[Avodah] dinosaurs

[T613K at aol.com]

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From:  Saul.Z.Newman at kp.org

http://www.beyondbt.com/2009/10/28/dealing-with-a-rebbes-comments-about-dino
saurs/

what  would you tell the BT  how to handle  , when his kid's  rebbe  says 
dinosaurs didnt exist......


 
 
>>>>>
 
This is what I wrote there in the BeyondBT comments section:
 
I would tell the child that some people agree with his rebbe but other  
people do not, and that there are various opinions among rabbanim and talmidei  
chachamim about dinosaurs.  I wouldn't say it in a way to suggest, "Your  
rebbe is an ignoramus" but rather, "Your rebbe is following one opinion, but  
there are others."  Presumably the child is already familiar with Rashi's  
in which two different opinions are cited about this or that, so the idea of 
 rabbanim with different opinions is not new.  
 
You do not want to set up a situation in which a child believes that a  
rebbe can never be wrong or that there can never be more than one opinion.   
Because when he comes across evidence that his rebbe was wrong or that others  
disagree, it may shake his faith in the whole system. He may conclude, not 
that  the rebbe was wrong, but that the Torah is wrong.
 
Of course these doubts are not likely to be a problem at the age of six but 
 you need to start with a good foundation so that when he is in his teens 
he  knows there are various opinions.  He also has to know from an early age  
that he can ask questions without being an apikores for asking.
 
 
----
 
What I did not write was an answer to what might be the child's next  
question:  "But what do /you/ think?  Do /you/ agree with my  rebbe?"  My answer 
to that question would be, "No, I follow the opinion of  other rabbanim who 
think that dinosaurs really did exist."  I would be very  careful to 
modulate my tone of voice so as not to suggest any hint of disrespect  or disdain 
for the rebbe.  Any such disdain that I might feel would be  saved strictly 
for adult company, in, for example, the next issue of  Avodah.
 

--Toby Katz
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