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Reb Saunders Analysis

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The first layer, the “environment,” their different sons, presents the first difference between their fathering styles. As Daniel (Danny) Saunders was brilliant so Reuven Malter was bright. What implications does the kind of son have on the fathering style? Reb Saunders states it best, “Better I should have no son than to have a brilliant son who had no soul.”(p. 285) In his eyes, the soul separates the bright from the brilliant. As in gardening, with each seed need different methods of tending, so each father according to his child's need may need a different style of parenting. To the brilliant son who grows up in a family where piety and compassion are required one kind of a parenting is required, to the bright son who grows up without …show more content…

David Malter is the exact opposite of Reb Saunders altogether. David is a Zionist while Isaac is a Hasid Jew. This difference of worldview completely encompasses each of their different parenting styles. Zionism is a secular movement that desired to rebuild Israel and now protect the rebuilt country while Hasidim is a religious Jewish sect who still believed in the Messiah. Using the tree analogy, the “tree kind” refers to the vessel in which the sons were parented in. Raised in a home with a Zionist father seems to have conditioned Reuven to have godly values with a secular twist. His father believed “We must make our own Messiah!”(p. 197) Instead of having a personal faith or reverence for God, Reuven and primarily his father drifted into a place of serving two masters and as Jesus put it “Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”(Matt. 6:24) While they pursued God on one level, their heart also had other interests such as becoming American. “...and to be counted a loyal American had become increasingly important to us during these last years of the war.”(p. 6 of 297) Certainly, coming from a home that believes in God with a faith like the Hasids creates a desire to be holy like God. However, at best, Danny only developed the heart of a tzaddik In his image, the father molds his son. The ideals that the father has become intertwined with his son's heart. The analogy of a tree fits perfectly with the concept of fathering. The fruit's quality depends on the environment in which the tree is being raised, the quality of the mineral and nutrients that the tree takes in during its lifetime and of course the tree

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