The Avos and the Mitzvos

Dear Rabbi Hoffman,

Thank you for your exposition of the matter of the Avos keeping the Torah, a maamor Chazal built upon the last possuk in the first aliyah of Parshas Toldos.  I have been sharing this multi-faceted point of view to others as long as I remember, and especially since the video was released.  I have one serious qualm with the brilliant essay, and that is the last paragraph's in-bold sentence:

The overwhelming majority of Torah authorities, however, clearly and completely hold of the maximalist position, and this is the general position that should be taught in our Torah institutions.

???
I am confused about how you can say this first part, especially after you just went through a litany of "mainstream" meforshei Chumash, mekubalim, gedolei hachassidus and even poskim (The Baal Hatanya as well) who understand it in a "minimalist" way.  Not to discredit the maximalists throughout our history, but I think it is inaccurate to call them the "overwhelming majority".  It would have been sufficient to say that an impressive number of authorities espouse that viewpoint, without overstating the level of support.  

I do tend to agree that for the sake of chinuch, it is healthy for children at our frum  day schools to be taught the maximalist view, but to be taught layers of meaning only later in their learning.  This is not because I think the maximalist view is "better" or frummer, but because I adhere to the guidance of gedolei hachinuch that young children are not yet well-suited to nuance and gray areas. It is only with the chochma of maturity that they can properly absorb a spectrum of "Eilu V'Eilu", and children would not be able to properly absorb the idea that the Avos didn't keep Shabbos, or Kashrus etc.  That's why I have no problem with my children imagining that the Avos kept the Mitzvos in full form, like the Maximalist school.  

Tizku L'Mitzvos

Raphael Davidovich

Cleveland OH