Questions, answers and the call of the caterer

Asking and answering questions is so much a part of our lives that we can easily overlook the deeper significance of this practice. We routinely ask questions in order to supplement our knowledge (“how much does this muffin cost?”), enrich our understanding (“why does this medication make me feel nauseous?”) and to acknowledge our subservience or obligations towards others (“please may I be excused?”). We likewise use questions in order to criticise others (“are you seriously trying to tell me that you’ve tidied your room?”), to underline one’s own importance or rectitude (“do you imagine that I would be so stupid as to believe such a pathetic excuse?”), and even for purely rhetorical effect (“wouldn’t you pay a king’s ransom for an opportunity like that?”).  Sometimes we use questions as a way of framing advice (“are you planning to take your umbrella today?”) or information (“did you know that the price of eggs has just gone up?”); we also ask questions when we know, or are fairly certain of, the answer (“would you like me to move my car which is blocking your drive?”).  We even ask ourselves questions (“where on earth did I put my spectacles?”).

Pirkei Avot addresses the Q&A process in several places. In particular, when distinguishing between a wise person and a golem, a person who doesn’t know any better, we are taught that we should not answer in haste (5:9) and that we should ask questions that are relevant and answer them accurately (ibid).  If we don’t know the answer, we should admit that we don’t (ibid) and we should only answer a heretic if we know how to do so (2:19).  Asking and answering questions is one of the 48 techniques by which a person can acquire Torah learning (6:6). We should not answer questions in greater length than is required (1:17). When seeking to establish the truth, we should not ask leading questions that put words into the mouth of the person answering them (1:9). Answers that are meant to be understood should be intelligible on a single hearing (2:5). There are other teachings in Avot that can be applied to Q&A, and anyone reading this tractate will soon spot how many mishnayot employ the Q&A technique themselves.

This review of questions and their many functions takes me back to the 1990s, when I was responsible for the administration of the London Beth Din (LBD). Throughout that decade, and indeed thereafter, the LBD was heavily involved in the grant of licences to food manufacturers, restaurateurs and caterers whom it certified as having satisfied the demanding standards for kashrut that are required by Jewish law. This work was done routinely by the LBD’s Kashrut Department under the supervision of the Dayanim of the LBD. I saw very little of our licensees and had little contact with them except when, once a year, they visited the LBD for an interview upon which the renewal of their licences was contingent.

From time to time it was necessary for a licensee to contact one of the Dayanim in order to ask a question relating to kashrut. These questions typically concerned matters such as the kashrut of manufactured food products bearing unfamiliar foreign certifications, the incidence of insects in quantities of fruit and vegetables, the late arrival or non-arrival of a mashgiach to oversee food preparation and the rectification of problems arising from the inappropriate use of utensils. In this pre-smartphone era, it was not always easy to locate a Dayan during office hours, so I often found myself fielding calls from anxious caterers. I would then either try to find a Dayan within the building or to pinpoint a place where one might be found.

I soon discovered that, of the LBD-licensed caterers, some never contacted us at all. Either they had no problems or they knew all the answers, I assumed. There was however one small catering firm that seemed to call the Dayanim with questions far more frequently than any of the others. Indeed, I sometimes wondered if this caterer’s queries outnumbered those of all the other caterers put together. What’s more, many of the questions seemed fairly easy or bordered on the trivial; I had to work hard to suppress the inclination either to answer them myself or to chide the caterer for this apparent ignorance.

After a couple of years I actually met the caterer in question and I somewhat impertinently asked: “how come you keep bombarding my Dayanim with so many questions?”  The caterer’s answer impressed me greatly. This was its gist. If a caterer serves poor quality food, it will lose existing customers and not gain new ones. Its reputation will be damaged and it will suffer commercially. If however a caterer serves food that turns out not to be kosher, the situation is different. The caterer’s reputation will of course be damaged and it will lose goodwill and custom. More importantly, the reputation of the LBD would also be damaged. That in turn would adversely affect customer confidence in all the other caterers, restaurants and manufacturers that bore the LBD imprimatur. It was therefore better to play safe and, in any question where there existed even the smallest doubt, to ask even the most elementary questions and let the LBD satisfy itself of the position, rather than to gamble the reputation of the LBD and other licensees by guessing an answer that, though quite likely right, might also be wrong.

From this we see how the asking of questions can be an effective means of establishing and maintaining a three-way relationship of trust between the questioner, the respondent and the public.