Bereshith: Curiosity

I remember how excited I was, as a second grader at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin to start learning Chumash ( the five books of Moses). The first letter, ב the Beth , was large. It was clear that one began at this parenthesis shaped thing that blocked off everything before it. [Hebrew is read right to left]. At that time, I just wanted to go forward. Struggling to read the words was enough to keep me from trying to look behind the beth. 

Rabbi Yona said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Why was the world created with the letter beit? It is because just as the beit is closed on all [three of] its sides but open in its front, so, you do not have permission to ask: What is below, what is above, what was before, and what is after, but only from the day when the world created and onward. 

Limits to inquiry is a lesson in the stories in Bereshith. The most prominent of these is the eating from the tree of daath. 

I do not think that calling daath knowledge conveys enough of its meaning. I think about it in terms of the letters.  The name of the first letter, Daleth ד,  means a door. (That immediately invokes the Monte Hall problem,  a modern issue.)  . The second letter, ayin ע, means eye.   Daath is getting to see what is behind the door. It is a revelation, the resolution of a mystery.  It is the satisfaction of curiosity.  

Rashi quotes Bereshith Rabba

וְאַעַ"פִּ שֶׁנִּתְּנָה בוֹ דֵּעָה לִקְרוֹת לוֹ שֵׁמוֹת, לֹא נִתַּן בּוֹ יֵצֶר הָרָע עַד אָכְלוֹ מִן הָעֵץ וְנִכְנַס בּוֹ יֵצֶר הָרָע וְיָדַע מַה בֵּין טוֹב לָרָע (בראשית רבה):

 Although he (Adam) had been endowed with knowledge to give names to all creatures, yet the evil inclination did not become an active principle in him until he had eaten of the tree, when it entered into him and he became aware of the difference between good and evil

The Rabbinic understanding of the downfall that followed the eating of the fruit of daath is that it allowed the entry of the yetzer hara, the evil inclination into human consiousness.  But didn't the act of taking the forbidden fruit, stealing it from Gd, violating the instruction to guard the garden mean that an evil inclination already existed? And what motivated the snake to entice the woman to sin? Perhaps it is a matter of degree. Perhaps it is a matter of detail.

The decision to ingest this mind altering drug , despite the warning that it is a lethal poison, determines the trajectory of humanity and ( according to the story) the world that was created for it. In our world, partaking of the forbidden fruit of mind altering potions is familiar. It is hard to know haw this has impacted human history. Did  Freud's use of cocaine influence the development of psychoanalysis? Did Job's use of LSD  help create the iphone?  Certainly many drug influenced behaviors lead to later regrets, and sometimes, like the expulsion from Eden, there is no possibility of return. 

Was Eve curious?There is no word for “curious” in the Torah ( nor in the rest of Tanach). The ancients did not have time for curiosity; they were too busy getting food, building shelter and weaving clothes. They often had to explore new places and try new things, but there was probably a greater appreciation for the dangers involved in the unknown.   

 The value of curiosity has changed over time. In the contemporary world, it is a esteemed quality, encouraged  by pedagogues. The ancients were more ambivalent. The Greek story of Pandora’s box emphasizes the danger. In the Jewish world, a controlled curiosity that does not  wander into dangerous orchards is encouraged.  Rambam writes that Abraham found the unity of Gd through curiosity. (Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Avodat Kochavim 1:3)) [the reasoning does not [yet] conform to the contemporary scientific view]. Moses may have demonstrated his fitness to lead the Israelites out of Egypt by turning to a burning bush. Other episodes of exploration do not turn out well. The mission of the spies sent to the land results in 40 year of exile in the wilderness. The spies gave an accurate report... and added their own dayoth, opinions.  Note that they brought back the fruit of the land, a re-enactment of the exile from Eden. 

Adam also ate from the fruit. Perhaps he was not curious enough.

We live in a  time when a new understanding of the warning  that  Gd gave Adam  emerges. 

The Divine warning: 

וּמֵעֵ֗ץ הַדַּ֙עַת֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּוּ כִּ֗י בְּי֛וֹם אֲכׇלְךָ֥ מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת׃ 

but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.”

Perhaps, the curse of death is much delayed and applies to all humanity, the descendants of Adam and Eve. The (successful) search for knowledge has led to a world of comforts and possibilities. I can fly, in a jet, anywhere in the world in less than a day. Humans have visited the moon. I wake up in pleasantly warm house year round, buy food and clothing  for a small percentage of my wealth, and play much of the day. I can ( safely) indulge my curiosity. 

Discovery, a product of the mind alteration from the Tree of Daath, has led to the ability to destroy the world, and aspect of "being like Gd." Nuclear (and perhaps biologic) weapons have made total destruction of human life on earth a real possibility. Artificial intelligence, a disembodiment of knowledge (without daath?) may acuate that process. 

Knowledge can kill. Curiosity can lead to sin. Respect the boundaries; identify them well.