The Western tradition begins not only with the Greeks and the Romans but also with Judaism. For that reason I will ask your permission to quote one more time from the Hebrew Bible, this time from the book of Deuteronomy. God has just given the commandments at Mount Sinai, and the text reads V’shinantam l’vanecha: . Those two Hebrew words are usually translated into English as “Teach them diligently to your children,” or something along those lines. But that’s not what the Hebrew says. The Hebrew says, “Inscribe them on your children.” The verb shanan, which I am translating as “inscribe,”
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