Hebrew Word for Obey

[Channalee]

Well, I guess to be fair to Rabbi Sacks and what was written to share his point -

He wrote prior - "There is a fundamental difference between a parent teaching a child why certain things are wrong, and a commander instructing those under his command not to do this or that. One is a form of education, the other is a relationship of command-and-control. Education is an apprenticeship in liberty; command-and-control is a demand for obedience, pure and simple."


Rabbi Sacks continues after my initial post- "God does not call for blind submission to His will.

God wants us to keep His laws freely and voluntarily because we understand them. Hence the unique insistence, throughout the Torah, on the importance of education as the constant conversation between the generations"

I think that Rabbi Telushkin also was of the same mind regarding blind obedience vs understanding.  He wrote in his book Jewish Literacy about the prophet Micah, saying: 
 

The prophet Micah initiates an unusual and admirable tradition in Jewish life: the willingness to "reduce" Judaism to its ethical essence.  In the most direct language possible, Micah summarizes the "bottom-line" requirement that God makes of Jews: "To do justice and to love goodness, and to walk modestly with your God" (6:8).
 
Think of the messages being put forth by most Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders today; they rarely cite Micah's guideline for assessing people's obedience to God.  Ask any Jew—religiously observant or not—whether another Jew is religious, and the question is invariably answered by noting the person's observance of Jewish rituals, not of Jewish ethics.  As if God regarded ethical observance as a voluntary, extra-credit activity.

 
Micah (and those teachers who came after him, such as Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Akiva) placed great emphasis on ethical behavior, and I don't think that would have been possible without also having a profound understanding of what God asks of us.  I think that these teachers were closer to the truth than those who place greater emphasis on following the law without question.