Vnahafoch hu

As some of you may know, I am a substitute teacher in a local yeshiva. Most days you can find me teaching Science or Math, English or History, ( or trying to impart some sort of valuable lesson in the short time I know I have with the students). Last week I had the unusual opportunity to sub for a Rebbi who normally teaches Mishna and Navi. The Rebbi was very nice and told me that I could teach whatever I felt comfortable with. Since I had no time to prepare, I decided to whip out a Tanach and begin Megillat Estair. What happened afterward was astonishing.

I open my Tanach and ask that the students turn to the beginning of Megillat Estair so we can start reading. Before I began I asked if anyone knew the story, no hands went up. I asked, " Wait a minute guys, you mean to tell me that you have never learned Megillat Estair?". The hands went up with the realization that maybe they did know. After a brief investigation into their prior knowledge I made the following statement, " Ok, what I want to do is read the pesukim and see what the pesukim alone say, lets try and read this like a story".

I began reading, "א וַיְהִי, בִּימֵי אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ: הוּא אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, הַמֹּלֵךְ מֵהֹדּוּ וְעַד-כּוּשׁ--שֶׁבַע וְעֶשְׂרִים וּמֵאָה, מְדִינָה. ב בַּיָּמִים, הָהֵם--כְּשֶׁבֶת הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, עַל כִּסֵּא מַלְכוּתוֹ, אֲשֶׁר, בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה. ג בִּשְׁנַת שָׁלוֹשׁ, לְמָלְכוֹ, עָשָׂה מִשְׁתֶּה, לְכָל-שָׂרָיו וַעֲבָדָיו: חֵיל פָּרַס וּמָדַי, הַפַּרְתְּמִים וְשָׂרֵי הַמְּדִינוֹת--לְפָנָיו. ד בְּהַרְאֹתוֹ, אֶת-עֹשֶׁר כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ, וְאֶת-יְקָר, תִּפְאֶרֶת גְּדוּלָּתוֹ; יָמִים רַבִּים, שְׁמוֹנִים וּמְאַת יוֹם

At this point I made sure that everyone understood what we had just read. Then I read the following pesukim:

וּבִמְלוֹאת הַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה, עָשָׂה הַמֶּלֶךְ לְכָל-הָעָם הַנִּמְצְאִים בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה לְמִגָּדוֹל וְעַד-קָטָן מִשְׁתֶּה--שִׁבְעַת יָמִים: בַּחֲצַר, גִּנַּת בִּיתַן הַמֶּלֶךְ. ו חוּר כַּרְפַּס וּתְכֵלֶת, אָחוּז בְּחַבְלֵי-בוּץ וְאַרְגָּמָן, עַל-גְּלִילֵי כֶסֶף, וְעַמּוּדֵי שֵׁשׁ; מִטּוֹת זָהָב וָכֶסֶף, עַל רִצְפַת בַּהַט-וָשֵׁשׁ--וְדַר וְסֹחָרֶת. ז וְהַשְׁקוֹת בִּכְלֵי זָהָב, וְכֵלִים מִכֵּלִים שׁוֹנִים; וְיֵין מַלְכוּת רָב, כְּיַד הַמֶּלֶךְ. ח וְהַשְּׁתִיָּה כַדָּת, אֵין אֹנֵס: כִּי-כֵן יִסַּד הַמֶּלֶךְ, עַל כָּל-רַב בֵּיתוֹ--לַעֲשׂוֹת, כִּרְצוֹן אִישׁ-וָאִישׁ. {ס}
ט גַּם וַשְׁתִּי הַמַּלְכָּה, עָשְׂתָה מִשְׁתֵּה נָשִׁים--בֵּית, הַמַּלְכוּת, אֲשֶׁר, לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ. י בַּיּוֹם, הַשְּׁבִיעִי, כְּטוֹב לֵב-הַמֶּלֶךְ, בַּיָּיִן--אָמַר לִמְהוּמָן בִּזְּתָא חַרְבוֹנָא בִּגְתָא וַאֲבַגְתָא, זֵתַר וְכַרְכַּס, שִׁבְעַת הַסָּרִיסִים, הַמְשָׁרְתִים אֶת-פְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ. יא לְהָבִיא אֶת-וַשְׁתִּי הַמַּלְכָּה, לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ--בְּכֶתֶר מַלְכוּת: לְהַרְאוֹת הָעַמִּים וְהַשָּׂרִים אֶת-יָפְיָהּ, כִּי-טוֹבַת מַרְאֶה הִיא. יב וַתְּמָאֵן הַמַּלְכָּה וַשְׁתִּי, לָבוֹא בִּדְבַר הַמֶּלֶךְ, אֲשֶׁר, בְּיַד הַסָּרִיסִים; וַיִּקְצֹף הַמֶּלֶךְ מְאֹד, וַחֲמָתוֹ בָּעֲרָה בוֹ.

As I read I asked the students small story related questions. Nothing too dificult.

First I asked " What was the reason according to the pasuk that Achashverosh wanted to throw a party?"

The answers flooded in: " Well, Achashverosh wanted to make the Jews eat off of the keilim of the Beit Hamikdash", another child says " No your wrong! He wanted to make the Jews eat non kosher!" . At this point I gently reminded the students that our focus was on what we were reading in the verses and not Midrashim, I just wanted the reasons given in the verses at first.

Why would Achashverosh make two parties?

Again, the first round was a flood of Midrashim, or Midrashim filtered from a Rebbi to fifth graders. Again I prompt them to only read the verses themselves, listen to my translation, tell me what the story says first and then tell me according to what the story says what the explanation could be.

Finally I ask them to close their eyes and picture they are the most powerful political leader in the known world. What would you want to make sure you did first?

Suddenly like it was an entirely different question than what I was asking from the pesukim, the students come alive with excitement. " Well, " Rabbi", the first thing I would do would be to make sure the people knew how rich I was!", I ask why? " Because you need to show them you are powerful".

The reason why I went through this whole story is to illustrate two things which blew me away.

The first is the tremendous lacking in my opinion, in the way we teach our students in the normative Yeshiva/ day School setting. The sum total of the students knowledge of Megillat Estair was Midrashic. They did not even know the simple story of the first few lines without the midrashic attachments. Please understand why I believe this is a problem. Midrashim are divrei Chazal and should be studied. However, they are also ripe with esoterica and psychological ideas that a) must be understood and b) do not belong in a 5th grade class room. Also, let us never confuse the fact that the Pshuto shel Mikrah is NOT THE SAME AS THE MIDRASH. I never fully understood the impact that premature exposure to midrashim had on students until this episode. The students were unable to work with the verses separate from the Midrashim. Even when asked to translate the verses they resorted to giving a midrashic translation! It was not until I removed them from the verses and had them imagine themselves in my constructed scenarion that they could give a non midrash influenced explanation for anything.

Second was the amazing potential for actual thought that these students posess at such a young age. When finally removed from the world of the Midrash they were fully able to think about an explanation for what I was asking. ( I was not intending for them to give grandiose sevaras, simply to understand the story better). When the students were unleashed from the chains of what they had been taught their little minds were quick to answer all of the questions posed to them. This was a sheer delight to witness.

In short, my brief experience in the trenches of chinuch was eye opening. Never in my wildest dreams could I believe that 5th grade exposure to Midrashim was so ripe. ( Bear in mind that not too long ago I was in a very similar situation as these 5th graders, which has me really wondering about Midrashic impact on my learning) I always knew we taught too many midrashim and too early, but I had assumed this as an abstraction, I never bothered to think about its practical educational impact. The fact that these midrashim handicapped the students from learning the pshat of the text!

On the opposite side, I was very happy to see that if in fact the students were prompted to think and not spit forth misunderstood midrashic pablum, then in fact they were quite capable of energetic and appropriate learning.