פרשת יתרו תש"ל - "פוקד עוון אבות על בנים"

"visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me."

When they (the generations) are not separated (consecutive) or when they are separated. How so? An evildoer, the son of an evildoer, the son of an evildoer; a renegade, the son of a renegade, the son of a renegade. When Moses heard this, he bowed to the ground and prostrated himself, saying, G d forbid, there is no evildoer, the son of an evildoer, the son of an evildoer in Israel!

"Visiting (poked)" - visiting is always to remember. And so it states (Genesis 21:1), "And the Lord visited Sarah"; and it states (Exodus 3:16), "I will surely visit you." R. Yehudah says, "I gather together the iniquities with me, and suspend them until the fourth generation; as with Jehu, the son of Nimshi. Accordingly, it states [about him] (II Kings 15:12), 'Four generations of your descendants shall occupy the throne of Israel.' And so it was for him."

The Master said: The righteous person who prospers is a righteous person, the son of a righteous person. The righteous person who suffers is a righteous person, the son of a wicked person. The Gemara asks: Is it so that one is always punished for his ancestors’ transgressions? Isn’t it written: “He visits iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:7). And it is written elsewhere: “Fathers shall not die for their children, and children shall not be put to death for the fathers; every man shall die for his own transgression” (Deuteronomy 24:16). And the Gemara raises a contradiction between the two verses. The Gemara resolves the contradiction: This is not difficult. This verse from Exodus, which states that God punishes descendants for the transgressions of their ancestors, refers to a case where they adopt the actions of their ancestors as their own. While this verse from Deuteronomy, which states that descendants are not punished for the actions of their ancestors, refers to a case where they do not adopt the actions of their ancestors as their own.

This is one of the three things that Moses said before the Holy One, blessed be He, and He said [back] to him, "You have taught me." ... The second one is when the Holy One, blessed be He, said, "visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children": Moses said, "Master of the Universe, how many evildoers begat righteous ones; should they be removed by the iniquities of their parents? Terach worshiped images, but his son, Abraham, was righteous; so too Hezekiah was righteous, but Ahaz, his father was an evildoer; Josiah was righteous, but Amon, his father, was an evildoer. Is this proper, that the righteous be struck for the iniquities of their parents?" The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Behold, you have taught Me! By your life, I will nullify My words and preserve your words, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 24:15), 'The parents shall not die for the children, and the children shall not die for the parents'; and it is by your life that I shall write [these things] in your name, as it is stated (II Kings 14:6), 'as it is written in the Torah of Moses, which God commanded.'"

Whoever ascribes divinity to anything besides Me, I will punish that one who hates Me and practices idolatry with a wondrous punishment – that the children of the sinner will be punished for this iniquity, [as well as] the third and fourth generations. And as a result, it is fitting that people guard themselves from idolatry. However regarding the one who loves Me and guards My commandments in such a way as to cling to Me, I will do wondrous kindness – the kindness will continue upon his offspring for thousands of generations. But behold, there is a question about this statement. And that is, how is it possible that God, may He be blessed, would punish the children of a sinner; as behold, they have no guilt for the sin of their father?? And we answer this question in this way. And it is that the punishment that God brings upon those that transgress His words – whether it be by providence, whether it be by rebuke or whether it by the secret of providence, such that the proper punishments come upon them through the system [of the constellations] – that when He brings these woes, the woe reaches their children. But it would not have reached them were it not for the sins of their parents. And the [illustration of this is] when our ancestors rebelled, they were liable for the punishment that they would be exiled among the nations, and gentiles would inherit their land. But behold the exile continues to their children after them, because of their being exiled when they gave birth to them. [It is] such that it is not possible for them to escape from this woe unless... they be at the heights of perfection, such that it is possible that God would bring them out by way of a miracle. And it is in this way that the prophet said (Lamentations 5:7), "Our fathers sinned and are no more; and we must bear their guilt." And that is because if our fathers had not sinned, we would be in the Land... But behold, once we are in exile for the sin of our fathers, guarding ourselves from disgusting acts (which caused the exile) is insufficient to have us return [to the Land]. Rather, we are required to attain [greater] perfection, such that we cling to God, may He be elevated, in such a way that He would take us out of the exile by way of wondrous providence. And in this way, there would be no injustice if the punishment would reach the children for the sake of the parents, as this is through happenstance.

Explanation of "Visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children," Bikkurei Itim HeChadash, 1846:

And 'that which I see' is that the understanding of the verse is certainly that God visits the iniquity of the parents even upon righteous children. And such was the faith of our fathers; and so did the Sages, may their memory be blessed, say – "A righteous one who has bad befall him is a righteous one that is the child of an evildoer!" And it is something to which [our] senses testify, that the father gives over quite a few good and bad things to his child; and perforce his ways and deeds bring good or bad to his offspring after him. And this phenomenon is one of the secrets of hidden providence in all of the events that happen in the world. 'And God did that they should fear before Him' – as every father loves his offspring; and the worry, lest his sins bring woes also to his children, stops him from always 'following his willful heart,' to one extent or another. And even if it does not stop him, behold those that see his children tormented because of his iniquity will cry out bitterly about him, and that man will 'become a parable and a byword.' And many 'will hear and fear and not do like his acts'... And behold, that which I said that the matter of the visiting of the iniquity of the fathers upon the children is something to which our senses testify, etc., it is similar to that which Ralbag explained – that the punishment of the parents continues to the children by happenstance, in the way of "Our fathers sinned and are no more; and we must bear their guilt." And I also know that the understanding of the expression, "visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children," is not that the punishment should continue to the children by happenstance, but rather that God punishes the children with a clear intention – as in (Exodus 32:34), "and I will visit their sins upon them"; (Hosea 4:9) "and I will visit its ways upon it." Likewise, the content of the word, "visit," is a directed punishment and not one by happenstance – as in (Hosea 9:7), "The days of visiting have come, the days of repayment have come"; (Isaiah 10:3), "And what will you do on the day of visiting." Nevertheless, this is the way of the Torah, to describe the bad and the good to us, as if they intentionally came down from Above as reward and punishment; even if they come about naturally, according to the way of the world. As in truth, there is nothing in the world that is by happenstance. For everything is the result of His causes, and everything is an outgrowth of the First Cause (see Kuzari 5:9). And just like God inscribed it into the laws of nature that the iniquities of the father bring bad to his offspring after him to threaten people, and just like the Torah said that the Lord is a jealous God, and vengeful and angry to threaten the Children of Israel; so too did it also say that He visits the iniquity of the parents upon the children – as if He did this by way of vengeance and fury – even though the thing happens naturally and is not revenge, God forbid. Rather, it is all for the good of people.