A young budding talmid chochom, a ben Torah, once visited the Rogotchaver gaon. During the visit, the yungerman shared a chidush of his with the Rogatchover. His chidush, his novel interpretation, was based on–and supported by–a number of questions that he raised, in the gemoro and rishonim, that would all be resolved based on his chidush.
The Rogatchover listened to the yungerman, but could not agree with his conclusion, the idea was too radical. “But how can I not be right”, the young man protested, “how else can all of these questions be answered?!”
The Rogatchover told him that he would give him his response in writing. Sure enough, a few moments later, the Rogatchover presented him with a page, on which he had written כדרכו בקדש marei mekomos to various tosefos’, which were scattered throughout shas. At first glance, there was no obvious connection, the sugyos containing the tosefos were as varied and diverse as can be. But the yungerman was certain that by delving into them he was sure to discover some common thread that bound them, the one that was sure to reveal the profound chidush that the gaon was trying to share with him, which would surely address his own questions.
He went home, eager to begin the task of deciphering the mystery. But, try as he might, the message remained as cryptic as ever. He just could not find any common denominator between the sugyos represented.
Finally, after 3 days of intense toil, he had to admit defeat.
The young man returned to the Rogatchover gaon, and asked him to explain what he had written.
“It’s very simple”, the gaon clarified. “Take a look at each tosefos in the paper. With virtually each one, you will find that the preceding tosefos concludes with a question. In each case the question remains unanswered; Tosefos apparently considered each of these questions to be problems unsolved and unsolvable. But, despite that, as you see in each of the tosefos’ that I noted, tosefos did not get bogged down by the question, but continued on to the next piece of the gemoro. Sometimes, you have to face the fact that you have no answer to your questions, and, nevertheless, you have to live with that and just move on!”
I don’t know what the questions that were bothering this yungerman were. I surely don’t know each tosefos that the Rogatchover pointed out, that remains with a question (although each of us has surely, on numerous occasions, encountered a tosefos here or there that concludes with a (seemingly) unresolved problem).
But, the questions that many of us are facing today, are undoubtedly more troubling, more difficult than any of those: Of course, we know that death is a part of the world, as the possuk says "באשר הוא אסוף כל האדם". But, it has its’ time and place. When a child loses a parent, it is tragic and painful, and the Torah prescribes a period of mourning to deal with it. However, when parents have to, ל"רע"ל, bury a child, that is unnatural, that is a pain that is unequalled and unbearable. That is a question that can’t be solved! When young bochurim have to bury their young friend, their classmate, that is senseless and inexplicable. It is a problem that is definitely unresolvable.
