Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/33

 The Book of Genesis

15

must undoubtedly have been originally a far larger collection of ancestral myths, folk-tales, and legends, has come down to us, and we should not hesitate to accept and interpret these stories as what they really are. At any rate it would be a gross error to imagine that, because many of these stories can not be literally true, we need not teach them to our children. The stories of Genesis are a valuable part the wonderful heritage, literary and spiritual, which we Jews They breathe through and have received from our sacred past. through the spirit of Judaism; they voice the thought and the philosophy with which the Jew has always looked out upon the world; they express in every line and word the interpretation he has given

of

they constitute the very best medium to child and adult the first dim And if the appreciation of the spirit and real truth of Judaism. teacher understands and feels this spirit aright, she will, in telling these stories, impart far more of the truth of Judaism and of real Jewish history, than if the child be compelled, in the old manner,

to life;

and thus,

awaken

in

the

all

in all,

mind and heart of both

to learn all these stories by rote

and

to accept

them

as literally true.

This does not mean that the teacher must begin, "I shall tell a story, but do not make the dreadful mistake of believing it true." If a story is well vSuch procedure would be ridiculous and futile. the hearers will feel, at least for the moment, that it must be every detail. Yet as the child expands mentally and spiritually,

told,

true in

there will be no sudden shock, no uprooting of the v^ry foundations of religious belief, when he does realize, sooner or later, the true

And while he will gradually acquire this discriminative ability, he will at the same time appreciate more and more the spiritual truth which these stories convey,

origin and significance of these stories.

and which constitutes the ism

in

real history

and the real essence of Juda-

them.

From

this

standpoint Genesis

is,

of

suited for presentation to children, just

much

of Judaism,

it

also contains so

all 1

books of the Bible, best

ecause, while

little

of actual,

it

contains so

literal

history,

for the comprehension of which a certain historical sense and maturity stories are, almost without exception, readily Its are required.

understood and enjoyed by the child, and linger longest in the mind of even the adult, for the very reason that they are chiefly tradition, legend and mvth.