Today's class is dedicated memory of Ovadia Ben Adel, Uncle Barry Shiloach ah, by his nephew, Eli Kairey.
There’s an important lesson that we learn from the night of the Seder.
We ask the four questions of the Mah Nishtana, Why do we eat Matzah? Why do we eat Marror? Why do we dip twice? Why do we lean? Simply speaking, the answer is Avadim Hayinu/ we were slaves. But this doesn't really answer each question.
One of our rabbis says (and of course, this is not the simple explanation) that the reason for this is to teach the child a lesson in Emunah- that we don't always have the answers.
Sometimes you come up with a question and there really is no good answer for it. And that's the answer- to know that we don't always have the answers.
We can learn this from the Hovot Halevavot in Shaar Bitachon (chapter three), where he asks this question. He says that the reason we have to go through our efforts in making our livelihood is in order to keep us busy and out of trouble, and therefore it should follow that righteous people that can dedicate their time to learning and don't need to be working, shouldn't be working. Furthermore, people that are going to end up sinning should be busy with work. But sometimes we see the opposite. There are Sadikim that are busy working and there are wicked people living lives of serenity and peace- and that doesn't match with this principle. He then explains that this is an age-old question that the prophets asked. Yirmiyah asked,
מדוע דרך רשעים צלחה,
Why is the way of the wicked successful?” Habakkuk asked the question, David Hamelech asked the question… so what is the answer?
He says that all these prophets that asked the question didn't give an answer, because there really is no one right answer. We don't know why. And he says, that's why God tells us in Devarim 29,28, הנסתרות לה' אלהינו
there are things that are hidden to God.
Moshe Rabbenu says,
הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט
God our rock, everything He does is perfect. We don't understand. We just know that God is just and that we don't have an answer.
Where was God in the Holocaust? I don't have a good answer. That's the answer. Now, of course, the Hovot Halevavot goes on to give us some suggestions, and lists four or five reasons why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper.
But if he's going to give an answer, why does he start off with the principle that there is no answer?
It's because he wants to teach us this fundamental: That we might sometimes find answers, but the answer to all questions really is, I don't necessarily have the answer or have to have the answer.
This principle is brought down by the Rambam in a letter that he wrote to his son, Rebbi Abraham. He says, “I want to tell you an important fundamental, תועלת רב בלמוד לחזק האמת ולישב הדעת ולהסיר המבוכהWhich has benefit in learning, to strengthen truth, to cause a tranquility in your thought process, and remove confusion:
He says,
כאשר תמצאו כתוב עמוק ומאמר נבוך בתורה או בנביאים או בספרי החכמים אשר לא תבינוהו ולא תדעו מסתרו ונראה כסותר פנות התורה או דברי הבאי
When you find a deep concept in the Torah Neviim or in the words of our rabbis that you don't understand, and it seems like you just found a Midrash, a Ramban or some Rishon that seemingly contradicts our principles of faith and Emunah that we’ve been teaching all the time, “Rely on God, He’ll come through for you,” and you find something that sounds like it doesn't work that way.
He says,
אל תזוזו מאמונתכם ואל יתבלבל שכלכם, עמדו בחזקתכם והפחיתות ההוא חשבוהו בכם כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם
Do not budge from your Emunah and
Don't get yourself confused, stay strong and realize that
לא דבר רק
There's not there's nothing empty in the Torah.
If it's empty, it's from you, meaning:
you don't understand it.
הניחוהו בקרן זוית
Put it on the side. Don't destroy your faith because of one thing you don't understand. God understands it. You don't have to understand it.
I learned this principle in the Mirrer Yeshiva High School. Our rabbis, from Europe taught us an old Yiddish saying which meant, “From a question, you don't die.”
When you have a question on the Gemara, don't just stop there and get stuck. You can have a question and still move on.
Lehavdil, They taught us this when we were when taking the Regents exams- Don't get stuck on one question. You don't have to answer that question. Move on.
It’s the same principle here. We all have questions that we don't have answers for. Don't get stuck on the question.
That's why we start the HaGaddah with the Mah Nishtana, and we don't give the child the answer right away. The simple explanation is that the answers to these questions comes later in the Haggadah, with Pesach, Matzah and Marror. We don't give the answer right away, to teach them that the main thing is not the answer.
You don't always need to have an answer. Have a wonderful day.