Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Pesah, Ma Nishtana, Further Thoughts
Can copy this into an AI, or connect the whole library to your assistant. For deeper learning, you can directly use the original seforim, sites, and apps.
Religious faith has often been seen as naive, blind, accepting. That is not the Jewish way. Judaism is not the suspension of critical intelligence. To the contrary: asking a question is 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 compelling testimony to the restlessness of the human spirit and its constant desire to go further, higher, deeper. Far from faith excluding questions, questions testify to faith – that history is not random, that the universe is not impervious to our understanding, that what happens to us is not blind chance. We ask not because we doubt, but because we believe.
“The Art of Asking Questions,” The Jonathan Sacks Haggada
REFLECT How is asking questions “an expression of faith”? Doesn’t it show a lack of faith?
QUESTIONS TO ASK AT YOUR SEDER 1.Why do you think we encourage children to ask questions on Seder night?
- Are there any bad questions?
- Do all questions have answers? What do we do if no one we know has the answer to a question?