50 | JANUARY 26 • 2023
I
t is no accident that Parshat
Bo, the section that deals
with the culminating plagues
and the Exodus, should turn
three times to the subject of
children and the duty of parents
to educate them. As Jews, we
believe that to defend a country
you need an army,
but to defend a
civilization you
need education.
Freedom is
lost when it is
taken for granted.
Unless parents
hand on their
memories and ideals to the next
generation — the story of how
they won their freedom and the
battles they had to fight along
the way — the long journey fal-
ters, and we lose our way.
What is fascinating is the way
the Torah emphasizes the fact
that children must ask questions.
Two of the three passages in our
parshah speak of this:
“
And when your children ask
you, ‘What does this ceremony
mean to you?’ then tell them,
‘It is the Passover sacrifice to
the Lord, who passed over the
houses of the Israelites in Egypt
and spared our homes when He
struck down the Egyptians.
’” Ex.
12:26-27
“In days to come, when your
son asks you, ‘What does this
mean?’ say to him, ‘With a
mighty hand the Lord brought
us out of Egypt, out of the land
of slavery.
’” Ex. 13:14
Another passage later in the
Torah also speaks of questions
asked by a child: “In the future,
when your son asks you, ‘What
is the meaning of the stipula-
tions, decrees and laws the Lord
our God has commanded you?’
tell him: ‘We were slaves of
Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord
brought us out of Egypt with a
mighty hand.
’” Deut. 6:20-21
The other passage in today’s
parshah, the only one that does
not mention a question, is:
“On that day tell your son, ‘I
do this because of what the Lord
did for me when I came out of
Egypt.
’” Ex. 13:8
These four passages have
become famous because of their
appearance in the Haggadah
on Pesach. They are the four
children: one wise, one wicked
or rebellious, one simple and
“one who does not know how
to ask.
” Reading them together,
the Sages came to the conclu-
sion that [1] children should
ask questions, [2] the Pesach
narrative must be constructed
in response to, and begin with,
questions asked by a child, [3] it
is the duty of a parent to encour-
age children to ask questions,
and [4] the child who does not
yet know how to ask should be
taught to ask.
There is nothing natural
about this at all. To the contrary,
it goes dramatically against the
grain of history. Most traditional
cultures see it as the task of a
parent or teacher to instruct,
guide or command. The task of
the child is to obey. “Children
should be seen, not heard,
” goes
the English proverb. “Children,
be obedient to your parents in
all things, for this is well-pleas-
ing to the Lord,
” says a Christian
text. Socrates, who spent his life
teaching people to ask questions,
was condemned by the citizens
of Athens for corrupting the
young. In Judaism, the opposite
is true. It is a religious duty to
teach our children to ask ques-
tions. That is how they grow.
Judaism is the rarest of phe-
nomena: a faith based on asking
questions, sometimes deep and
difficult ones that seem to shake
the very foundations of faith
itself. “Shall the Judge of all the
Earth not do justice?” asked
Abraham. “Why, Lord, why have
you brought trouble on this peo-
ple?” asked Moses. “Why does
the way of the wicked prosper?”
“Why do all the faithless live at
ease?” asked Jeremiah.
The book of Job is largely
constructed out of questions,
and God’s answer consists of
four chapters of yet deeper ques-
tions: “Where were you when I
laid the Earth’s foundation? …
Can you catch Leviathan with a
hook? … Will it make an agree-
ment with you and let you take
it as your slave for life?”
In yeshivah, the highest acco-
lade is to ask a good question:
“Du fregst a gutte kasha,
” Rabbi
Abraham Twersky, a deeply reli-
gious psychiatrist, tells of how
when he was young, his teacher
would relish challenges to his
arguments. In his broken English,
he would say, “You right! You
100 prozent right! Now I show
you where you wrong.
”
Isadore Rabi, winner of a
Nobel Prize in 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 ask: ‘Izzy, did you ask a
good question today?’ That made
the difference. Asking good ques-
tions made me a scientist.
”
Judaism is not a religion
of blind obedience. Indeed,
astonishingly in a religion of
613 commandments, there is
no Hebrew word that means
“to obey.
” When Hebrew was
revived as a living language in
The Necessity of
Asking Questions
continued on page 51
SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH
Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks