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Each generation better?
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yo'ma




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 11:56 am
Do you think each generation is better than the previous or not? What are your thoughts in all different aspects about it?
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hodeez




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 12:03 pm
From what I've seen on social media, heeeecckk no
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Conscience




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 12:05 pm
Well the Gemara (Shabbos 112) talks about the concept of yeridas hadoros -אם ראשונים בני מלאכים אנו בני אנשים ...
So here you've got the general answer the way we view humanity as a whole. Though you might argue that in certain areas different generations can be better or worse....
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Blessing1




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 12:41 pm
I don't think so. I think every generation falls lower than the one before. It's the pre moshiach yeridos hadoros.
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honey36




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 1:13 pm
I don't think you can make generalizations about any generation.

One of my pet peeves is when people talk about today's young people or "the millennials" and stereotype them as lazy, no patience, not committed to anything, spoiled etc. And basically any other bad label you can think of.

Im in my 30s and when I look around at my friend's and people my age and younger, I don't see these stereotypes at all. I see hard working people, usually both parents have jobs, plus raising a bunch of kids etc. I don't see anyone lazing around. In terms of ruchnius, most of them are the same as their parents/how they were raised or seem to have improved. Obviously I don't know what's really going on, but that's what I see.
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Simple1




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 1:14 pm
Life was better before smartphones.
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Blessing1




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 1:26 pm
Simple1 wrote:
Life was better before smartphones.


And social media.
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ShishKabob




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 1:27 pm
I think that Shlomo Hamelech says that you shouldn't say that the previous generations were better, something like that. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But there is such a thing as yeridas hadoros.
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simcha2




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 1:50 pm
People have been complaining about younger generations forever

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."

(Socrates- who live 2400 years ago)
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Zehava




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 3:44 pm
I think each generation builds upon and refines what the previous generation has given/taught them. Which goes for science/technology, medical research, emotional/mental health etc. the smart ones are the ones who strive to be better than their parents so their kids can be better than them. The dumb ones are those who repeat the same mistakes and coping mechanisms blindly because “that’s what my mom did”.
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 5:28 pm
There is yeridos hadoros. And with that, there's the older generation looking at the younger generation with an ayin tova and admiring them for dealing with their unique challenges.
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InnerMe




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 5:31 pm
PinkFridge wrote:
There is yeridos hadoros. And with that, there's the older generation looking at the younger generation with an ayin tova and admiring them for dealing with their unique challenges.


If only...
It's usually a sigh accompanied with "this disposable/ spoiled/ ungrateful generation... "
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tichellady




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:08 pm
I think in many of our families our generation are better parents than our parents who were better than their parents but I’m not judging my parents or grandparents who dealt with many harder things than me and were probably doing their best given their circumstances
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 19 2021, 9:32 am
InnerMe wrote:
If only...
It's usually a sigh accompanied with "this disposable/ spoiled/ ungrateful generation... "


Oh yeah. (And I have this cartoon: When I was your age I had to walk across an unheated floor, to turn the channel.) But really good people, the ones that make us realize that there is yeridos hadoros, say this. (And the ones who don't might just have their own stress.)
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 19 2021, 9:35 am
tichellady wrote:
I think in many of our families our generation are better parents than our parents who were better than their parents but I’m not judging my parents or grandparents who dealt with many harder things than me and were probably doing their best given their circumstances


Yes, there are definitely advantages we have. Many due to the fact that life is either in some ways so we have the time and luxury to focus on things like parenting and chinuch. But besides the fact that there were still many superlative parents and mechanchim in earlier generations, many if not most people had resilience and bitachon that we don't. I would look at some of my older female relatives who didn't have the benefit of a formal Jewish education, though did grow up in strong homes, and they have or had more bitachon in their little fingers than all of us seminary-educated women put together.
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flowerpower




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 19 2021, 9:47 am
No. The lack of respect these days to authorities would make our great grandparents turn in their graves. The filth young kids are watching and the drugs in teens that’s going on...
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leah233




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 19 2021, 9:53 am
Different yes, better or smarter not.

From a secular perspective they believe people are still evolving so each generation is smarter and more advanced.

I totally disagree.

People today have cumulative knowledge but aren't in any way smarter or better than they were in ancient times. Look at some of the buildings built in the ancient world that remain a mystery how they did it. The groups who make it into the history books are the ones who were cruel or always at war but they don't represent the entire ancient world any more than the Nazis and Communists represent the entire modern world. And in all of world history no group ever believed something so contrary to what their own eyes were seeing as those who believe in "gender fluidity" today.

From a frum perspective you have "hiskatnu Hadoros" but you also have "ichsher dora".

There is no question that they reached much higher spiritual levels and had much more knowledge in the previous generations. Even so each generation and person is individual with their own strengths and nisyonis. Who as a person is better? Which generation as a whole is better? Only Hashem can know.
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BH Yom Yom




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 19 2021, 10:28 am
leah233 wrote:

From a frum perspective you have "hiskatnu Hadoros" but you also have "ichsher dora".

There is no question that they reached much higher spiritual levels and had much more knowledge in the previous generations. Even so each generation and person is individual with their own strengths and nisyonis. Who as a person is better? Which generation as a whole is better? Only Hashem can know.


What does the bolded mean?
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leah233




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 19 2021, 10:30 am
BH Yom Yom wrote:
What does the bolded mean?


It means the generation has improved spiritually since the previous one


Last edited by leah233 on Tue, Jan 19 2021, 2:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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honeymoon




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 19 2021, 10:37 am
I'm not sure if you are asking about generations in general or within the framework of Judaism. But either way its not so black and white. In many areas, our generation would make the previous generation turn in their graves in shame of what has become of their descendants. In other areas I can see them applauding us for all the ways we have improved and learnt from their mistakes.
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