The following is from [
www.stevens.edu]
In 1876, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch expressed his
views, his da'as-Torah, on a number of topics that were then
the subjects of serious concern and debate among Torah
Jews. The two letters in which he expressed these views
were written in Hebrew to Rabbi Pinchos M.E. Wechsler,
and were published in 1976 by Mordechai Breuer in the Jerusalem
journal Hama'yan.
The original letters in Hebrew may be read at [
www.stevens.edu]
Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch on Aggadita II (Original Hebrew article from Hama'ayan)
The translation below is from Light Magazine. A slightly different translation appears in Volume 9 of the Collected Writings of RSRH that was recently published. It seems to me that all those who teach children as well as parents would be wise to keep Rav Hirsch's words below in mind. YL
I wish to add one more point - in my opinion an essential
rule for every person who teaches our holy Torah, whether
Tanach or Halachah or Agadah. That is: Get into the habit of
saying, "I don't know. ,,31 It is not within a teacher's power -
nor is it his obligation - to know everything and to resolve
every difficulty. Even Chazal left a number of matters unresolved,
all the more so lesser people like ourselves. Let us admit
unashamedly before our pupils, "This is something we do not
know."
We must be extremely cautious not to create a forced explanation
for a verse or a statement in Agadah or a statement in
the Talmud simply in order to cover our ignorance. When we
admit that we do not know, our pupils learn to humble themselves
before the wisdom of Chazal and all the more so before
the statements of G-d and the expressions of His holy spirit.
They will learn from us to regard Chazal upon a lofty pedestal
and to sit in the dust at their feet.
Let them learn from us that there is nothing wrong with our
faith if we fail to understand everything Chazal said. Let them
learn from us to take great laborious pains to penetrate to the
depths of their words and to draw wisdom and understanding,
knowledge and mussor from their wellsprings using straight
reasoning which may hopefully be true or at least close to their
intent. That, however, which our intelligence can only understand
by employing distortions - let us leave that for minds
greater than ours and not lay nonsense on Chazal's doorstep.
Every distorted explanation, which we instinctively recognize
as impossible to be true, perverts the pupils' thinking and denigrates
the glory of Chazal. It makes them arrogantly certain
that there is nothing they are incapable of understanding, leads
them away from the straightforward way of study, and teaches
them our foolish opinions instead of the wisdom of Chazal.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2012 07:19PM by mlb.
