Pesach
In the Heart of “This Night”
By Rabbi Label Lam
How important is it to ask questions? It is apparently crucial enough that
the entire Pesach Seder hinges on the asking of questions. Why? An anonymous
philosopher once said, “There is nothing more relevant than the answer to a
question that was never asked?” Shabbos is the answer to what question? Love
is the answer to what question? We live in what is often called an “age of
information”. The question is, “What is the question that makes sense out of
any or all of this information?” The sages in the Talmud were wise enough
not to leave the sacred obligation of relating the exodus from Egypt and
attaching ourselves and our children to Jewish history and destiny to one of
those parental lectures: “When we were kids we had to walk ten miles to
school in the snow up hill in both directions…”. They too knew that asking
the right question creates a vessel in which to receive an answer. What is
the question that can help us get the most out of the Pesach Seder?
The story is told about a wealthy man with a beautiful daughter who wanted
to find the best possible marriage candidate for his daughter. What did he
do? He made the trek to a high level Yeshiva and proposed that whoever would
be able to give the answer to a difficult Talmudic riddle would receive his
daughter’s hand in marriage. After presenting a complex question the
students lined up. No one succeeded to deliver anything close to the correct
answer. After what looked like a failed experiment, the wealthy business
mounted his carriage, and headed for the city limits. Pausing at the
crossroads by the main highway he detected a commotion behind him. There was
a young man running madly and shouting desperately for him to please halt.
By the time the time the fellow reached the wagon he was out of breath and
perspiring. The dust from the dirt road was caked on his face. Why had he
chased so? What was the emergency? He composed himself and said, “OK! We
didn’t merit your daughter’s hand in marriage! What’s the answer to the
question?”The wealthy businessman looked on in astonishment and declared,
“You’re the one I want for my daughter!”
More valuable than knowing answers, is possessing and being possessed by
questions. The curiosity that sets one in hot pursuit of knowledge, for some
reason, is more precious than an encyclopedic mind. No wonder wonderful
Jewish parents are more excited when they are told by a teacher that their
child asked a difficult or deep question even more than if they got a 100%
on a spelling test. Why? It may well be that in other faiths if you ask
questions you might be considered a heretic but in Judaism not asking
questions is heresy, because the goal of education is not to teach “what” to
think “how” to think.
Avraham was distinguished by his ability to ask why and how so much so that
he rose above the dust of idolatry that surrounded and buried the culture he
was born into. He was able to discern the plan and purpose throughout the
macro and micro universe. Eventually he was led to wonder, “What is the
purpose of my being conscious of the purposefulness of everything?” His
hyper-curious mind led him to unify the field of physics and spirits, and to
put him in touch with ultimate truth.
Einstein, the iconic, albeit secular symbol of Jewish intellect and
creativity had pithily said, “The important thing is to not stop
questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but
be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the
marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to
comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”
One might begin by asking, “What question burns deep in the heart of this
night?”
DvarTorah, Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Label Lam and Torah.org.
