Hi friends and welcome to the 1840 podcast, where each month we explore different topic

balancing modern sensibilities with traditional

sensitivities to give you new approaches to timeless Jewish ideas. I'm your host, David Bischepkin,

and this month we're beginning our annual exploration of intergenerational divergence,

how different generations differ and find healing and meaning from one another.

And of course, thank you so much to our annual sponsors, Danny and Sarlah Terkel.

I am so grateful for your friendship and support over all these years.

This podcast is part of a larger exploration of those big, juicy Jewish ideas. So be sure to check out 1840.org.

That's 1-8-F-O-R-T-Y dot org, where you can also find videos, articles, recommended readings, and weekly emails.

There is a paragraph from the psychologist Donald Winnicott, who was like a second generation,

very early in the field of psychology. And so much of his work really focuses on how childhood,

how our beginnings really shape the entirety of our life. And he has a quote that I've

likely shared before where he says,

tell me what you fear and I will tell you what has happened to you. He writes this in his book,

which is aptly titled, Home is where we start from. And he writes, I would like to feel that as a

result of what I have to say, you may be able to see a little more clearly

that in every case that comes your way, there was a beginning. And at the beginning, there was an

illness, and the boy or girl became a deprived child. They did not get what they needed. In other

words, there is a sense in what once happened, although by the time

that individual comes into your care, the sense has usually become lost. He is saying something

incredibly profound and also incredibly simple. If you want to truly understand someone, you have

to know their beginnings. You have to know their childhood.

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