My generation and even the generation after me -- my adult
children -- read books written by non-Jews with impunity. Not
every book, to be sure, but we devoured so called `clean'
books and most of the classics because there was nothing
else. Parents allowed their children to borrow library books,
either vetting them first or relying on the fact that these
were classic children's books. Yet recently, I picked up an
innocuous book and realized that neither I, nor my children,
would ever let the next generation read it.
Why not? What was good enough for us should be good enough
for my grandchildren. The moral climate amongst goyim,
and unfortunately among Jews who do not keep mitzvos,
is so different from ours that one cannot hardly ride their
buses or buy a decent pair of shoes in most of their shops,
let alone clothes or books. The extreme polarization among us
is too vast nowadays. Who would dream of sending their
children to non-Jewish schools today?!
Whatever harm these books did to us and our children is not
under discussion just now. Demonstrably, with heavenly
assistance, we brought up good children who are now educating
their children in the Torah way. There are hundreds of Jewish
books written either in Hebrew and translated into every
language where Jewish children need them, or they are written
in English and translated into Hebrew. The question is: Are
they `Jewish' books with real content, or are they plain
novels and adventure books with some Hebrew names and
expressions scattered about? Who wrote these `Jewish'
books?
Books play a vital role in the education of our children.
Both parents and teachers know that books, or for that
matter, the printed word, indoctrinate children, and even
adults, more subtly than any spoken word. How often do
`Yinglish' speakers quote "It was in the paper," which, by
inference, says, in effect, that if it was printed, it must
be true! Children do not feel threatened by the ideas being
instilled in them in such a pleasant manner, nor does a child
feel he is being pushed into learning. Reading enriches the
vocabulary and widens the child's horizons; moreover, a book
is a wonderful babysitter. When children are engrossed in
their books, there is no mention of being bored, there are no
fights and the house is peaceful and quiet.
Many a parent leaves a particular book lying around, knowing
that the child will read it. This is in order to convey a
message to the child in a more palatable way than if the
parent would have a heart-to-heart talk with him.
Incidentally, this works with a spouse too: if one wants to
influence the other and finds a particular subject difficult
to discuss, s/he can just leave a certain article lying
around and the message will be absorbed.
Parents are so vigilant about the hechsher of edibles
they take into the house and about the school their children
and the school their children attend, yet they are frequently
negligent when it comes to reading material. Banishing all
books from the house besides biographies of great men is not
a good idea. If parents check each book which enters the
house before their child reads it, and then disapprove of the
author and content, they will have to explain to what they
object and why. If the children disagree or do not understand
the reasoning, they have a master, not an ally, in the
yetzer hora.
Forty years ago in London, people from certain sections of
the community forbade their children to borrow or read books
from the public library. It did not enter the young
bookworms' minds that they were deceiving their parents when
they went to the neighbors for the greater part of every
afternoon. It was alright, they thought, as long as they
never went to the library. A very wise man with headstrong
teenage children was asked by one of them one day, when he
himself was a father, why he had not forbidden the slightly
questionable books which found their way into the house. His
answer: "I didn't want you reading under the bedclothes or at
a neighbors, and I know that if I firmly forbade you from
reading one or two particular books, you would obey me
immediately. You would not have been so obedient if I had
forbidden ALL those books."
If a book is recommended by children who have read it, that
is not really a yardstick as to its suitability. It may be a
very gripping book, but what is its message? Many parents
feel that so long as the book is not going to put any wrong
ideas into the child's head, they don't mind him reading it
even if it is an `empty' book. After all, it keeps them quiet
and does improve their vocabulary and reading skills. It
makes very little difference to the story whether the pilot
has tzitzis dangling out from under his uniform or
whether the heroes wear kipas at all times.
This does not make it a book especially suitable for our
children. All the adventure stories rife with spies,
gangsters and detectives depict the `goodies' with
kipas and the `baddies' without. These books are not
really educational and are no better than any non-Jewish
fiction story.
In my experience, boys who become addicted to adventure
stories tend to be less addicted to their gemora. A
really gripping book does exactly that; it grips the mind. A
boy identifies with the hero and imagines that he, too, could
identify a spy/terrorist or a villain with some clever
detective work, just like the boys in the story. Some tales
are about boys or girls who behave very badly or get into
terrible mischief and in the end, they see the error of their
ways and everything ends happily. Readers might select the
misdeeds thinking that they, too, could have fun like that,
without absorbing the happy ending or the moral lesson.
Completely negative books are not really good books, even if
they do have a happy ending. Books which contain words like
`church' or `priest' do not have to be taboo. Unfortunately,
those two words and other like them have played a disastrous
role in the history of our people. But stories written by a
bad person, even if he is an excellent raconteur, should be
shunned like the plague. Many poskim say the same
about wonderful music composed by degenerate people.
In spite of the above reservations, it is worth reiterating
the great advantages of books. There are some excellent
authors who have produced superb books which enrich our
children's lives, improve their spelling and writing skills
and are a boon to people starved for reading material.
However, whether you do not mind your children reading empty
stories with no purpose outside of entertainment, or whether
you insist on each book having a real impact on their mental
and spiritual well being, as part of their moral education --
check the books which your children read!
