THE FREEMAN FILES: Is There Such a Thing as a Bad Question?

Chabad.org
Is There Such a Thing as a Bad Question?
Elul 11, 5772 · August 29, 2012
And when do you get to ask it?

(Rabbi Freeman was asked to respond as briefly as possible to the question, "Is There Such a Thing as a Bad Question?")

Many of us believe we will have an opportunity after our stint upon this earth to stand before a great mahogany desk in the sky and demand of G‑d, "If You are so kind and omniscient, why were You silent?" And then G‑d will show us the view as He sees things, and all will be answered.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Perhaps at the end of all things, at the core of all wisdom, at the very essence of all being lies not an answer, but a question. Perhaps many questions. And who knows, perhaps this question is one of them.

Perhaps G‑d will simply counter our question with yet another and ask, "So what did you do to answer this question?"

And if we will say, "I did nothing, because I saw you did nothing," then He will say, "So this that you asked, was it a question? Or was it just another answer?"

For that is the only bad question: the one that is not a question at all, but merely an inexpensive excuse to shrug our shoulders and scurry back to our holes, to do nothing.


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By Tzvi Freeman    More articles...  |   RSS Listing of Newest Articles by this Author
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, a senior editor at Chabad.org, also heads our Ask The Rabbi team. He is the author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth. To subscribe to regular updates of Rabbi Freeman's writing, visit Freeman Files subscription.
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