<HTML>As educators, we must ask ourselves if we should teach our students to be
critical of our Avot, or if we should even teach them the Ma-Marei Chazal
that are. While Hayyim Zweiter's point, quoting Rav Lichtenstein is well
taken in reference to the specific issue of Rivka and Yaakov, the
educational question and implications are far greater that that one issue.
Clearly, there are sources that do critique Chazal. The potential
negative ideological and religious implications of not openly teaching
these critiques can be far reaching. Firstly, what happens to the student
who was always taught that the Avot were perfect and never made any
mistakes? When that student learns for him or herself that Chazal do
critique the Avot, why would that student not naturally begin to question
every thing else that he or she was taught? Secondly, if we describe our
Avot as resembling angels, that will also make it most difficult for
teachers and students to relate to, learn from, and hopefully try to
emulate them.
A potential solution would be to openly teach the critique of our Avot
that Chazal already have done without adding our own points of criticism
to theirs. This solves the fear that Hayyim Zweiter brought up of
potentially not approaching the Avot with the same sensitivity as Chazal,
and at the same time we are also not compromising our or our student's
intellectually honest educational process.
Robbie Sassoon</HTML>
