A recent study, published in the Biological Psychiatry journal and conducted by Rashelle Yehuda of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, seems to confirm an evolution in the transmission of the genetic character of Holocaust survivors to their offspring. It would seem that the stress related to their trauma is transmitted to their offspring, and possibly to the next generation as well.

Indeed, after a more in-depth analysis of the children of the survivors, it turns out that the region of the stress-related gene can be affected without the child himself having suffered any trauma. G-d alone knows how much the numbers engraved on the flesh of the survivors of the Holocaust affected the depths of their being.

According to scientific studies thus far, hereditary factors are passed on only through the genes contained in DNA, without any other form of external influence.

Yet, it would seem that genes can mutate through chemical tags that attach themselves to DNA and capture environmental influences. A human being’s experiences would thus be inscribed in man through the transmission of these tags.

However, according to the researchers, it is still unclear how these tags are transmitted, since the genetic information contained in the semen of the man or woman is supposedly cleaned up just after the fertilization process, filtering environmental influences (this refers to epigenetic inheritance). However, according to Torah Sages, the ultimate goal of the accomplishment of the Mitzvot lies in Tikun Hamidot, which refers to the perfection of one's character traits. In other words, in the same way that a survivor of the Shoah transmits his trauma to his offspring, a person may transmit his character traits to his offspring too.

Voluntary Transmission

King Solomon wisely said: "A good name is better than scented oil, and the day of death is better than the day of birth."

Man came into the world for the sole purpose of developing himself, and working on himself. To make the most of every of second of his life, to immerse himself fully into everything that he does, without allowing himself to become lazy. Man should take advantage of the influence of people that he meets, he should concentrate when saying Brachot, and he should put in effort to perform acts that will have an impact on the way that he develops, and the way that he reacts to his environment.

Working on our Pnim, (our inside) and the deeper we internalize what we live will gradually have an effect on us.

But what do our holy texts say? Is there a Torah certification attesting to the possibility of changing one's nature?

The Talelei Orot, on Parshat Chayei Sarah (p .24), asks: "Why did Avraham Avinu dismiss the possibility of marrying his son Yitzchak to a girl from Canaan, and instead he was willing to tolerate a girl from Aram, when both nations practiced idolatry?"

He answers in the name of medieval decision-makers that the daughters of Canaan had particularly detestable Middot (traits of character), and that these would be transmitted as inheritance from father to son. However, Aram's daughters were corrupt only in their thinking, but their essence was not distorted.

On the other hand, in Parshat Noach, G-d destroyed the generation of the flood, but spared the generation that followed, that of the Tower of Babel. Although they rebelled against G-d by erecting a tower, G-d simply scattered them across the globe (Mikdash Mordechai in the name of the medieval decision makers).

The reason for this is that the generation that preceded the flood was totally corrupt and hereditarily irrecoverable. There was no good left in them, which was not the case with the generation of the Tower of Babel.

An Open Secret

It is also reported in Parshat Shemot (Exodus) that G-d had to 'hastily' intervene to bring out the B'nai Israel from Egypt, for if they had reached the fiftieth degree of impurity, they would have been lost.

During the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai, G-d pronounced the first two commandments. The intensity of this event was so great that it caused the death of the B'nai Israel, who were immediately resurrected. In this way, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, who raised B'nai Israel to the fiftieth degree of purity, ensured that their resurrection incorporated this new hereditary heritage, so that they could transmit it to their descendants over generations.

Thus, what seems to have taken scientists so long to discover, is in fact revealed in the Torah. By fully realizing his potential and striving to improve himself, man transmits new strengths to his children who, in turn, can transmit their enriched tendencies to their descendants.

Also, it is by perpetuating this supreme objective that we will contribute to Tikkun Ha Olam, that is to say, to perfect the world by repairing it.