Rip Out Pages From Science Books?

Episode 34: "Rip Out Pages From Science Books?" (ב' באדר תש"פ)

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, from the Mindel Archives.

A few weeks ago we spoke about a talk that the Rebbe gave to melamdim [teachers], and we spoke about the Rebbe speaking there about being a living example for the students and for the parents, and about kabbalas ol — that we should accept authority — also about yiras shamayim at the time of their birth. This week I want to continue the talk from where we left off, a few more points. This was in the early years.

Now, another thing I want to mention: in another place the Rebbe spoke to another group of students, and the students asked a question there — can everyone elevate himself to have ruach hakodesh? There's a Rebbe teshuva about ruach hakodesh — can everyone have ruach hakodesh? Okay, so first let me speak about the talk to the melamdim, and then we'll go to that question, which is a very interesting story I'll bring out here.

Number one: last week we spoke about this — the Rebbe said to the melamdim, when you teach children the aleph-beis, you should teach the aleph-beis together with the nekudos, as part of the cycle of learning. And when you teach the reading, you shouldn't just read "aleph" — you should say "kamatz aleph" is "aw," "kamatz beis" is "baw," "kamatz gimel" is "gaw." And the Rebbe mentioned in another place that when you teach a child that way, you're giving him yiras shamayim for life. That's how we should teach children — "kamatz aleph," "kamatz beis."

Another thing the Rebbe mentioned to them: not to use reading books with material from secular authors — only from authors who are not secular.

Another thing he said: they should constantly speak to the students about the greatness of the Borei [Creator] — about the creation of the world, and the uniqueness of man's purpose, [unclear] related to people, man.

Another thing he told them: in the books of science and other subjects in the English department, do not tear out or erase pages from these books. There may be pages there that are not one hundred percent appropriate, but we shouldn't erase those pages — why? Because this will arouse the curiosity of the yetzer hara to delve into it. Because if it's torn, the students will want to dig in more — they're going to go and find out why it was torn, and it's going to become a whole issue. So leave the pages there; just be careful to explain what is right, and that those who wrote and produced such books don't know [the full truth] — explain it, don't erase it.

One should emphasize more the beauty of each mitzvah and the pleasantness of a mitzvah, rather than disparage the physical world. Better to dwell on doing good than to dwell on refraining from bad. In other words, there's "sur mera" and "asei tov" — turn away from evil, and do good. That's the difference between [two approaches]: chassidus stresses the good, the goodness, the beauty of a neshama, the beauty of a Yid, the beauty of everybody — while mussar stresses "sur mera" more — because if you do this aveirah, you're going to get punished. If you do this, you'll be punished. Chassidus also speaks about this, but chassidus emphasizes more the "asei tov" than the "sur mera." When you have a dark room — if it's dark, you put in a little light, it can light up the whole room; you put in a little light and the darkness goes away. This is the method of chassidus.

Another thing: in a girls' school, it's better to hire a woman rather than a man to teach the girls. Now, we might think this is because of tzniyus [modesty], but the Rebbe says something very interesting: a woman's yiras shamayim is stronger, and her influence is more evident on the student. Her teaching, her yiras shamayim, will have more of an effect on a student.

Now, you know, the Rebbe says in one of the sichos, I think, that a person should never be satisfied with his avodah. For example, a person who learns all day and comes home at night — sometimes the children don't see the father learning, sometimes they don't see why, because he's satisfied — he learned all day, and so he doesn't [learn more], and the children don't see it so much. That's why sometimes you see children from good homes grow up not quite the way they should be — they don't see their father learning, because the father is satisfied, he feels he accomplished.

A baal habayis [businessman], a person who goes to business, feels lacking — he's working all day, so he feels he has to learn. He's not satisfied; he comes home, he has to take a sefer, he has to learn — he's not satisfied. So sometimes you could see this more in a baal habayis than in [a full-time learner], because he comes home from shul feeling, "I have to learn more."

For example, take a kollel yungerman — he's satisfied; he comes home to his wife, and his wife is busy with the child, busy diapering the child. This is her job, this is how she should be — she doesn't have to go to shul. But she's not satisfied — she's always looking for more, she's not satisfied, even though that's her job. Chazal say that Michal, the daughter of Shaul [and others like her], didn't have to do [certain mitzvos] but nevertheless they wanted to do them — so they always had this yearning. You know, Michal, bas Shaul, wore tefillin — and she didn't refrain, even though she knew it was a big thing. She wanted it for herself, even though she knew tefillin were a very great matter, but she wanted it — she felt she had to do it, she wasn't satisfied.

So that's why, perhaps, that's one reason the Rebbe said a woman's way of teaching girls, a woman's yiras shamayim, is a little different.

Another thing the Rebbe says about learning: no matter how much, you should never skip the topic — always teach the simple meaning, the pshat, of the parsha — always teach it the way Chazal taught it, never skip it.

On this same subject, I'll also say — I remember I taught Hebrew school, in the afternoon, for public school children, and I told them the story of Moshe Rabbeinu, that he was in the box on the water, and the daughter of Pharaoh stretched out her hand and took the box, and it says that her hand became long [miraculously] so she could reach it. I also told them about Yaakov, who went to Charan, and the stones began to argue — each one wanted him to rest his head on it — and so Hashem made the stones into one. A parent complained: "What kind of story is this to tell? How can it be?" But you can't skip it — you have to teach it to the children. There was a shochet, [name unclear] — so I explained to the parents, and they understood. But it has to be explained — you can't skip it just because certain things don't seem to make sense; that doesn't mean you have to skip it.

Now I want to go back to this question, and I want to tell you a story. Can everyone elevate himself to have ruach hakodesh? So the Rebbe answered: yes, every Jew has the potential, but it requires special preparation in learning, and mainly limiting one's desires and temptations. Only then can he or she rise to that standard. But every Jew — he or she — has the potential to have ruach hakodesh, or at least the feeling of something like ruach hakodesh, if the person is careful in his preparation, careful in avoiding temptation.

I want to tell you a story. Reb [?]'s mother-in-law, Mrs. Nemtzov — she is buried near [unclear] — if you go and see, she lived 115 years. When she passed away, Rabbi Mindel asked what should they write on the matzeivah. The Rebbe said you should write "not more than one hundred and [unclear]," because the posuk says that the lifespan is 110, or whatever — but she really lived 115. She's buried there, you can go see it.

Mrs. Nemtzov lived a long time. Once, after my mother-in-law, Mrs. Mindel, went away for Pesach — I drove her to Borough Park, to her nephew's in Borough Park, among frum people, warm people — and she stayed there for Pesach. Now, at the table, when I came home — it was Pesach, in the afternoon — the whole long table was full of food: fish, matzah, maror, everything ready for the seder. We put Mrs. Nemtzov at the table, and she looked — from very far — at the table, and she says to Miriam, her granddaughter: "Miriam, what is this?" She points. Miriam says, "Bubby, this is just fish that we bought for the seder." Fine. Ten minutes later she calls Miriam again: "Miriam, what is this?" Miriam says, "Bubby, I told you, this is gefilte fish." Ten more minutes went by, and I was standing in the back and I saw this — so Miriam, she says, "What is this?" Miriam took the fish and brought it over to her, and Mrs. Nemtzov said, "I want to tell you, this is not for Pesach use" — how could she see such a thing? I couldn't even tell. But she had a feeling — she was a holy woman, she was said to be like that all the time, she was blessed.

So we can see from this that a person can reach that level, a feeling, a feeling of natural purity — or at least the sense of the right thing. So this is the lesson — when the Rebbe says that we should open our eyes, that means that if we really try, we can open our eyes and see the things that the Rebbe wants us to see.

And on this note, next week we'll continue.