Truth is clear cut. Black and white. Not wishy-washy. As Rav Hirsch writes in an essay, “Truth is something that is precise and unequivocal. Two times two is four, not four-and-a-half and not five-and-a-half.” He makes this same point in his commentary on Shema in this week’s parshah . The daled of “ echad ” (one) in Shema ’s opening line is extra large. According to one famous explanation, its unusual size is to prevent us from mistaking it for a reish , which spells “ acher ” (other). Rav Hirsch, however, adds his own twist to this explanation. He writes, “The daled of the Jewish truth is sharply angular. With the loss of this little sharpness, the echad becomes acher .” Rav Hirsch later points out that the shoresh of the word “ v’shinantam ” in Shema doesn’t generally mean to teach, even though the words “ v’shinantam levanecha ” are usually translated as “you shall teach [these words] to your children.” Almost everywhere in Tanach, shenan means sharp (hence the word shen [tooth]). Thus, “ v’shinantam levanecha ” really means (in part) that we should teach our children to “keep the mitzvos of the Torah with the whole sharpness of their definite orders,” writes Rav Hirsch, “and not let them be weakened by compromising for so-called necessary considerations of the times we live in and subjective expediences.” He writes further that “those who come to seek instruction” from us should “receive no weak, wavering, doubtful explanation.” These are words to ponder. Many people think that diluting the truth will make it more palatable to youth. Rav Hirsch, however, seems to be arguing that the Torah demands that we be honest and forthright and not try to becloud emes . (Incidentally, the Lubavitcher Rebbe felt strongly that youth nowadays, in particular, are looking for pure truth, not compromises. And people – particularly kids – can smell compromises from 100 miles away.) If we believe the Torah is true, what are we scared of anyway? Why not imbue our children with the same passion for G-d’s values that we hopefully have ourselves? Well, according to Rav Hirsch, we don’t have a choice anyway. Hashem demands it of us. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) – head of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, Germany for over 35 years – was a prolific writer whose ideas, passion, and brilliance helped save German Jewry from the onslaught of modernity. Elliot Resnick, PhD , is the host of “The Elliot Resnick Show” and the editor of an upcoming work on etymological explanations in Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch’s commentary on Chumash. ...
