Know Why!

Philippe Petit is a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers in the summer of 1974. For his unauthorized feat, 1000ft above the ground, which he referred to as “le coup”, he rigged a 440-pound cable and used a custom-made 30-foot-long balancing pole. He performed for 45 minutes, making 8 passes along the wire. He walked, danced, sat and laid down on the wire. The following week he celebrated his 25^th birthday. All charges were dismissed in exchange for him doing a performance in Central Park for children.

This true story is incredible in so many ways and for numerous reasons. Just the fact that he and his friends got away with the lengthy and complex preparations for the walk is a study in intrigue. The planning and the plotting, the hundreds of details, the commitment and the determination are awesome. Whether it was an insane thing to do is not relevant. It’s Philippe's audacity, fearlessness and belief in his ability that makes the story so riveting.

For me, the highlight of the documentary I watched so many years ago was the moment he was in handcuffs and being placed into a police car. Newspaper reporters crowded around him shouting questions, with one reporter's voice raising above all the others: “WHY DID YOU DO IT?”

And Philippe Petit looked at the reporter for a moment and shrugged. “There is no why” he answered and then slipped into the car.

I loved that answer and I remember it often. I remember it whenever I understand once again that I do not understand.

Questioning G-d's ways is a lack of emuna. A person must eventually come to the point where he doesn't care why he suffers. One thing must be clear to him: Hashem sent the suffering and He knows very well what He is doing! That is all there is to know. One need not understand anything else.

The work of understanding that we can’t understand is a real challenge to the heart's deep desire to understand. We want to know why! We are human beings who like answers and crave explanations. That is how we were created, with curiosity and the desire to know. When we nullify that part of us we are nullifying a real part of what we are.

If I only had more information, I think! If I could just have a hint as to why this is happening! The truth is that even if we had all the information, in our present earthly state we simply cannot understand.

I heard an example to help illustrate this concept. A toddler wanders into the laundry room and finds a bottle of bleach. He lifts it to his lips to drink. His father enters the room and immediately grabs the bottle out of his son's hands. The little boy cries with shock and frustration. He is deeply insulted. He does not understand why his father did what he did. But even if the boy's father were to sit and talk to him for 3 days and 3 nights about the danger of drinking bleach, the little boy would not understand. He lacks the capacity to understand what bleach is and how it could hurt him. He cannot process the information. So, it is not like he’s lacking a reason for his suffering; he cannot even understand the answer to the question. Deep down though, he knows his father loves him and for him that knowledge has to suffice.

Even if Hashem were to tell us why bad things happen to good people, we could not, in our present state, understand. There is no way we could comprehend, no matter what we were told.

We have all heard people say, “I just don't understand the Holocaust.” But tell me, do they understand anything, really? Do we understand why good things happen to bad people? Do we understand the sun, the moon and the stars? We like to think we do but we really don't.

Eventually we must all reach the state where we give up the need for answers. There are no earthly answers. And if there are no answers available to us in this world, then there is no need for questions either, and ultimately, we can reach the place where “there is no why.”

Rebbe Nachman says, “The world is a narrow bridge (tightrope!) and the main thing is not to be afraid!”