By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER<\/p>\n
<\/noscript><\/a>Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz describes the Talmud as \u201cperhaps the only sacred book in all of world culture that not only permits, but even encourages the student to question it.\u201d As soon as they are able, we ask our youngest children to ask the Four Questions at our Passover Seders, teaching them the sanctity of questions and prompting them to ask their own.<\/p>\nThe Biblical book written and read annually in response to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (and by extension, the many tragic losses of Jewish history) is known in English as \u201cLamentations,\u201d but in Hebrew is called \u201cEichah<\/em>\u201d \u2013 meaning \u201cHow?\u201d or, more emphatically, \u201cHow could this possibly be?!\u201d That question is the very first word of Lamentations, and is repeated throughout the book. The Book of Jonah, the final scriptural selection read on Yom Kippur, our holiest day, ends with a question.<\/p>\nPractitioners of Jewish tradition are not mere vessels to be filled with doctrine, nor geese to be stuffed with information. We have a sacred obligation, a spiritual mandate to explore, to challenge, to question in our search for truth and meaning, and in determining God\u2019s will for us and God\u2019s plan for our collective future.<\/p>\nJudaism is, in every sense, a challenging faith.<\/p>\nAny questions?<\/p>\n(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/noscript><\/a>
The Biblical book written and read annually in response to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (and by extension, the many tragic losses of Jewish history) is known in English as \u201cLamentations,\u201d but in Hebrew is called \u201cEichah<\/em>\u201d \u2013 meaning \u201cHow?\u201d or, more emphatically, \u201cHow could this possibly be?!\u201d That question is the very first word of Lamentations, and is repeated throughout the book. The Book of Jonah, the final scriptural selection read on Yom Kippur, our holiest day, ends with a question.<\/p>\nPractitioners of Jewish tradition are not mere vessels to be filled with doctrine, nor geese to be stuffed with information. We have a sacred obligation, a spiritual mandate to explore, to challenge, to question in our search for truth and meaning, and in determining God\u2019s will for us and God\u2019s plan for our collective future.<\/p>\nJudaism is, in every sense, a challenging faith.<\/p>\nAny questions?<\/p>\n(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/noscript><\/a>
Practitioners of Jewish tradition are not mere vessels to be filled with doctrine, nor geese to be stuffed with information. We have a sacred obligation, a spiritual mandate to explore, to challenge, to question in our search for truth and meaning, and in determining God\u2019s will for us and God\u2019s plan for our collective future.<\/p>\n
Judaism is, in every sense, a challenging faith.<\/p>\n
Any questions?<\/p>\n
(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/noscript><\/a>
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