Extensive research has established the fascinating connection between curiosity and play. A 2015 study argued that “children structure their play in a way that reduces uncertainty and allows them to discover causal structures in the world,” a position aligned with earlier theories “that asserted that the purpose of curiosity and play was to ‘construct knowledge’ through interactions with the world.” Playfulness is an expression of our curiosity, but it is also a skill that provides the ideal disposition for satisfying it.
My intuition is that “being playful” would have ranked even lower than curiosity had it been included in Pew’s study. But there is abundant reason to consider play an essential aspect of a Jewish worldview. The opening midrash in Bereishit Rabbah refers to the Torah not only as the blueprint of creation but also as God’s “plaything.” Similarly, Avodah Zarah 3b teaches that God spends a quarter of each day playing with the leviathan. On a literal level, the leviathan is said to be a menacing sea monster of apocalyptic proportions, but some kabbalists interpret it as a symbol of God’s relationship with His creation as a whole. God’s orientation to the world is essentially playful, and reality becomes a Divine game.
Philo of Alexandria, a first-century Jewish philosopher, conveys this powerful idea as well.
To read the full article, visit https://thelehrhaus.com/commentary/a-world-worth-knowing-jewish-educations-crisis-of-curiosity/.