The Jewish Eye
Rav Moshe Shternbuch: On Teaching Children Tanach
The minhag in today's Yeshivos is not to teach Tanach before learning Gemara. Rav Moshe Shternbuch (2:457) explains that learning Tanach requires even deeper understanding than learning Gemara. A Mekor for this is Rashi in Brachos (28a) who interprets the gemara that one should stay away from too much Tanach.
The danger he says is that people do not realize this. He quotes the Chasam Sofer who says that this was the tragedy of translating the Torah to Greek. Since then, people were free to learn Tanach with literal translation without being taught the correct interpretation through kabalas avoseinu.
This is not to say Tanach is blacklisted, says Rav Shternbuch. One who has learned a great deal of gemara and poskim and has acquired a great deal of Yiras Hashem is required to learn all of Tanach and must know it thoroughly.
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