 Is a lot of truth contained in the old joke which goes like this How did you is answer a question with a question and why is that why not? How well should they answer? the truth is that questions are the very lifeblood of What it means to live as a Jew and I think really should be the lifeblood of every human being The Talmud says in tractate Baba Kamma, which deals with torts and laws of damages That there were four kinds of things that caused damage in the world and the Talmud lists the shore the ox and the bore and the pit and Ash and fire and then they list a fourth mysterious thing called mother and It's not clear exactly what mother is the sages of the Talmud debate What Mava is according to one opinion Mava is the human being the human being So why is the human being called Mava and The answer probably is that the word Mava means to seek To inquire to question and so the Talmud seems to be saying here Is that the very definition of what it means to be a human being is to seek to question to inquire? It defines who we are in addition Mentioned that the name of the human being in the Bible is Adam Adam We know that in Hebrew every letter has a numerical value The word Adam is spelled alif Dalad mem alif is a number number one in Hebrew Dalad is for mem is 40 So 40 plus 4 plus 1 is 45 The word ma mem hay is also The numerical value of 45 mem is 40 and hay is five So the word Adam human being has the exact same numerical value as the word ma what Because the idea of asking what Seeking answers defines what it means to be a human being The Midrash teaches us the sages of the Talmud teach us How did Abraham come to faith in God? They say he came to faith in God by asking questions big questions They'd have a parable about a man Abraham in the parable finding a burning palace in the middle of the forest And he wonders who is the owner of this palace that it's on fire that it's a fire in there He's asked the question who is the owner of the palace and really what the Midrash is saying is that Abraham was asking the Question who made the world who made the sun who made the stars? Who created all of the things that we see around us all the time and that's what would drove Abraham to realize That if we live in a world that seems designed There must be a designer and so those questions about who created the world are what led Abraham to come to faith in God We're told that Moses When he came to Mount Sinai Earlier before he received the Torah as a shepherd He comes across a bush that's on fire And he looks at the bush and He looks at it quizzically and he says wait something is strange going on here. The bush is burning But it's not being consumed. That's pretty strange normally when a tree is on fire when a bush is burning it burns up there's nothing left but ashes and He is looking at it long enough to notice there's something strange going on and so the Torah tells us That it's only when Moses turned aside to look at this bush Asking the question why isn't the bush being consumed when he had that question? That's when God reveals himself to Moses God sees that Moses is asking the question Moses is interested and so God reveals himself We're told that one of the greatest sages that ever lived Rabbi Akiva Grew up as an ignoramus for 40 years didn't know anything and What turned him around was he was sitting by a river one day and he was observing a rock in the river That had a hole that was born through it by the water that was passing over it for generations And he was wondering isn't this strange and interesting how the water which is soft is able to penetrate the rock which is hard and That Phenomenon got him thinking He took notice he wondered and he thought and he came to the realization that if this rock Which is hard can be penetrated by this water, which is soft Then certainly he said the Torah which is fire can penetrate my heart Which is flesh and he went on to become the great rabbi Akiva one of the greatest sages in Jewish history Our Talmud begins the very beginning of the Talmud is the Mishnah And the very first word in the Mishnah is may amatai from what time What the Mishnah begins discussing are the laws of reciting the Shema Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Akhod And the Mishnah wants to know at what time do we begin reciting the Shema in the evening That's the first question from when The Mishnah begins with a question and then the Gomorrah the Talmud discussing this Mishnah Asks also a question the Gomorrah wants to know How is it? mehei haqai What is the Mishnah standing on that it asks this question from what time do we say the Shema? The Talmud is bothered. How do you know you've got to say the Shema in the first place? Where does the obligation come from that they begin discussing from what time? So the very beginning of our Talmud the Mishnah and the Gomorrah itself each begins with a question and Of course the style of the entire Talmud all the tractates is Question and answer question and answer the Passover Seder is the educational experience par excellence It's replete with audio visual aids great food But probably the most important part is that it's built around questions The Seder does not get off the ground Until questions are asked Until the questions of the children come forward Mani Shana Halayla Hazanikul Halalot How unusual how different this night is from all other nights? And the children ask Why do we have matzah tonight all during the year we eat regular bread and why do we have bitter herbs tonight all during the year We eat all kind of vegetables and why do we dip tonight? We have all this dipping going on and the children observe. Why do we recline in our chairs tonight? So the Seder doesn't begin unless the children ask for questions And then that this the Seder the Haggadah that we recite on Passover Eve Mentioned by name these four children because the Torah itself Speaks about the four children who will ask you in the Torah itself It says and your child will ask you on that day and what the Haggadah is doing here by beginning with these questions and beginning with the questions of the four children is Telling us that the education of the Haggadah of the Passover evening does not get off the ground without questions the Seder is Not successful When we regurgitate these questions The point is that the Haggadah is giving us stage directions. It's cluing us into the fact that during this meal We're supposed to ask a lot of questions these questions that are in the Haggadah the book that we read that night These are just telling you Ask questions tonight ask lots of questions and especially the children Because unless children are asking questions, there's no real education going on What's going on is brainwashing is propaganda is indoctrination Unless someone is curious and they want to know They're not going to learn and so we do many things at the Seder that are weird We have strange things that we do at the Seder that we don't do any time during the year in order to provoke the children to ask Because asking questions is the essential ingredient for learning There was a wealthy man that once wanted to find a match a Shidduch for his special and beautiful daughter So he went to a Yeshiva a Talmudic Academy to find an appropriate match for his wonderful daughter and He presented a very difficult question to the students in the Yeshiva and He said that anyone that is able to solve this question. I Will allow him to marry my daughter so he posed this incredibly difficult question and None of the students in the Yeshiva were able to answer his question So he got into his carriage and he left He looks back and he sees a young student is running after him and running after him And he finally stops the carriage and the young student is dripping with sweat. He's out of breath and he says So what's the answer to your question? And the wealthy man replied you're the one That I want for my daughter Because to you You're curious. You're interested. You want to know Abraham Joshua Heschel once said we are closer to God when we are asking questions Then when we think we have the answers The incredibly important book Pathways of the Just Nisilat-e-Sharim Says that we always need to be asking ourselves Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life and unless we clarify this question is basic question. We're not going to be successful in life We have to always be asking ourselves. What is the purpose of our life? Why are we living? What is it all about? We're Sonic a coin of Lublin the great Hasidic master who died in the year 1900 Taught that when you find something in the Torah the first time it appears is the most important place That's the headquarters. If you want to understand anything in Judaism find the first place it appears in the Torah So there's a story that's told About the first Lubavitcher Rebbe Rishnarazalman of Liyadi Known as the altar Rebbe and He was thrown into jail his religious opponents fabricated charges and he was jailed While he was in jail. He had a Russian jailer That was very impressed by the Rebbe He noticed miracles taking place all the time He saw little rats bringing the Rebbe his slippers in the morning a lot of other weird things happening So he finally got up the guts to ask the Rebbe a question and he said Rebbe I see that you spend the whole day studying and I see you're a very wise person and you must be very knowledgeable He says you know I also study the Bible. I'm very interested in the Bible and the Rebbe says that's important That's wonderful great. It's important that you study the Bible So the jailer said but you know what I have a big question that I can't understand So the Rebbe says what's your question? He says God created the whole world and he puts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and says don't eat from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil and they disobey and they eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and They open of their eyes and they realize that they're naked and they go and they hide and God calls out. Where are you? He says Rebbe. I don't understand that God created everything on the planet everything in the universe. God can do anything. God knows everything So why does God have to ask them where they are? God knows exactly where they are And the Rebbe said that's a great question. You're asking a very important question He says this story is not just about Adam and Eve He says when God is asking this question. You have to realize This is the first question in the Bible When God says to Adam and Eve ayyeko, where are you? That's the first question in the Bible, which means It's the ultimate question It's the most important question and it's a question that we should be asking ourselves Every human being should always be asking themselves ayyeko. Where are you? Because the Rebbe told the jailer God created each one of us for a purpose with a vision and God is asking each one of us. Where are you on your journey in life? How far have you come and the Rebbe turns to the jailer and says you've been here already for 36 years How far have you come in your life? and when a jailer heard the Rebbe Say exactly how old he was he embraced the Rebbe and said bravo Rebbe bravo. It's amazing