Why? The most important, most common, most justified question in any conversation with anyone is “Why?” Why do you want me to do this? Why did you do that? Why? To understand, to comprehend what the other person has in mind, what the other person wants you to do. Why? It is always justified, except in one case: if the trust between two individuals is very high.
Imagine Elon Musk is your first cousin and you trust him to death. He tells you, “Invest with me. There’s something coming up. I can’t tell you. Put as much money as you have. I guarantee it’s going to be good.” Do you ask him why? Well, it depends. If you don’t trust him, then you’re going to ask why. If you do trust him, you’re not going to have to ask why, especially his track record is pretty good in making money.
If your father asks you a question, or tells you, “Invest with me” or “Do this for me,” you ask why. Again, it depends. If you’re close to your father, the closer you are to a person, you don’t ask the question why. Why is a question that basically says to the other person, “I need to verify the information. I need to make sure that what you’re telling me is correct, and based on what you’re telling me, I will make a decision.” Which means that there’s another being that we cannot question, and that’s God.
When God tells you to do something, you should not be asking why. If you need to verify His suggestion, or His demand, or His decision, then you are questioning it. You need to verify, check, analyze, and then come up with your answer, saying, “Okay, now yes. Now I agree.” Or, “No, that’s impossible.” That would put God at the same level as me. The reason it’s justified when two individuals, two human beings, are having a conversation is that both of them are at an equal level. There’s no reason one is higher than the other, so they’re having a conversation at the same level.
If one being is above, this is the being that created us, that created the world, that has a plan, that could see the future. And that being is telling you to do something. This is the one time when, according to all measures, according to all ideologies, you cannot question. Don’t question God. Don’t ask why.
I always say, if God sends me an email that says, “I’m answering all your questions,” I would not open that email. I don’t want to know why. I want to trust in God. I don’t want to know why, because if it’s going to reason with my reasoning, then that’s it. The connection is lost. That means that we’re not at different levels; we’re at the same level, Chas veshalom (God forbid). I’m not at God’s level. There’s no reason I should be confirming, affirming, or agreeing with God. Chas veshalom. That’s not my job.
And that’s the explanation for Naaseh veNishma (We will do and we will hear). In this week’s parasha, Parashat Mishpatim, it tells us at the end of the parasha how Bnei Yisrael accepted it, and how Moshe Rabbeinu offered it to Bnei Yisrael, and Bnei Yisrael said, “Naaseh veNishma.” And everybody asks, “How could you sign on paper? You don’t even know what it is.” But no! That was the whole test. The whole test was: Are you understanding your position? Your position regarding God—it’s not about what’s written in the Torah; it doesn’t matter what’s written in the Torah. If God comes and says, “This is for you,” this is for you. And if I need to vet that information, if I need to verify and agree and confirm this information, that means I don’t understand who I am and who He is. And that’s the failure.
But Bnei Yisrael, unlike other nations, understood this from the very beginning. When they said, “Naaseh veNishma,” it was, “Tell us where to sign; we sign.” You don’t want to verify, you don’t want to open the book, you don’t want to confirm? No, we don’t want to. Because if your father tells you, “Sign here,” you sign here. When God comes and tells you, “Sign here,” you sign here. He doesn’t even need to ask you to sign here. But He did, out of decency.
There’s one question we don’t ask God: why. We have so many questions, especially these days. Why? Why so much misery, why so much suffering, why so much blood, why have so many people died in Israel? Why are so many people still held in Gaza? We don’t understand anything. But by asking the question why, we will not understand any better. We have to understand that God has a plan, and we don’t know what it is. But God is not us. And we are not God.
Shabbat Shalom.