Asking Questions
Sermon, November 17, 2006
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

Isidor I. Rabi, a Nobel laureate in physics was once asked, "Why did you become a scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer or businessman, like the other immigrant kids in your neighborhood?" 

"My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it,” he answered. “Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: 'Nu? Did you learn anything today?' But not my mother. She always asked me a different question. 'Izzy,' she would say, 'did you ask a good question today?' That difference - asking good questions - made me become a scientist."

“Did you ask a good question today?”  As parents and as teachers there is no greater gift that we can give to our students than to inquire, “Did you ask a good question today?”  For the asking of questions, and the search for answers, is at the heart of the educational process.

Judaism encourages asking questions.  At the heart of the seder, the ritual meal we celebrate on Passover, is the Four Questions, where the youngest child asks about the unique characteristics of the seder meal.  “Why is this night different from all other nights?”  the child begins.  Rather than answering each of the questions directly, the seder, which is arguably the greatest pedagogical ritual ever created, answers these questions through a creative exploration of the Passover replete with songs and stories and games.

Indeed, the questions are never explicitly answered, teaching that it is the process, the search for answers that is most important.  That may be the primary lesson of the seder and that is certainly why there are more versions of the Passover Hagaddah, the book that contains the seder ritual than any other Jewish book.

We also see Judaism’s emphasis on asking questions throughout our sacred literature.  The Torah, for example, contains many significant questions.  For example, the creation story tells of Adam and Eve hiding in the garden after they had eaten from the forbidden fruit.  God calls out to them, “Ayeka/Where are you?”

Now, of course, God knew where they were, so there must be another reason for God’s question.  The rabbis suggest that the purpose of the question was to initiate a conversation with them, giving them the opportunity to repent of their wrongdoing. 

Another commentator suggests that the question “Where are you?” is addressed not just to Adam and Eve, but to every reader of the text, as if to say:  “Where are you at this point in your life?  What are you doing with your life?”  The biblical questions thus reach beyond their immediate context and address us personally.

The Talmud, the post-biblical collection of Jewish teachings and traditions spanning some 600 years, begins with a question (From what time in the evening is one permitted to recite the Sh’ma?) and contains questions on virtually every page, as the rabbis try to understand how to apply the teachings of the Torah to contemporary situations. 

The great medieval biblical commentators, such as Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, more commonly known by the acronym Rashi, carefully analyzed the text, asking and answering questions about unusual words and phrases, grammatical oddities, words and phrases that seemed to be superfluous or contradictory and many other aspects of the text. 

Studying his commentary is similar to playing the game show Jeopardy, where you have the answer and have to come up with the question.  We can read Rashi’s commentary, which offers the answers, but need to figure out the questions.  Or in the words of my first commentaries teacher, we need to ask:  “Ma haba-ayah shel Rashi?/What is Rashi’s problem with the text?”  What difficulty does he see; what question is he asking?

Students of Judaism throughout the ages cannot help but be impressed with the rich tradition of asking questions and searching for answers.  There is no such thing as a stupid question or an inappropriate question, although at one point the rabbis get so fed up with a colleague’s incessant silly questions that they say that particular colleague was thrown out of the academy for such questions.

I am sure that many of you can sympathize with the rabbis’ frustration.  Crystal Downing has written that “one of the characteristics of children most pronounced…is their relentless questioning.”  She recalls an experience she had as a teenage volunteer in a Sunday School class for three-year-olds.  Using puppets she was trying to explain that God was the light of life, when one of the children asked, “Teacher, why can’t I look at the sun?” 

“Because it will hurt your eyes,” she replied.

“Why?”  the child asked.

“Because the sun can burn you even from far away.”

“Why?”

This exchange continued until finally, out of frustration, she said, “Because God made it that way” which is another way of saying, “Because I said so.”

In retrospect, however, she concludes that “a true sign of childlike humility is the recognition that one does not have everything figured out and hence must keep on asking questions.”

As parents and teachers, we all have been on the receiving end of such questioning when no answer we can give satisfies the sense of curiosity of our children or our students.  Rather than closing the discussion and putting a damper on their curiosity, we should not be afraid to admit that we don’t always have the answer to every question. 

Furthermore, we should keep in mind that even when we can answer their questions, it is often better not to do so, but to encourage them to find the answer by helping them identify resources and discover the process to go about answering their questions.

Then, of course, there are those questions that do not have a definitive answer, questions such as “Why do bad things happen to good people?” or “Why can’t people all get along?”  These are certainly questions worth asking; but rather than be tempted by pat answers or put off by the futility of finding a clear answer, we need to recognize the value of searching for answers and do everything to help students in their quest. 

Some people think that to be a teacher, one needs to have all the right answers.  But in reality, to be a teacher one needs to have all the right questions and be able to teach our students to ask their own questions. 

Indeed, the greatest gift we can give our children and students is to help them recognize the value of asking questions and encourage them to develop an inquiring mind.  I have often thought that we should give special recognition to the student who asks the best question.

An old joke goes, “Why does a Jew answer a question with a question?” 

“Why not?” is the reply. 

But there is a better answer.  We answer a question with a question because to ask questions is begin to unlock to door to knowledge.  To ask questions is to recognize the value of wonder.  To ask questions is to admit that it is all right not knowing the answers as long as one is willing to begin the search.

This evening we honor our teachers for all that you do for our children, but especially for encouraging them to ask questions, teaching them how to ask the right questions, and helping them learn how to search for answers.

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