{"id":76186,"date":"2020-06-18T12:35:38","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T09:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=76186"},"modified":"2020-06-18T12:35:38","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T09:35:38","slug":"doing-and-hearing-knowing-and-understanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/doing-and-hearing-knowing-and-understanding\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing And Hearing; Knowing And Understanding"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"76186","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"506","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"How can we truly understand something?\r\n\r\n","content":"

At the beginning of chapter 6 of the book of Hosea, the prophet describes the spirit of repentance that will be expressed by the Jewish nation with the words, \u201cLet us know, let us <\/span>strive<\/span><\/em> to<\/em> know God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This double expression of knowing and striving to know is the basis for a significant discussion about how we develop a relationship with God. Is it through blind obedience, through extensive study, through philosophical evaluation, or some combination of all three?<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about the well-known passage from Exodus 24:7 when the Jewish people accepted the covenant with God at Mount Sinai with the words, \u201c<\/span>na\u2019aseh<\/span><\/em>– <\/span><\/i>we will do, <\/span>v\u2019nishma<\/span><\/em>\u2019 <\/span><\/i>\u2013 and we will hear.\u201d Our sages are unified on the meaning of the word <\/span>na\u2019aseh<\/span><\/em>, agreeing that it refers to doing that which we are commanded. However, there are different explanations of the intended meaning of the word <\/span>nishma<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i>. While literally \u201cwe will hear\u201d is from the same root in the oft-recited <\/span>Shema Yisrael<\/em> <\/span>\u2013 Hear O Israel, some sages posit that it may be interpreted as \u201cwe will obey\u201d while others define it as \u201cwe will understand\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do we <\/span>strive<\/span><\/i> to know God? Today we attend yeshivas and seminaries, listen to shiurim <\/em>(lectures) in person (at least we will again soon, God willing) and through video and audio presentations, and are privy to voluminous amounts of learning material, including our very own 929. There are more avenues to feed our striving for understanding than ever before.<\/span><\/p>\n

But how do we <\/span>know<\/span><\/em> God? And why does \u201cknowing\u201d come before \u201cunderstanding\u201d? Just as when we accepted the Torah by expressing that we would act first (<\/span>na\u2019aseh<\/span><\/em>) and then hear or understand (<\/span>nishma<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i>), so too was Hosea affirming in his prophecy that we would again begin with the active and follow with the reflective. We will know because we will do; we will strive to know because we will endeavour to understand. Yes, we are bound to increase our knowledge through study, but inevitably there will be some things we never come to understand intellectually. Nevertheless, as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks expresses so eloquently in Covenant and Conversation:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThere are certain things we can only understand by doing. We only understand leadership by leading. We only understand music by listening. Reading books about these things is not enough. So it is with faith. We can only truly understand Judaism through living by its commands. You cannot comprehend a faith from the outside. Doing leads to understanding.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":76192,"id":76192,"title":"hos6-seeing doing","filename":"hos6-seeing-doing.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/doing-and-hearing-knowing-and-understanding\/hos6-seeing-doing\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"hos6-seeing-doing","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":76186,"date":"2020-06-18 09:34:20","modified":"2020-06-18 09:35:34","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1178,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-768x471.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":471,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-1024x628.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":628,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":942,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1178,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-1200x736.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":736,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-685x420.jpg","home_baner-width":685,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Doing And Hearing; Knowing And Understanding","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"How can we truly understand something?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":76192,"id":76192,"title":"hos6-seeing doing","filename":"hos6-seeing-doing.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/doing-and-hearing-knowing-and-understanding\/hos6-seeing-doing\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"hos6-seeing-doing","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":76186,"date":"2020-06-18 09:34:20","modified":"2020-06-18 09:35:34","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1178,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-768x471.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":471,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-1024x628.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":628,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":942,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1178,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-1200x736.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":736,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos6-seeing-doing-685x420.jpg","home_baner-width":685,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76193,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76186\/revisions\/76193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}