[Avodah] Rav Moshe Shternbuch: On Teaching Children Tanach

[Lisa Liel]

On 12/6/2011 12:44 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> : On Tue, Dec 06, 2011 at 07:32:26AM -0500, Prof. Levine wrote:
> :>   From http://revach.net/article.php?id=437
>
> :>  The minhag in today's Yeshivos is not to teach Tanach before learning
> :>  Gemara. Rav Moshe Shternbuch (2:457) explains that learning Tanach
> :>  requires even deeper understanding than learning Gemara. A Mekor for
> :>  this is Rashi in Brachos (28a) who says that one should stay away from
> :>  too much Tanach.
>
> RDE pointed me to the original
> <http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=20026&pgnum=390>
>
> RMS appears to be saying that studying Nakh without a firm grounding
> in Chazal first is too prone to lead one to kefirah.
I've heard yeshiva guys say "Chumash is for girls" and "Nach is bittul 
Torah".  The latter probably stems from the early secular Zionists using 
Nach as secular history.  Lionizing Ahab, for example.  I'm pretty sure 
that's the kind of kefirah they're worried about.

Lisa