Eikev 9:5 · EXTRA 1

English: לא בצדקתך, "Not because of your righteousness, etc." Moshe meant that the Israelites' righteousness was not a reason for allowing them to dispossess other nations. This did not mean, however, that they were not a spiritually upright generation. Moshe said something similar to the people in Deut. 4,4 when he attributed their being alive to their having cleaved to G'd. Such conduct does not, however, mean that other nations were to be killed on account of the Israelites' goodness. Had there not been a covenant with the patriarchs, G'd could not have justified expelling and killing the Canaanites on account of the Israelites. At the same time, the oath sworn by G'd to the patriarchs by itself would also not have resulted in the Israelites' victory over the Canaanites if they had not been wicked. We have a Mishnah in Eydiot 2,9 which states that "although a father confers upon his son certain attributes (genes) such as handsome appearance, intelligence, etc. etc., there is a limit to the effectiveness of such transfer of parental genes after a number of generations. The Mishnah bases this statement on Isaiah 41,4 קורא הדורות מראש, "He (G'd) determines ahead of time for how long the father can transmit his genes to successive generations." Raavad comments as follows on this statement. "G'd foresees whether a generation is deserving, and if so He allows these genes to be transmitted