control, even if limited, over our lives.

It is not easy to think about that too much. Nor do I believe we should. But it is empowering.

Because it is empowering, we have the opportunity to use that ability. Let us use it for our own betterment. We owe that to ourselves. And when we improve ourselves, it impacts positively on our surroundings. How wonderful  - you get to feel better and have a positive impact on your surroundings with the same effort.

Are there internal issues or limitations that we have? Yes. Are they insurmountable? No. We can move forward. Even our genes won't hold us back.

Click here to read another logoParsha article on Parshat Pinchas (One for all and all for one)

Notes

  1. The pilot of the new series (from 1988 - yes that was considered new at some point) had the son helping out his dad (real and role)
  2. Bamidbar 26:11

Have A Great Shabbat!laughing

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