I Don’t Understand - R. Eliyahu Maksumov - TorahAnytime.com

The secular intellectual approach is different than that of the Jewish approach. By us, we say even if I do not understand God's ways right now, one day I will understand. That's why we have hukum, laws that we don't understand, laws that we can't comprehend. I am very confident that I'm part of a religion where I don't understand everything. That there are certain laws that are beyond my comprehension. Because the fact that we have such laws proves to us that it must be coming from a divine source. If I was part of a religion where everything in that religion made 100% sense and every single law was understandable, I would be I would be very concerned that maybe this religion was written by a man. Because why is it that my level of knowledge is the same level as his? That perhaps this religion was made up by some person. The fact that we have laws that we don't understand, the fact that we have laws that we don't comprehend, should give us a confidence, a certain sense of serenity, a certain sense of contentment that that we are part of a religion that must be 100% divine. You know, when we go to to a doctor, we trust that the doctor knows what he's talking about. We don't have any questions on the doctor. We know the doctor knows more than us, he knows better than us. He must have studied this topic for years, medicine. We don't question him. We say, you know, I accept. But what for some reason when it comes to the Torah, all of a sudden we have so many questions. Hashem, I don't understand this and I don't understand that. Why did you give me this Explain this to me and until I don't understand it, I won't follow it. Until I don't understand this law, I won't be able to follow it. I'm not going to be able to observe it. We say that even if the ordinances, the commandments that Hashem has given to us, although I might not understand it, but I will accept it. I go according to the na'aseh v'nishma model. You know what the na'aseh v'nishma model is? I will do and I will listen. I will first accept. I will internalize the message and then I'll be able to slowly start to understand. But I'm willing to give it a chance. Hashem says this is not a mathematical equation. 1 + 1 = 2. I want you to have faith in me. I want you to have emunah. Develop that emunah. First accept. and this is by the way why men put on the Tefillin first on their arm and then on their heads because our arm our hands represent action. First do Na'aseh and then Venishma you will understand then will come the wisdom. Hence we say Na'aseh Venishma. Hence we first accept, we accept the laws of Hashem. Although I might not understand it fully because I understand it must be coming from a divine source. When a mother tells her child go to your room and the child says why should I go? What does the mother cuz I said so. And the child understands deep inside at the end of the day the mother knows what's best for him. And so he follows her order cuz he knows in the end she's older, she's much wiser than him. But for some reason when it comes to the Torah we ask Hashem why should I listen to you? How do I know this is this is coming from Hashem? How do I know this is from God? The fact that we have such laws reminds us that it must be that Hashem knows better than us. It must be that Hashem obviously is much wiser than us. After all he has created us. He knows how our brains function. He knows how we operate. And so he knows what's best for us and he has our best interests in mind for us. So learn the Torah and even if you come across mitzvot that are hard for you to understand, don't give up on them and say well if I don't understand then I have to keep it. Rather accept the Chochmah and then the Binah will come later on.