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CANDLELIGHTING

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THE JEWISH VIEW

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HOLIDAYS

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JUDAISM 101

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{weblog_name} - Generativity and the Jewish covenant
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I just finished looking through a book called The Redemptive Self: stories Americans live by, by Dan McAdams. It is an effort to understand a bit of Americana, what makes us tick, through the stories we tell ourselves. McAdams speaks in one section of the book about Erik Erikson’s concept of generativity. While I have not studied Erikson and had not heard this term before, it is somewhat intuitive to the Jewish spirit (once it is explained). In short, generativity is defined as “the concern for and commitment to promoting the well-being and development of future generations.” But more than a concept, it is, according to Erikson and McAdams, an altruistic way of framing the meaning of one’s life. In the context of the theme of the book, McAdams writes: “When they take stock of their own lives, highly… read more