" This is God’s self-description, the one he would have us remember. He is the God of mercy and forgiveness, the God who never deserts his people, faithful to the end, patient with all our failings however dismaying, but reminding us that a household—a familial environment, holding three (or sometimes four) generations—cannot escape the sins of the oldest generation; they necessarily infect the atmosphere. "

― Thomas Cahill , The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels