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Re: Yitz Jacob's comments on "Educational Strategies".
If one only teaches that Avot are fallible to mature students, you are
running the risk of cognitive dissonance. If the students have learned at
a younger age that the Avot are incredible tzaddikim who never sin, then
you just simply are unable to come in later and say, "Well, the Avot did
sin once in a while" without causing serious problems.
The Tanakh affirms several times that "there is no man who does not sin".
It is only the imperfect man/woman who still attains greatness who can be
a realistic model of behavior for our students and our selves.
Unfortunately, we are swimming against the common knee-jerk under-thought
right-wing Orthodox perception that the Avot were such tzaddikim that the
text cannot mean what it says, but must be reinterpreted. This perception
correlates with others, such as that the Avot already knew the mitzvot
through prophecy, and all historical opinions found in midrash/aggadic
statements are true.</HTML>
