To say “I don’t know” takes humility, especially if you are expected to know. However, these words can be understood in two very different ways. Sometimes, “I don’t know” simply means a lack of information. You are unaware. But there is a deeper kind of “I don’t know,” one that comes only after engagement, study, and struggling to grasp an idea over and over again, even to the point of frustration, you arrive at the realization that you still don’t know.
That realization is deeply humbling. It is not an external humility, but a personal and intimate surrender. That is true humility.
Being humble is not easy.
Yet, this is what G-d demands of us. In this week’s Torah portion, Yitro, G-d gives us the Ten Commandments. He begins with, “I am your G-d,” followed immediately by, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Together, these commandments teach us to place our trust in G-d and relinquish control, recognizing that idolatry, i.e., false sources of security and power, ultimately lead nowhere.
What is striking is that after the Torah concludes the account of what took place at Mount Sinai, we are once again warned not to make or serve idols.
Why the repetition?
One explanation is that G-d does not only want obedience, but understanding. Not merely that we avoid idolatry because it is forbidden, but because we grasp why it is empty.
In a way, this is the difference between doing a mitzvah and studying Torah. A mitzvah can be performed by habit; we grow up trained to act. Torah study, however, demands effort, time, and thought, sometimes deep thought, as we struggle to understand what the Torah is truly teaching us.
Idolatry follows the same pattern.
We can be good Jews who do not serve idols, standing humbly before G-d because that is what is commanded. But when we understand why idols are meaningless, and why our trust belongs with G-d alone, our humility becomes deeper and more internal. It is no longer imposed from without, but cultivated from within.
Mitzvot bring us closer to G-d. Torah study brings us closer to ourselves as well.
Shabbat Shalom