“Our time is full of experts who write and lecture us on how to be proper and helpful parents. But we are not helped and we do not change because the fault lies at a deeper level in our lives.”

On January 20, 1963 Rabbi Olan preached “a sober appraisal” of a highly emotional topic: the failure of family life in modern America and the unfair burden of blame laid upon parents.

“Pity the poor parents who try so hard to do the best for their children, who live under a frightful sense of guilt because the results are so barren and they feel so helpless.”

In this message, Rabbi Olan identified three factors of modern life that have had a detrimental effect on family life. But knowing the causes is not enough. In a relationally-toxic world like ours, Olan taught that spouses and parents will have to choose to live counter-culturally in order to survive and thrive. The status quo is not working. The blame game just leads to exasperation.

(Rabbi Olan quotes Lewis Mumford.)