The aptly named Curiosity Rover now exploring Mars triggers a connection in my mind with Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor and his Cabinet of Curiosities, that is stronger than the connection I share with many of my coreligionists. I notice the word Hnefatafl and my curiosity is immediately triggered. I want, for no reason other than satisfying that curiosity, to know more about the board game played by Vikings. Once triggered, my curiosity will burn until I can know everything about Zhuge Liang, "The Sleeping Dragon," who, by playing his zither, saved his city from attack by an overwhelming force. It was curiosity that fed the mess on my childhood room with all the pieces of disassembled gadgets I found. It was curiosity that burned through my wallet as I bought too many books about everything.

Despite many teachers insisting that my curiosity was a distraction from Torah study, I was raised to believe that feeding curiosity was an essential ingredient of studying Torah. I'm not describing King Solomon's exhortation, "Everything God made, He made for His sake (Proverbs 16:4)," which obligates us to learn about everything God created, such as Mars. We are definitely adjured to learn everything we can about the world. However, I speak of curiosity as the seed of the religious experience.

"See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse (Deuteronomy 11:26)." I would translate is as, "Look," or "Search," as in, "You shall seek out His place (12:5)," which is an extension of the "Look," in the opening verse of this week's portion (Nachmanides). Seek, search, look, as Moses described the people who experienced Revelation, "The people come to me to seek God (Exodus 18:15)." They were as curious as was Abraham whose curiosity led him to search for the Creator. Israel wanted to discover everything about the Power that redeemed them from Egypt, split the Sea, and fed them Manna. Their curiosity opened the door to Revelation. Even after Revelation, they wanted to know more. We, the descendants of Abraham and those who stood at Sinai, are advised by God to search, to seek, to question, to be curious about everything. It is the same curiosity that animates our hours spent delving into the wisdom of the Talmud, and the powerful secrets hidden in every verse of the Torah.

Curiosity defines the boundary between idol worship and a real relationship with God. Even as Moses speaks of being sufficiently curious to search for God, the idol worshippers were saying, "Let us go and worship the gods of others (13:7)." The idol worshippers did not entice others to question with curiosity, but to satisfy curiosity by experimenting with the unknown, "gods you did not know." As far as they were concerned, there was no difference between choosing which god to worship than experimenting with a new food. It was not a curiosity that fed questions or a search, but one of finding ready made answers, the essence of idol worship.

The child who constantly asks for explanations of all the commandments is fulfilling God's challenge to use our brains, our free choice, our curiosity, to appreciate what is good and what is not. Those who, without curiosity, simply, "go and worship," as instructed, are not curious seekers; they are desperate for the easily digestible. How interesting that the curious questioners who are so often stifled satisfy their curiosity by experimenting with life! Curiosity must be fed, nurtured, and properly directed.

"Look, I present before you today a blessing and a curse," the blessing and the curse of curiosity that can never be fully satisfied. It's a curious quest, but energizing and fulfilling; the seed of a powerful relationship with the Creator.

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov.
Rabbi Simcha L. Weinberg
President 
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