Chapter 1: The Answer is Questions

Summary: Asking questions, the defining trait of Abraham, is central to both the Jewish experience and the Seder.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.” ---- Albert Einstein

“Effective questioning brings insight which fuels curiosity which cultivates wisdom.” ---Chip Bell

“By doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.” --- Peter Abelard

“Successful people ask better questions and as a result they get better answers.” ---Tony Robbins

Ask

As the old joke goes, Jews have a reputation for answering each question with another question. This tendency is probably in our genes because contrary to popular belief, Abraham was chosen by God not because he was blindly obedient, but because he was willing to ask questions. Our tradition relates that Abraham was the first person in history to question the world in which he lived, without a teacher or tradition to guide him.¹ He became an iconoclast, literally - he shattered the idols, the religious icons of his own society,² the only one he had ever known. He dared to wonder about existential issues, asking “What am I doing here, on this rock called Earth?” He could not rest until he found answers which would satisfy him.³ Ultimately, that is why God chose Abraham, because Abraham, through independent questioning, discovered God.⁴

The Torah teaches that the holiday of Passover corresponds to Abraham,⁵ which makes sense, because just as he was the progenitor of the Jewish people from an individual perspective, the events we commemorate on Passover were the origins of the Jewish people at the national level.⁶

It is no coincidence, therefore, that one primary aspect of the seder according to our tradition is to follow Abraham’s example by asking questions. We recite the Four Questions, and we ask the Questions of the Four Sons. We learn from the Talmud that the mitzvah of the seder calls for us to ask questions – any questions about anything,⁷ even if there are no answers.⁸ We do strange things at the seder to provoke curiosity in our children.⁹ One reason we hold a seder with a group of people is that they can ask each other questions.¹⁰ But it is so vital to ask a question at our seder that the Talmud mandates we do so even if we are alone that evening.¹¹ Therefore, to understand the meaning of the Haggadah, we must understand why this practice of questioning is an essential component of the seder.

Questions are fundamental to Jewish learning in several ways.¹² For one thing, questions help us become engaged with the material we are asking about instead of passively accepting it. That process in turn leads to a deeper understanding and greater mastery of the information. For these reasons, studies have shown that formulating questions will produce better performance on tests.¹³ Furthermore, curiosity and inquiry can open new possibilities in other aspects of life as well. In the context of a relationship, we become more engaged when we express interest in one another by asking questions.¹⁴ This is why the Torah must be transmitted orally, in order to engage the student and develop a relationship with a mentor rather than treating the Torah like a text book.¹⁵ We are taught that initially, the Torah is called the Torah of God¹⁶ but in the end it becomes man's own.¹⁷ In the same vein, Abraham taught us that by asking our own existential questions, each of us will become more engaged in the life God gave us and strive to understand it better.

This is a Test

By the same token, we must acknowledge that asking existential questions can be a painful experience.¹⁸ But the Torah teaches that the purpose of this world is to become an individual by going through the process of grappling with problems,¹⁹ and a natural part of that process is asking painful, difficult questions. We learn that Abraham was given ten “tests”²⁰ which were challenging because each one provoked him to question God. For example, Abraham asked God how he would know for certain that the land of Israel is his inheritance.²¹ When he was commanded to perform circumcision, he sought advice from the leaders of the city Elonay Mamrei as to whether he should obey God’s command.²² Abraham also questioned God’s decision to destroy Sodom.²³ And he wondered why God would command him to kill Isaac after promising that Isaac would continue his father’s legacy.²⁴

Moses is another major figure whom we strongly associate with Passover, and he clearly followed in Abraham’s footsteps by challenging God. After his vision of the burning bush, Moses peppered God with audacious questions: What is [your] name?,²⁵ Why would I mention more suffering?;²⁶ They will not believe me”;²⁷ I am not a man of words!;²⁸ Why do you mistreat your people?²⁹

Each provocation by God, along with the ensuing struggles endured by Abraham and Moses, is sometimes referred to in the Torah as a test, a nisayon in Hebrew.³⁰ The root word, nes, means test or miracle but also could mean flag,³¹ because the miracle of human life is the capacity to achieve an identity, and that is what a flag represents.³² One could argue that Abraham, who founded the Jewish nation, could not raise the flag, so to speak, until he endured his ten tests, not because he had to prove loyalty to God, but because he had to complete the sometimes painful process of becoming himself and had to teach us that same lesson with regard to our own travails.³³ As the Torah says, Walk in front of Me and be perfect³⁴ which implies that God expected Abraham to be a trailblazer.³⁵ Abraham lived up to God’s expectations; he did not wait for God to tell him what to do, and that is what perfected him. As the Midrash teaches, this characterization captures Abraham’s primary difference from Noah, who “walked together with God,” waiting for God’s direction.³⁶ So it stands to reason that God wants us to challenge Him.³⁷ That is one reason why Jewish learning is focused on questions, not answers. If you believe there is a God, that life is meaningful, then you will ask questions to discover what life means specifically for you. That is why Passover is the introduction not only to being Jewish but also to the Torah,³⁸ because you cannot truly understand Torah without this insight.³⁹

The Jewish people also endured multiple challenges during their long, slow journey to redemption. The entire Torah portion of Shemot⁴⁰ tells us of a failed redemption, with an exasperated Moses exclaiming at the end of the Parsha, You didn’t save your people [as you promised]!⁴¹ Even after God’s proclamation that Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a mighty hand he will send them out, and with a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land,⁴² we still needed to wait around for the 10 plagues, which took about a year to complete⁴³ before the time of the Exodus would finally arrive.⁴⁴

In the desert afterwards, it was we who tested God 10 times;⁴⁵ and while the tables were turned in one sense, those “tests” were undoubtedly no less challenging for the Jewish people than they were for God⁴⁶ (or Abraham for that matter).

We can therefore posit that the complexity of the Haggadah is intentional. Just as Abraham and the Jewish people had to navigate life by questioning and constantly being challenged, the seder is designed to provoke us to challenge ourselves by asking questions. This could also be why the Haggadah does not tell the story of Exodus, because the purpose of the Haggadah is not simply to tell a story, but to challenge us to become engaged with the meaning of the seder. As the Talmud says, we must relive the Exodus.⁴⁷ Of course, we cannot relive the Exodus literally⁴⁸, but we can proceed through the same stages as the Jewish people and Abraham, in order to experience the powerful intellectual and emotional effects of the Exodus. For this reason, the Sages⁴⁹ devised a nearly incomprehensible ritual, which we must try to decipher by asking questions, even if we find no definitive answers, so that we will become engaged in our lives and our Judaism. That is why questions are essential to our seder experience.