[Avodah] "Sometimes Chutzpah is Praiseworthy"

[Moshe Y. Gluck]

> R'n Toby Katz wrote:
> "When a child says something bold and brassy but the father loves what
> the
> child said and thinks it's bright and delightful, the father is not
> upset with
> his daughter -- he is pleased and delighted with her wit and chachma!"
R' Rich Wolberg:
> Sorry, but that doesn't cut it! A parent child relationship should be
> one of
> respect and to allow a child that type of behavior is a poor parental
> example.
> That's the same "cute" mentality of allowing a child to call the
> parent by the
> first name which is against halacha.


Brazenness, to a large extant, is determined by social mores, context, tone
and expression. I don't see how we can reach back some three millennia to
try to determine if Miriam was brazen, even should we wish to do so. This is
even harder for those who would suggest that the dialogue recorded in
Midrash and Gemara is not necessarily an exact set of quotations.

KT,
MYG