By Rabbi Brent Gutmann

Most of us learned to brush our teeth long before we had any idea why it mattered. As children, we were told what to do. Twice a day. Do not forget the back teeth. Spit. Rinse. Repeat. We did not understand plaque, cavities, or long-term dental health. We did not weigh evidence or ask questions. We certainly did not consent after a careful cost-benefit analysis. We brushed our teeth because someone we trusted insisted that this was simply what one does. Only years later did the logic catch up to the habit.

Judaism’s most famous declaration at Mount Sinai sounds just as backwards. Something absurdly brilliant occurs within this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Mishpatim, at the moment of entering a covenant with God, the people say – וַיֹּאמְרוּ כָּל אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּר ה׳ נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָע –  “All that the Eternal has spoken, we will do, and we will understand.” (Exodus 24:7) Read plainly, the sentence is absurd. How can you agree to do something before you understand it? Should not listening come first, followed by reflection, followed by action?

The Torah seems perfectly aware of how strange this sounds and insists on it anyway. Rabbi Yehuda Henkin notes that this is not the first time the people say naaseh, “we will do.” They had already agreed twice. What is new here is nishma, “we will understand.” Why now? Because this time, Moses brings a text, sefer ha-brit, the Book of the Covenant, and reads it aloud. Commitment comes first, but understanding now becomes an ongoing process rooted in study of the text. (R. Yehuda Henkin, Benei Banim, Exod. 24:7)

Not only observing Torah, but by making reading and studying it a long-term project do we fulfil our obligation. In the Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 109b, Rav Papa teaches that someone who claims to study Torah without observing mitzvot is not really studying at all. Torah detached from action does not count. In Jewish life, action is not the reward for understanding. Action is what makes understanding possible.

The Kotzker Rebbe takes the argument even further. Many people, he teaches, try to approach God through intellect alone, through thinking their way forward. But intellect has limits. Israel was given a different instrument, the performance of mitzvot. Through doing, human beings are lifted beyond what their minds can reach on their own. We do not perform mitzvot because we fully understand. We understand because we perform them.

This helps explain why Naaseh v’Nishma is not an individual spiritual slogan, but a collective statement. The people respond together, even in the singular, as though speaking with one voice. This is not about personal enlightenment. It is about shared responsibility.

Being Jewishly learned matters deeply right now. American Jews are living in a moment when our certainty is tested. War continues at a simmer. Jew haters are everywhere. Many of us feel exposed, unsettled, unsure what comes next or what will actually help. Naaseh v’Nishma does not promise comfort through clarity. It offers something sturdier, clarity through commitment.

Judaism does not ask us to wait until the world makes sense again. It asks us to keep showing up for our communities, our institutions, and our obligations to one another. Like brushing a child’s teeth, the wisdom of the practice may not be obvious at first. Over time, however, the habit shapes the person.

We will do, and then we will understand. We will take responsibility, and then we will find meaning. We will stay bound to one another, and that bond itself will carry us forward. What sounds absurd at first turns out to be Judaism’s most practical insight. Understanding follows commitment, not the other way around.

Brent Gutmann is the Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth Zion.