“I’m just asking questions.”

We’ve been hearing that a lot lately. 

Anything wrong with that? No. I mean, yes. Actually, it’s a good question. 

Questions are of course very important. They drive learning and foster critical thinking. They unlock deeper wisdom, and lead to better-decision making. They build relationships by demonstrating trust and interest in others.

Unlike some fundamentalist communities which built their faith system and worldview through dogma and quiet acceptance, Judaism strongly encourages asking questions. The mishnah in Pirkei Avot 2:5 teaches: “A bashful person is unable to properly study.” The first Jew, Abraham, learned to abandon paganism and discover monotheism through asking questions. The Bible is filled with Jewish heroes who raised disconcerting theological questions, including Moses, Jeremiah, and Job.

Famously, when the Jewish people stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and were offered the Torah by G-d, the Jews responded, ‘naaseh v’nishma’, which means: ‘We will obediently follow G-d’s law, and we will diligently seek to understand them’.

Arguably, long before the Greek philosopher Socrates developed the now popular Socratic Method of education which values questions-based learning, Jewish parents and teachers encouraged their children and students to study Torah by way of asking questions to pursue a deeper understanding of religious and spiritual ideas. This is clearly exhibited in the Talmud, the foundational collection of Rabbinic literature, in which each page and each topic is recorded with complex questions and intense debate.

All this being said, it is important to recognize that there are questions and there are questions. Not all questions are equal.

One of the most important nights and ritual ceremonies on the Jewish calendar is the Pesach Seder. Each year, on the anniversary marking the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt and their birth as a new nation, Jews sit around the table and recount the story – of slavery,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)