Isidore Rabi, winner of a Nobel Prize for physics, was once asked why he became a scientist. He replied: "My mother made me a scientist without ever knowing it. Every other child would come back from school and be asked, 'What did you learn today?' But my mother used to say, 'Izzy, did you ask a good question today?' That made the difference. Asking good questions made me into a scientist."
Judaism is a religion of questions. The greatest prophets asked questions of God. The Book of Job, the most searching of all explorations of human suffering, is a book of questions asked by man, to which God replies with a string of questions of His own.
The earliest sermons usually began with a question asked of the rabbi by a member of the congregation. Most famously, the Passover Seder begins with four questions asked by the youngest child.
So I can identify with Rabi's childhood memories. When I left university and went to Israel to study in a rabbinical seminary, I was stunned by the sheer intensity with which the students grappled with texts. Once in a while the teacher's face would light up at a comment from the class. "Du fregst a gutte kashe," he would say (you raise a good objection). This was his highest form of praise.
Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski tells of how, when he was young, his instructor would relish challenges to his arguments. In his broken English he would say: "You right! You a hundred prozent right! Now I show you where you wrong."
Religious faith has suffered hugely in the modern world by being cast as naive, blind, unquestioning.
The scientist asks, the believer just believes. Critical inquiry, so the stereotype runs, is what makes the difference between the pursuit of knowledge and the certainties of faith. One who believes in the fundamentals of a creed is derided as a fundamentalist. The word fundamentalist itself comes to mean a simplistic approach to complex issues. Religious belief is often seen as the suspension of critical intelligence.
As Wilson Mizner once put it: "I respect faith. But doubt is what gets you an education." To me, this is a caricature of faith, not faith itself.
Questions testify to faith -- the universe is not impervious to our understanding, life is not chance.
What is the asking of a question if not itself a profound expression of faith in the intelligibility of the universe and the meaningfulness of human life? To ask is to believe that somewhere there is an answer. The fact that throughout history people have devoted their lives to extending the frontiers of knowledge is a moving demonstration of the restlessness of the human spirit and its constant desire to transcend, to climb. Far from faith excluding questions, questions testify to faith -- that the world is not random, the universe is not impervious to our understanding, life is not chance.
That, I suspect, is why Judaism encourages questions. On the phrase: "Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness," Rashi, the 11th-century biblical commentator, says: "This means, with the power to understand and to discern."
Critical intelligence is the gift God gave humanity. To use it in the cause of human dignity and insight is one of the great ways of serving God. When faith suppresses questions, it dies. When it accepts superficial answers, it withers.
Faith is not opposed to doubt. What it is opposed to is the shallow certainty that what we understand is all there is.
(14) dana, May 25, 2010 8:48 PM
I'd love to get A good book of questions!!!
(13) Anonymous, November 13, 2009 4:42 AM
When questions are answered properly, it leads to strengthened observance, not the opposite!
This is in response to the anonymous person who commented that sometimes there are questions that "lead people away from observance." I believe that those people unfortunately didn't ask their questions to the right people. There are fascinating answers to every single question in Judasm, you simply have to find the right people to answer your questions. Of course, this is given that the one who is questioning really seeks answers, and is not questioning due to ulterior motives, such as to poke fun, or cause trouble... etc. Never will a correct answer “lead someone away from observance.” If it did, somebody misunderstood something somewhere, because it’s impossible for truth, or Torah to lead someone away from the correct path.
(12) Rosen, November 12, 2009 1:48 PM
questions and arbitrary answers
Many people say that there are no stupid questions - just stupid answers. I know Einstein mentioned that the important thing in life is to never stop questioning. Therefore, the more one is smart/intelligent, the more he/she keeps on questioning things.
(11) Anonymous, November 10, 2009 5:46 PM
The danger of not asking questions
If I had a quarter for every time I heard someone tell me, "You ask too many questions" I'd be rich. First it was my parents, then it was my teachers. Excuse me for living! I had to teach myself what I needed to know, then I was chided for not asking questions. I loath no win situations. In his latest book, The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown repeats what others have said before him, beware of taking the bible literally. Fundamentalism of any stripe should have no place in intelligent circles. It is fundamentalism that is driving the terrorism that is in vogue. Be it Christian or Muslim fundamentalism, it is a danger to all. A non-questioning of the Koran is what caused the massacre at Fort Hood and the destruction of the Twin Towers. In Christianity, it lead to the Crusades and the inquisitions. How people like that can justify their anger and blood lust is beyond me. Had they thought they could ask questions, imagine what a world we might have today. Rabbi, I agree with you more than I can express. Thank you for expressing yourself so clearly.
(10) Geoff, November 9, 2009 4:19 PM
Thank you Chief Rabbi
For another insightful article.
(9) JK, November 9, 2009 1:55 AM
And once again
Once Again Rabbi Sacks hit's the mark. Thank you Rabbi
(8) Anonymous, November 8, 2009 11:55 PM
Some Questions Don't Have Answers
It's important to question things and not blindly accept, and I believe everyone agrees on this point. But I wonder how you respond to a common problem I frequently encounter within the community: There are some smart Jews - and I mean really smart Jews - that have the ability to think on levels many of us don't realize exist; outside the box is an understatement. For intellectuals like these, the truth behind the religion is more attractive than the faith portion, leading them to question much of what's been taught to them throughout life. What happens when questions are asked that question the very base of Judaism, leading people away from observance?
(7) Chaim Feuerman, November 8, 2009 10:57 PM
Sources: "Did you ask a good question today ?" (Einstein & Rabi)
Student Questions are Often Better Than Answers for Purposes of Learning “The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills.” -- Albert Einstein (Costa, 2008). “Someone asked the Nobel Laureate I. I. Rabi why he became a physicist, rather than a doctor or a lawyer or a tailor, like his father. Rabi explained that his mother made him a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child, “So ? What did you learn in school today ?” But not his mother. She always asked, “Izzi, what good questions did you ask today ?” (Barell, 1988) Barell, J. (1988). Cogitare: A Newsletter of the ASCD Network on Teaching Thinking 3(13), April, 1988. Costa, A.L (2008, 2nd ed.). The School as a Home for the Mind. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
(6) SusanE, November 8, 2009 7:33 PM
Thank you Thank you
To the wonderful and carring Rabbis connected to Aish.com....a huge Thank you. You have allowed me to ask questions. You have entertained my thoughts without judgement. Your charity is much appreciated. You have always seen to it that I get an answer. Sometimes your answer is direct. Most times you are very wise in giving me the information and options to find the answer myself. Thank you for being generous.
(5) Baruch E. Kahana, M.D., November 8, 2009 6:31 PM
Mistranslation
A good article, but, in the interest of accuracy, and for those who don't know Yiddish, the statement "Du fregst a gutte kashe" means, literally, "You ask a good question" and not "You raise a good objection." Nit-picky, perhaps, but accuracy is important.
(4) Greg, November 8, 2009 4:22 PM
"the science is settled" or scientists have reached a consensus
Rabbi, I hope this isn't considered off-topic but I think it's relevant to your article: You are from Britain, where I imagine you'd be ridiculed publicly for questioning the alarmism of the environmentalism movement -- the new secular religion. But reading your article only validates my skepticism of those who claim that carbon dioxide emissions will destroy the earth and that humans are to blame. I get so upset when these activisits try to silence their critics by saying the science is settled or that there is a "consensus". Science is never settled. It is the skeptics that often find the truth. I am so impressed by the reasoned scientific arguments of global warming skeptics and how the proponents of the global warming theory and their political allies (like Al Gore & Barbara Boxer) refuse to debate.
(3) Chaim Lauer, November 8, 2009 4:06 PM
Questioning is the act of freedom
The crux of the seder, the celebration of our becoming the Jewish People, is the asking and provoking of questions. To ask a question is to be free. The slave may never question the master. To ask with humility is to delve toward the deepest truths. To be a Jew is to constantly ask questions of ourselves and of G-d. Avraham found G-d by a sense of wonder and curiosity. It is, thererfore, wrong to state categorically that "There are no questons." It is better to state humbly "I have questions for which I have yet no answers." And now you know why Jews answer questions with questions.
(2) Frankenberg, Professor of that ilk, November 8, 2009 3:32 PM
The only thing a teacher teaches is the necessity to think of questions to ask
That's why I say I don't teach, I encourage students to formulate questions for discussion
(1) ruth housman, November 8, 2009 3:07 PM
the "quest"
This is a profound article. I truly believe that to ask the question is the royal road to understanding, and that there are many questions we avoid, that we do not ask. Ever since I was a child I have asked questions, and one question, the eternal question, is how is it we are here at all? It's just so amazing, this entire creation. Through the years I have received a lot of answers to this question, through books, through the wisdom of others who were more schooled than I, but the ultimate teacher was Divine and to divine this, I do believe is the ultimate journey. There are many who believe unquestionably, without question, there is a God, because they have been taught, and they so honor their parents, their first gods. There are others for whom life teaches such hurt, such sorrow, such pain, they are so sensitized they look for answers, how can God do this? What responsibility does God have, for the intimate details of every life? Some renounce God, some bring God to trial, and some lose their faith, and some feel justified in never believing. I say the ultimate journey is from a position of questioning, of continuously asking the most agonizing questions of all, and when faith becomes true rock solid, knowledge: I know there is a God, I know longer believe. Then that journey is so beautiful, it's beyond comprehension. I think life is a profound journey of soul, and that yes, to ask the question is to receive, and that answers will come, and to "divine" this, is to take the most amazing journey of all.