“Our ancestors killed Indians and owned slaves!”
That’s what American liberals like to focus on. Not on the piety and brilliance of the Founding Fathers. Not on the glory of a republic that has lifted millions out of poverty and exported liberty across the globe. Not on its defeat of Nazi Germany and communist Russia.
No, instead liberals shine a light on their ancestors’ supposed (or real) flaws.
Essentially, they act just like Cham does in this week’s parsha. He sees his father’s nakedness and gleefully runs to spread the news (Bereishit 9:22). Shem and Yefet do the opposite. They respectfully cover their father’s nakedness.
Writes Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch:
“Only where the younger generation stands with respect on the grave of the by-gone one, draws a cloak over its lapses but takes to itself all that it had of nobility, truth, and greatness as a valuable inheritance on which to build further its own life, is the development of the generations a tree that progressively develops in new blossom. But as soon as the younger generation gloats over the ‘nakedness’ of the fathers, and because of their human frailties mocks at their great spiritual traditions; as soon as the future jeeringly tears asunder the bond with the past, their own future is also a dream.”
That’s why when Noach awakens, he curses Canaan - Cham’s son - rather than Cham himself. To emphasize that if people “jeer at the memories of their forefathers, so will their grandchildren jeer at them.” Thus, if a person “does not wish to be punished in his children, [he] must honor his own parents.”
Angry liberals should take this lesson to heart, but so should those of us who like to highlight the flaws of great rabbis in the past. We need not lie, but taking glee in the imperfections of past generations is improper. We should strive to emulate our forebearers’ virtues, not focus on their shortcomings.
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) - head of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, Germany for over 35 years - was a prolific writer whose ideas, passion, and brilliance helped save German Jewry from the onslaught of modernity.
Elliot Resnick, PhD,is the author/editor of 10 books, including “The Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch Dictionary.”
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