Experience First

It is liberating, this knack we have to discover what works before understanding how.

Certainly, it is nice to know the “how.” When you know and understand, you can immerse your entire mind and heart into the matter.

But when you experience that which you do not yet understand, there is surprise and there is wonder. For that moment, you are swept away and lifted out of your little world. You taste firsthand that, yes, there is truly a reality that exists beyond my own mind and heart.

This is the path of wonder the Torah takes to come into our world. It is a path that takes an open mind, one ready for truths beyond itself. As the people declared at Sinai, “We will do, and then we will understand.”