Sometimes a person who suffers from addiction will learn that his/her parent/s suffered from it too. Often the parent/s tried to break free of it but were unsuccessful, and the struggle is then passed down to the next generation. And some of us may struggle our entire lives with the "monster within" and may never truly succeed in finding a complete freedom. But does that mean that our parents were failures, or that we are failures?
Taken from Arutz Sheva Blog over here.
What is the source of our desire to succeed and to achieve?
Rav Zadok HaCohen of Lublin offers a surprising answer: our internal desire to accomplish comes as an inheritance.
There are times when we want something so badly, but despite all our efforts and good intentions, it just doesn't happen. It may appear that this unachieved desire is lost; but Rav Zadok teaches that the opposite is true. Though it may not even come to fruition in the person's life, this desire hidden in one's heart is passed on, and will take hold in future generations.
We can see an example from King David. He desired so deeply to build a house for Hashem, but was forbidden to do so. However, his son King Shlomo was able to build the Temple.
From where did King Shlomo get the inspiration? The desire of David, hidden in his heart, never came to fruition in his life, but was passed on to his son, who was able to actualize the desire of his father. And even though Shlomo was the one who actualized the latent desire, the Temple is not called by his name, but is rather called, "The House that David Built."
The desires hidden in our hearts are part of the inheritance that is passed down from parent to child and from generation to generation. This organic relationship connects us with our ancestors long gone, and we pick up the pieces and finish projects left undone.
And those latent desires in our hearts are passed along to our children. Though we will not always be able to complete all our aspirations, there is comfort in knowing that the desire will be passed on to the future generations, and will someday find completion.