To sit and hear the reading of the Torah is both humbling and exciting, realizing that this is what our ancestors nearly 2.500 years ago were doing in almost exactly the same way and using the same words.  It fills one with awe.  Yet, we are a different people in many ways.

With the War in Gaza, Israel has lost its innocence.  No longer can Jews be the perpetual victim.  The Holocaust really happened, but that was during the time of our parents and grandparents.  That was their challenge.  We cannot be expected to fight the same fights that they did.  Our enemies are not even the same. 

Jews must not carry the burden of fears and hatreds of their fathers nor want to pass on these same fears and hatreds to our children.  To throw off the burdens of our fathers, we must forgive them for expecting us carry their burdens.  The cycle of life and death must allow each generation to start anew in some way or another, while still carrying the culture forward.  We cannot do to others what was done to us.  Otherwise we become the thing that we hate.