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Rabbi Nosson Kamenetsky discusses different views about relating stories
about great men of previous generations that may contain negative
incidents. He writes in the Forward to the Improved Edition of the Making
of a Godol:<br><br>
<font size=3>I came across a striking disagreement between two famous
brothers on the subject of stories about great men of previous
generations. R' Shimon Schwab in his
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Selected Writings.
</i>defines the difference between history and "storytelling"
in that the first must be "truthful, and unsparing of even the
failings of the righteous". R' Schwab asserts eloquently that
"a realistic historic picture" will reveal
"inadequacies" which will "rightfully make a lot of people
angry" and that "no ethical purpose is served by
preserving" such a picture; he contends that we must "put a
veil over the human failings of our forebears and <i>glorify all the rest
which is great and beautiful </i>(emphasis added)". In other words,
he favors
"storytellin</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>g"
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>over "history". He
coins an adage: "We do not need realism: we need <i>inspiration
</i>from our forefathers." That author's brother, R' Mordkhai
Schwab, however, had a negative view of "story tell-when he told me,
"The Satmarer Rav, R' Yoilish </font>Teitelbaum, never told 'stories
' because he said, 'You can<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>not
educate through lies
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>[shekar].'''
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>R' Mordkhai agreed with R'
Yoilish in reference to stories intended to glorify their principals
while dehumanizing them. <br><br>
I have put all of what R. Nosson wrote about this topic at
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/moag_forward.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/moag_forward.pdf</a><br>
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Yitzchok Levine</font></body>
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