Rabbi Jonathan Laneer: Jewish Art of Questioning

For the rabbis a question is more valuable than an answer. Elie Wiesel echoed the words of the sages by asking, “When will you understand that a beautiful answer is nothing? Nothing more than illusion! Man defines himself by what disturbs him and not by what reassures him. When will you understand that you are living and searching in error, because God means movement and not explanation.”

What is even more profound is that we instill this value in our children. “To be a Jewish child is learn how to question” explains Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. “Against cultures that see unquestioning obedience as the ideal behaviour of a child, Jewish tradition, in the Haggadah, regards the ‘child who has not learned to ask’ as the lowest, not the highest, stage of development.” The rabbis were insistent that our first memories be of questioning and debating instead of dogma and compliance.

“We are closer to God when we are asking questions than when we think we have the answers” Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once taught. Curiosity is not sacrilegious but a vital religious virtue. On Passover we replicate the experience of going from slavery to freedom by drinking wine, reclining like royalty, and eating a delicious meal. However, the Seder teaches us that the highest expression of freedom is asking questions.


haggadah Section: -- Four Questions