Reflecting back to some of the wonderful days as a teacher, I think of the clever and humorous things that my students have said. As a 1st-grade teacher, I was occasionally gifted with some very bright students, who often stunned me with their keen insights. I remember on one occasion, our class was learning about HaShem’s creation of the animals on the sixth day and I heard a most amazing and incredible insight from one of my dear students, Mendy Nadoff.
Often more than not, I would do my best to engage my students to creatively think about their learning, rather than just passively memorize facts and words. This was a result of the teacher training, in which we were encouraged to use what is called “Critical Thinking” methods to allow our students to compare and contrast what they were learning.
So as we came across the Pesukim in our Chumash period, where we had begun to learn about HaShem’s creation of the land animals, I had thought spontaneously that it would be a good time to put our “critical thinking” caps on and discover what happens.
Statement: The first pasuk states: “And G-d said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind, tame animals and creeping things and the wild animals of the earth, to their kind," and it was so.” (Bereishis 1:24)
The order of these animals mentioned is:
- Tame animals
- Creeping
- Wild land animals
In the very next pasuk it says: “And G-d made the wild animals of the earth according to their kind and the tame animals according to their kind, and all the creeping things of the ground according to their kind, and G-d saw that it was good.” (Bereishis 1:25)
This time, the order changes to:
- Wild land animals
- Tame animals
- Creeping
Question: So, I first asked my students what they noticed that was different. They replied that the order wasn’t just reversed, but changed entirely. Afterward, they were asked about the types of animals mentioned, and what we could possibly learn from them when compared to people. I did this by telling them, “Wild land animals means wild land animals. Is it good to be wild?” They innocently answered, “Of course not.” After all, their teachers (and parents possibly) were often telling them to stop acting so wild.
So I countered by suggesting that sometimes it's good to be wild. They all gave me the strangest and funniest of looks. So I explained that the Hebrew word for a wild animal is chayah and the “hidden” word inside is chai—which means life. This is because wild animals show a lot of life by jumping, leaping, and running around quickly.
I explained, “When a person is learning Torah, don’t we usually tell them that they should learn with a lot of chayah—life?” I could really see the wheels in the minds of my students turning and they were intrigued.
Next, I asked them, “Is it good to be tame?” After learning the first pesukim of Vayikra, they were well aware of what the concept of being tame meant, so they naturally replied, “Yes.” I then explained that the Hebrew word for a tame animal is behemah and a person who is called a behemah is not always such a nice thing. I also explained that a tame animal doesn’t usually move as quickly as a wild one.
As for creepy crawling things, we can all get an idea of what this would mean. The last one to open their siddur, the last one to do a mitzvah, and so forth...
After explaining all this to my students, I challenged them to critically think by saying, “Now that you know a little more of what these words can mean, I’m going to give you some time to think of what we can learn from the different order of the first pasuk and the one that follows.” I put on a timer for 5 minutes on my watch and stood off to the side to watch their little minds think a bit. As an aside note, what makes this even more interesting, about the peculiarity in the different order between these two pesukim, is that I had searched for a possible answer within the commentaries of our Sages and it seems, that although the Sages were aware of the different order, none of them offered an explanation.
When the five minutes were up, I gave my students time to reply. What I then heard from my student, Mendy Nadoff completely blew me away to the point that I have never forgotten his explanation. Although I cannot quote his words exactly, here is the gist of what he said.
Answer: In the first pasuk, HaShem is telling us how we should approach things like food, candy, nosh and other “Gashmius” (physical things).
- First we should act tame and not run quickly after these things.
- If not tame, then at least be a creepy crawler and go even slower
- But, we should never be wild to run after candy
In the second pasuk, HaShem is telling us how we should act when learning Torah.
- We should have a lot of energy and life (chayah in learning).
- If not that, then at least be tame
- But, we should try to never be a creepy crawler and slow when it comes to doing a mitzvah.
Lesson: The lesson we learn from this insight is to know how best to utilize our unique animalistic tendencies, and towards which purpose—whether they are physical needs or G-dly.
As I write these words, I am truly amazed and gratified that I didn’t just accept these first graders (6 and 7-year-olds) as too young to use their minds creatively, but gave them the opportunity to think what Torah means to them. My hope is that teachers and other Jewish educators will provide their students opportunities to discover and uncover for themselves the richness of what Torah can offer through a more critical analysis of the beauty of Torah, and with this discovery on their own, they will truly make Torah their own.
