Chapter 8 - The Foundation of it All
A story is told about a Rabbi who had a young son. One day, the son asked him, “In the Chad Gadya, the goat was good, which means the cat was wrong for eating it. That means the dog was right for biting the cat, so the stick was wrong for hitting the dog. The fire was right for burning the stick, and the water was wrong for putting out the fire. That makes the ox right for drinking the water, and the butcher wrong for slaughtering the ox. Then the Angel of Death was right for killing the butcher. But that chas veshalom means Hashem was wrong when He slaughtered the Angel of Death! How can that be?”
The Rabbi did not respond.
Two days later, the Rabbi told his son, “The answer to your question is that just because someone was wrong, that does not make it everyone else’s job to punish him. Therefore, the dog had no business biting the cat, and neither did any of the other characters that punished the one before it. However, Hashem runs the world, and it is His job to punish those who need to be punished. Thus, Hashem was right and everyone else was wrong.”
The Rabbi continued, “Don’t think I didn’t know this answer when you asked. I didn’t answer you right away to teach you that we don’t go crazy from a question. We don’t lose our equilibrium or do anything drastic. Instead, we rely on our knowledge that Hashem and His Torah are true, and we stay calm until we discover the answer.”
This story illustrates an important point. There will be times when we have philosophical questions, and it is important that we get the answers. Nevertheless, so long as we remain calm despite our questions, they won’t cause us any harm while we wait for the answers. However, sometimes certain questions bother us more strongly, affecting how we feel about our religion. These questions become dangerous problems that can cause much damage and might even threaten to shake our belief in Hashem, chas veshalom. Therefore, it is vital that we address any such problems that affect us emotionally.
Each philosophical question has its own answer, and we should try to get answers for all our questions. But if we have a question that bothers us so much emotionally that it causes doubt, the emotional aspect of the question can be dealt with by using the upcoming approach. This will remove the troubling part of the question, leaving over the intellectual aspect to be answered at the right time.
We must understand the ramifications of establishing that Hashem appeared to three million of our ancestors at Har Sinai. This means that Hashem created and runs the world and that He instructed us on how to run our lives. It means Hashem commanded us to keep the Torah and to listen to everything our Sages have taught us, as He instructed in the Torah (Devarim 17:11): “Do not divert from the word they [the Sages] tell you, neither to the right nor to the left.” This is the equivalent of Hashem appearing to you in a way that you would know it was Him and that He is God. You might not feel it with the emotional strength of our ancestors at Sinai, but you can realize that irrefutable proof that Hashem appeared to us provides us with as much evidence as actually witnessing the revelation does, even though it is harder for us to feel it.
Now, if Hashem would appear to you and tell you to keep the Torah, would you consider trying another religion to see if there is something to it? Of course not. If Hashem would tell you, “I am kind and everything I do is good,” and then something painful happened to you that you didn’t understand, would you say that chas veshalom Hashem does not exist or that He is evil? Of course not. If you stood at Har Sinai and witnessed Hashem’s revelation, and then heard of a controversial discovery or scientific theory that seemed not to fit with the Torah, would you consider that maybe the Torah is wrong, chas veshalom? Of course not. You would say that although you don’t understand exactly how everything adds up, Hashem and His Torah must be true because He appeared to you, which makes it impossible for the Torah to be false.