Parashat Miketz / Chanukah 5783 — 12/24/2022
Beginning with Bereishit 5781 (17 October 2020) we embarked on a new format. We will be considering Rambam’s (Maimonides’) great philosophical work Moreh Nevukim (Guide for the Perplexed) in the light of the knowledge of Vedic Science as expounded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The individual essays will therefore not necessarily have anything to do with the weekly Torah portion, although certainly there will be plenty of references to the Torah, the rest of the Bible, and to the Rabbinic literature. For Bereishit we described the project. The next four parshiyyot, Noach through Chayei Sarah, laid out a foundational understanding of Vedic Science, to the degree I am capable of doing so. Beginning with Toledot we started examining Moreh Nevukim.
Bereishit 41:1-44:17
Last week we noted the importance of learning Torah from a teacher, rather than just from a book. Here is a passage from the Talmud (Sotah 22a) I just came across that makes the same point (translation and elucidation from the Koren/Steinsaltz edition):
It was stated: With regard to one who read the Written Torah and learned the Mishna, but did not serve Torah scholars [RAR: i.e. learned from them orally] , R. Elazar says: This person is an ignoramus (am ha-aretz, lit: people of the land). R. Shmuel bar Nachmani said: This person is a boor. R. Yannai says: This person is comparable to a Samaritan, who follows the Written Torah but not the traditions of the Sages. R. Acha bar Ya’akov says: This person is comparable to a sorcerer (magosh = Zoroastrian priest, source of the word magus in Latin, plural magi; probably also source of the English word “magic”), who uses his knowledge to mislead people.
The Mishna was learned by rote (the meaning of the word Mishnah is “repetition”), and the Written Torah was, of course, written. The point is that both are fixed texts, and as such they both require explanation, especially with the passage of time, as the idiomatic meaning of expressions, and even the meaning of specific words, gets lost or distorted. However, even if the meaning seems clear on the surface, there may be many other levels of meaning that have yet to be elucidated. This is especially true of Scripture, which of course has inspired hundreds of commentaries from all over the religious spectrum. But the real “meaning” of Scripture is found in the consciousness of the individual, and it is the task of the teacher and the system of education to culture this consciousness until all the possible levels of meaning are open to the student’s unbounded awareness.
Rambam continues his discussion of the dangers of boldly going where no one has ever gone before:
If, however, he begins with the divine science, it will not be a mere confusion in his beliefs that will befall him, but rather absolute negation. In my opinion an analogous case would be that of someone feeding a suckling with wheaten bread and meat and giving him wine to drink. He would undoubtedly kill him, not because these aliments are bad or unnatural for man, but because the child that receives them is too weak to digest them so as to derive a benefit from them.
Here Rambam introduces a subtle distinction when discussion the danger of approaching “divine science” with an unprepared mind. The problem is not in divine science, it is in the unprepared mind. The analogy he gives is feeding foods that are perfectly nutritious for adults to small babies with undeveloped digestive systems. The babies can get sick or die because they cannot process the food properly. In the same way, if the mind is unprepared for the experience of the transcendent, it cannot digest it properly and the results can be disastrous, as we see in the story of the “four who entered Paradise” two weeks ago. “Absolute negation” took the form of madness, apostasy and death. In fact, reflecting on the description of the incident, I find it surprising that R. Akiva, who was the leader of the group, allowed the others to “enter Paradise” and was unable to recognize that they were yet incapable of handling it.
In the case of the baby, the issue is the level to which the baby’s body has matured. In the case of Divine Science, the issue is the level to which the student’s mind has matured. The maturation of the mind is the responsibility of the teacher and the educational system of course. However, unlike our common understanding of “intellectual development,” what is required is an educational system that actually connects the student with the transcendent on the level of direct experience, and stabilizes this experience as a full-time background to our waking, dreaming and sleeping states.
As we know from Vedic Science, this involves allowing the mind to settle down until its fluctuations cease, and it merges, as it were, with the absolute, unchanging transcendent. When this happens the body also settles down to a state of deep rest, and this rest allows the body to purify itself by throwing off material and structural impurities. According to Vedic Science, when the nervous system is completely free of impurities, it can maintain the experience of the transcendent along with the ordinary three states of consciousness. Since the entire process of experiencing the transcendent and release of stress is completely natural and effortless, no strain is produced and the experience is never (or rarely) overwhelming – the experience grows only as the capacity to handle the experience grows.
We’ll conclude this section next week Gd willing.
Chag Chanukah Same’ach!
*******************************************
Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Miketz
We have two sayings that help inform this parshah: “Gd is in the details”; “The Whole is Greater than the Sum of the Parts.” In this parshah, Joseph, an unwilling representative to Egypt-Mitzraim, the Land of Restrictions, from Canaan, the Land of Synchronicity, of Harmony, successfully interprets two dreams of Mitzraim’s ruler, Pharaoh, and is given de facto control of Mitzraim.
This is Harmony bringing the parts together so they can make a Whole. Joseph correctly interpreted Pharoah’s dreams of seven fat cows devoured by seven lean cows and of seven healthy stalks of wheat devoured by seven lean stalks to mean that seven years of plenty would be followed by seven years of famine and therefore, Mitzraim should store up during the fat years so it would have enough to last through the lean years. Joseph’s Harmony was so great that Pharaoh recognized the validity of Joseph’s interpretation and Joseph’s integrity was so great that Pharaoh gave him control of organizing the stocking up, organizing which gave him de facto control of the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Harmony in Canaan had already been disturbed by Jacob’s failure to raise his children so that all felt equally loved – even though each might have different skills, some might be wiser, some more skilled in battle, some more skilled in leadership, in peace….
Jacob failed to completely attend to detail and to reveal Gd in the details of everyday life and relationships in Canaan: Canaan was only partially Canaan, only partially and superficially, The Land of Synchronicity.
And the Harmony was broken further by the sons not learning to flow with Jacob’s behavior and to give love from their side to raise themselves and him to the level where they could feel Full Love, no matter what the surface appearance. This resulted in betrayal of Jacob’s trust, selling Joseph into slavery, lying to their father, and, eventually famine in Canaan — a solid breakdown of the Plenty that exists when Mikeitz/Canaan is Whole, functioning to bring all details into synchronicity, into harmony, and to Reveal Gd as the Wholeness, the Totality, Who Is Complete Synchronicity, The Wholeness that is Oneness, of which all the details are Expressions.
With the famine in Canaan, in Synchronicity, Jacob’s sons had to go to Mitzraim, raised by Gd through Joseph, to a land of Synchronicity, Fullness.
And they abandoned Canaan to settle in Raised Up Mitzraim, until eventually Wholeness broke down there and several hundred years later, they needed to escape restrictions, return to Canaan within themselves and to the physical land of Canaan. Of this we will learn more in the next Parshah.
This Parshah teaches us, that even in the midst of the ups and downs of life, we can maintain our purity, our Joyful and Reverent Daily Routine, so that we can Love Gd with all our Heart and Soul, Love our Neighbor as Our Self, and fill the details, with Harmony; fill limits with Unlimited..
Of course, there are deeper levels of interpretation: All is Gd’s Plan as Joseph later tells his brothers. There are no mistakes in Torah, no villains, no heroes, only Gd telling stories to teach us how to restore ourselves to Wholeness– and at the deepest level, Torah is Gd Humming Torah within Himself, within The Self, our Self, the Only Self.
To this we in our community are rising: Joy and Love, which we have, radiate and share are signs of the return to Wholeness, to Gd, the Self, for Gd Is Joy, Is Love.
Baruch HaShem