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Is there a Disconnect between Torah Learning and Torah Living? : 35
and not live up to those principles.” 37 This is not to say that moral
reasoning is not important. It is actually very important. 38 It is not
enough, however, and by itself it will not guarantee better moral
behavior. There are a number of reasons for why this is so. We will
point to two:
• The importance of authenticity in the teaching of morality.
• The importance of empathy and emotional involvement in
moral development and motivation.
Authenticity:
In the Jewish world there are a few “middos programs” on the market.
Best known of these programs is the Derech Eretz program developed
in Toronto. A number of schools have also created their own middos
programs in which children are taught the basic values and halachos
that underlie proper middos. At the root of these programs lies the
belief that learning about middos will improve middos (just as in
Kohlberg’s approach). Children are taught halachos in areas like kibud
av v’em, ve’hodarto pnei zakein, kavod ha’briyos and the like. No less than
with teaching the halachos in other areas of life, teaching these halachos
is of utmost importance. However, just as in other areas of halacha,
if, after the rebbe has taught a halacha, the talmid observes the rebbe
ignoring it, or if after teaching the halacha, the rebbe states that
37 Cited in Bee & Boyd ibid, p. 356, from Kohlberg, L, “The Cognitive-
Developmental Approach to Moral Education,” Phi Delta Kappan, pp.
670–677.
38 Our entire education system, with our tremendous emphasis on
learning and mastering the thought processes of Chazal, aims to
develop a mind disciplined in considering ethical and moral issues and
adjudicating them following the principles of halacha. It is important
that our children develop the ability to think. Only if we encourage
them to think independently and to apply their learned “disciplined
habits of thought” to everyday life will our education have its desired
effect. If all they learn to do is repeat mantras and codified renditions
of other people’s thinking, they will not develop the ability to think
about ethics and to arrive at ethical imperatives for their actions and
behavior.