(ט) וַיִּקְרָ֛א יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר ל֖וֹ אַיֶּֽכָּה׃
(9) The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Rabbi Edwin Goldberg, from ReformMovement.org
"Who's there?" is the first thing we read in Shakespeare's Hamlet. It encapsulates the topic of the entire play. "Where are you?" is the first question asked by God in the Torah (Genesis 3:9). From a metaphysical point of view, it captures the topic of the entire Bible. Paying attention to questions is a clever way to get to the heart of any matter. As the physicist Isaac Rabi used to recall, when his mother greeted him at the end of the school day, she always asked, "Did you ask good questions?"
This is G-d's first question in the Torah.
Assuming that G-d really knew where Adam was, why was G-d asking this question?
What lessons does that teach us about the power of questioning?
(11) Then [God] asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat?”
(יג) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָאִשָּׁ֖ה מַה־זֹּ֣את עָשִׂ֑ית וַתֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה הַנָּחָ֥שׁ הִשִּׁיאַ֖נִי וָאֹכֵֽל׃
(13) And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done!” The woman replied, “The serpent duped me, and I ate.”
The above three sources are after Adam and Chava (Eve) ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, G-d used different types of questions, each with a different purpose. Look at the questions (that are in bold) and think if these are open, closed, and what their ultimate purpose is.
(25) [Abraham asked G-d:] Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty, so that innocent and guilty fare alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”
(22) Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why did You bring harm upon this people? Why did You send me?"
Abraham, Moses, and Jeremiah asked critical questions about G-d.
What does that teach us about when and how questions are used?
What critical questions should we be asking of ourselves and the work that we do?
What questions should we be asking of our teams, and organizations?
(ה)... וְלֹא הַבַּיְשָׁן לָמֵד...
(5) ...A person prone to being ashamed cannot learn...
In a learning environment what could a person be ashamed or embarrassed of?
Why would that stop a person from learning?
Donald Sheff, letter to the editor in the NYTimes, Jan. 12, 1988
Isidor I. Rabi, the Nobel laureate in physics who died Jan. 11, was once asked, ''Why did you become a scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer or businessman, like the other immigrant kids in your neighborhood?''...
Dr. Rabi's answer, as reported by Dr. Sackler, was profound: ''My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: 'So? Did you learn anything today?' But not my mother. She always asked me a different question. 'Izzy,' she would say, 'did you ask a good question today?' That difference - asking good questions -made me become a scientist!''
According to the text above what makes a question a 'good question'?
In what ways could asking a 'good question' help individuals, teams and organisations?