Making Sense of the Sedra: Ki Tetzei
Nature or nurture?
New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London shows that parents’ genes linked to cognitive and non-cognitive skills affect children’s educational outcomes.
The research, published in Nature Communications, investigated educational records and genetic data on more than 40k children in the UK and The Netherlands, and found that parental genes can influence their children’s educational outcomes through the environment they create, even when the genetic factors are not inherited.
This is the next stage in the age-old nature versus nuture debate. Are our deepest characteristics and abilities present at birth, or are they formed by our experiences in the world? It is accepted that part of who we are comes from genes, which contain instructions to build our body and wire our brain. But we also know that the culture we grow up in can shape us in fundamental ways.
In this weeks parsha, Ki Tetzei, it appears that the Torah is unequivocal in its view on this question: “Fathers shall not be put to death because of children, and children shall not be put to death because of fathers; a person should be put to death for their own sin.”
In other words, each individual is judged according to their actions, and we disregard the impact of upbringing. The Gemara even teaches that a person may be born with certain inherent traits, but the choice of how we channel them remains firmly in our hands.
However, several commentaries point out an apparent contradiction based on a verse in Shemot that speaks of visiting the sins of the fathers upon future generations. In addition, in last week’s sedra, as the Jewish people prepare to enter the Land of Israel, Moses warns them not to adopt any of the peculiar practices of its inhabitants that run contrary to the Torah. So, it seems that we do consider environmental factors as contributing to a person’s behaviour.
How do we reconcile this when it suggests that we are held accountable for other people’s past mistakes?
The Torah Temimah explains that only if we perpetuate negative behaviour that we have previously observed is it considered to be ours as well, but if we distance ourselves from it then we are not destined to be a victim of it.
As we prepare to stand in judgment on Rosh Hashanah, we have to accept responsibility for the choices that we have freely made, and we have to acknowledge that we determine the course of our life – whether that be in success or in failure. We are not just the products of our genes or our environment and upbringing; ultimately we are held accountable for our actions.
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