Ter ISSr Cor Tor Vol Fa) Ch€ Fal I' t rt i ~ Ten the 1 ON OUR COVER: A young boy, (T.E Budapest, Hungary, from The Last Edu, Jews of Eastern Europe by Yale Tora Strom and Brian Blue, 1986. the\ Reproduced by permission of and Philosophical Library, Inc. Com Eich an al The purpose of Ten Da'at is to provide a forum for the expression of a wide Dear variety of slimulating and responsible Exec Torah viewpoints. Thus, the views and 500, opinions expressed in the articles of New Ten Da'at are those of the contribu· (212) tors and do nol necessarily reflect, the position of Ten Da'at or that of the Torah Education Network. ~ Ten Da'at ISSN 0892-7359 Copyright, 1987 Torah Education Network Volume II Number I Fayge Safran, Editor CONTENTS Cheshvan 5748 Fall 1987 Da'ati 2 DA'AT Torah: Evolution, A Theory that Failed to Evolve 3 Moshe D. Tend/er Top TEN Profile: An Interview with Adin Steinsaltz 7 Jacob M. Rabinowitz Case Study: A Response Happy Birthdays 9 Stanley Fischman Transmitting Jewish Values to Young Children 10 Rivka Behar Educational Implications of Research in Moral Development 12 Esther M. Shkop Storytelling: Five Steps to Teaching Others 14 Peninnah Schram Bibliography of Jewish Stories 16 '!'fDUo Peninnah Schram c! (Y"') ~~ Health and Sex Education in Our Day School 18 oJ.c.lt o Michael Novogroder Y, 1~N < On Cults and Missionaries 19 1,,trwo0+- Barry Bender Annotated Bibliography of the Writings of Aryeh Kaplan 21 Baruch M. Rabinowitz Ten Da'at, Official Publication of theTorah Education Network Responsive Readers 22 rT.E. N.), is a joint project of Bits of Bytes st Educators Council of America, Giving Wisdom to the Wise 23 Torah Education Department of Joel Saibel the World Zionist Organization, TEN LEV: and ~fax Stern division of The Impact of Divorce on the Child in the Classroom 24 Communal Services of Isaac Marcy and Sylvan Schaffer Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University. Torah High School Network 25 ·ovide Stanley Peerless ide Dean Jacob Rabinowitz Executive Officer TENV'KACH: ,sible 27 500 West 185th Street The Great Tzedakah Happening s and Fran Borovetz , of ~ew York, N.Y. 10033 bu- 1212) 960-534 7 On Our Bulletin Board 28 t the he Da'ati In the beginning there was the Word. clearly saw his task. He too, in his way, And from that beginning emerged must bring the Talmud to the masses. generations of giants who attempted to As a teacher, he knew that on the most explain and translate that Word into basic level his students must attain an everyday living. The Sinaitic expe­ ease and fluency in the reading and rience, content as well as fire, was analyzing of sou rces, progressing to an intended for the masses. But when we independent use of these sources. shrank in fear and shrugged in per­ Indeed, the goal of every teacher mu t plexity G-d responded by sending us be to enable a student to draw conclu· those sages and teachers who could sions from the text, cross-referencing clarify His Word, the source of all to further analyze and understand Jewish knowledge. until, ultimately, new and fresh in· There was Rabbi Judah the Prince sights can be offered. But all must who understood the need not only of emerge from the text and all must the moment, but of the future. Et laasot return to it, for the study of the source~ /'Hashem heferu Toratekha. If the has always been a goal in and of itself. Torah is threatened, he reasoned, then That, ultimately, is what ta/mud Torah it must be preserved. He was the first is all about. It is through the study of to break with halakhic precedent by the sources that we gain the Torah's writing what had been oral. Several perspective and response to every kind !i centuries after the Mishnah was com­ of issue that needs clarification and I piled, Rav Ashi detected the rumblings application. We face today's intrusion d of history once again. The Babylonian of cults and missionaries by reawak· \ Talmud was thus completed while the ening the doubting and confused to an 0 great Yeshivot were still permitted to appreciation of our sources. We con­ 0 function. As persecutions and expul­ front the age-old conflict between sions further depleted our strength, science and religion, as portrayed in p Rav Yitzchak Alfasi condensed the the questionable theory of evolution. e Talmud which was too massive for the not with beliefs and postulates that t masses. He was followed by t he Ram­ change every few decades, but with an e barn who clearly saw the exile and understanding of our timeless text. understood the needs of the exiled. The values that determine our inter· And there were others. Rabbi Yaa­ action with others, the morals that kov ben Asher, Rabbi J oseph Karo, control our ethical conduct and behav· Rabbi Moshe Isserles. Giants, all, who ior, the attitudes and approaches that dearly loved Torat Yisroel and Am shape even our most intimate and t Yisroel and wanted nothing more than personal moments, all have deep root.< that one be entwined with the other. in our sources. And that is how we mu,: Each generation has borne scholars teach our Torah-as experiential dedicated to unravelling the intricacies pulsating, living. Whether we use tht of the Talmud. Each has been commit­ computer or the story as our medium. ted to the single purpose of reintroduc­ or even plan a "happening", as teacheri ing us again and yet again to the Word we must continue our ancient traditior. of G-d. Some have codified and sum­ our very existential imperative, rJ. marized, others elaborated and translating G-d's Word into everda1 analyzed. living. Our students must learn tovalut Having lost so many of our own scho­ the sources-their content and their lars, our orphaned generation sought fire, for only then is our future ensu red. a haven that could soothe our wounds while generating our rebirth. It was FaygeSafr.: in Eretz Yisroel that Adin Steinsaltz DA'ATTORAH vay, Evolution, A Theory that Failed to Evolve: ;ses. nost Update for Torah Schools 5748 rl an and oan ·ces. nust Moses D. Tendler 1clu­ cing ;, tand l in­ 'YlUSt 'YlUSt irces I. In January 1982 (McLean vs. How should this theory, once again c) We are obligated to teach the truths tself. Arkansas Board of Education 5 Jan­ a source of ferment and controversy in of Hashem's interaction with the ,orah my 1982) the Arkansas Board of educational and legal circles, be taught natural world. Education was enjoined from requir­ in our Yeshivot and Day Schools whose dy of '-, ,r.ii< - .il"Y n:::iw rah's .ig all its schools to teach creation­ students' first exposure is to the kind ..:ience along with the theory of evo­ creationism of sefer Beraishit? ywi;,, i"K 'T!l 7:i 71y1;>v, and ltion. The main thrust of the legal I believe it to be a categorical usion :ecision was that "creation-science imperative of Torah education that K"1!lp ,:::i o,wr.i ,,, 7:i ,ith its belief in creatio ex nihilo based teach we must! We cannot ignore the ,wak­ ni!lipn:i :i~n, y,,,;, ,, to an .n the first eleven chapters of the book ferment nor deny the massive influence ii Genesis is unquestionably a state- : con­ of the theory on the thought processes - :iw,n i J ' K1 ni,r1;>1 ween 1ent of religion ... assuming for the of our society because: 1urposes of argument, however, that ed in a) "Razor-blade" textbook revisions nKi" ,1;>i1< :i,n::i;i ,,,y irnlution is a religion or religious tenet, ution, will not cure the focal infection of doubt :1e remedy is to stop the teaching of , that that the theory inoculates when pres­ i11DYr.l1 iu'::l' K? ', ?Y!l olution, not establish another reli­ ith an ented as a religion of secular huma­ 11 ~•in in opposition to it." .. ,yv,,) 1K"1' K? ,,,, xt. nism. Removing the offending pages inter­ On March 4, 1987, the U.S. Supreme from the textbook, no matter how ,:,iurt declared unconstitutional a •• • (:i1t1t , i1 ; t hat carefully it is done, denigrates the '..Juisiana law requiring that creation­ >ehav­ power of Torah truths to compete in ili~l;)W 7"JI;) 7ln,, "1 11 K ;m be taught along with evolution in :s that the arena of ideas and ideals-an arena .'f public schools. e and in which we have never lost a match ni!lipn :iwn, o,Ki1 ?Y > roots despite an occasional loss of a round! emust II. Is the theory of evolution a o,,:i,) "1r.lKlW ni?Tr.i, b) Evolutionary theory is all pervasive rntial, ·~ular humanism" or is it the con­ 11 in our culture. Can we hide all the cn't1D:9i cn,1;>111, (, ,, 1se the ~uence of scientific methodology? "restorations" of dinosaurs found in our ~dium, museums and publications? Must we c,nl,:ii c,nr.i,n K"i1 ,, achers draw in yarmulkas and peyot on all 11 .dition, ;ir.,,n 1T'K C'r.lYi1 'l'Y? .!BBi DR. TENDLER is a Rosh Yeshi­ artist renditions of prehistoric man? ive, of ~ at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theolog­ Even if our students are not yet ver day 'l'Y? K':iiv :,J<iJi ral Seminary, Rabbi Isaac and Bella questioning.the "first eleven chapters" ovalue "end/er Professor of Jewish Medical of sefer Beraishit, we have the obliga­ - i pn :i,w,n :iT ?c,1;>y:, l their (:hies, and Professor of Biology at tion of at petach lo to initiate the 1sured.