Parashat Bereshit 5784 — 10/14/2023
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 1:1 – 6:8
Today we begin our fourth year of discussion of Rambam’s Moreh Nevukim / Guide for the Perplexed .
I’d like to finish up our chapter on angels by taking up a point that Rambam alludes to at the end of the passage we quoted last week.
Because of the difficulty of this matter, the books of the prophets likewise contain dicta whose external sense can be understood as signifying that the angels are corporeal, that they move, that they are in the form of men, that they are given orders by Gd, and that they carry out His orders and do what He wishes in virtue of His orders. All this is said so as to guide the mind to a knowledge of their existence and of their being alive and perfect, as we have explained with regard to Gd. However, if one would stop at this imagining with regard to the angels, their true reality and essence would be like the essence of Gd as it is conceived in the imagination of the multitude. For about Gd too, statements are made from whose external sense it appears that He is a living, mobile body, having the form of a man. Therefore the mind is guided toward a knowledge of the fact that the rank of the existence of the angels is below the rank of the deity through the admixture with their shape of something belonging to the shape of irrational animals, so that what is understood with regard to the existence of the Creator should be more perfect than what is understood with regard to their existence, just as man is more perfect than the irrational animals.
First, we note again that both Gd and angels are non-corporeal, but of course the angels are not Gd – Gd created the angels just as He created human beings, the animals, and the inanimate world as well. In fact, the angels are another point on a continuum of beings from gross to subtle, all of which are part of the created universe. In this sense I think angels share more with humanity than they do with Gd.
The angels may be non-corporeal, in the sense that they are not made of crude matter the way our bodies are, but they are not transcendental to time and space the way Gd is. Those who see angels describe them as being in one place or another, and moving (an aspect we will return to shortly). Something that is transcendental and unbounded cannot move, because movement implies restriction to one place or another at any one time.
Last week we discussed a higher state of human consciousness in which direct perception, through the senses, of angels might be possible. This would support the idea that the angels, being created beings, are “corporeal” although not on the material level – their “bodies” are made of some subtler substance and if our senses are refined enough, they can perceive this subtler substance, similarly to the way our eyes normally respond to gross physical substances. This idea preserves the absolute, infinite distance between Gd and all creatures, gross (material) and subtle (non-gross-material).
We know from physics that there is a continuum of matter, from the gross structures of matter (galaxies, planets, trees, people, chairs) to the molecular level to the atomic level to the level of the elementary (subatomic) particles, to the level of the Unified Field. The reality of one layer is different from the reality of the other layers, but in fact, there is only one reality and the different “layers” are just the descriptions of that reality at a specific scale of time, space and energy.
The structures and the laws governing those structures may differ, but that is simply because the laws of the grosser levels are just approximations of the laws at the subtler levels, with important details glossed over, because those details are not relevant at the cruder scales. For example, according to quantum mechanics, every particle is described by a wave function. For a macroscopic object, the wavelength of the corresponding wave function is so vanishingly small that the wave nature of the particle can be ignored. The particle obeys Newton’s laws of motion. But for an electron in an atom, where the wavelength is on the same order of magnitude as the size of the atom, we dare not ignore the wave nature of the electron or we’ll get wildly incorrect results.
In the same way I believe, there are layers of creation that are beyond the physical altogether, levels of laws of nature that govern the subtle structures of consciousness as it plays within itself. And just as in the physical case, all these layers interpenetrate, because there is just one creation, one manifest reality. Some of us are developed enough to perceive the subtler layers, most of us are not yet there.
Moving on to the second part of our passage, Rambam first states that the angels are pictured as animals, or part-animals, in order to distinguish them as being of lower rank than Gd, Who is pictured as a human. I think the analogy is obvious, so I won’t dwell on it. However, Rambam goes on to say:
However, an animal shape is attributed to them by attribution of wings only and in no other way. For flying cannot be represented to oneself without wings, just as walking cannot be represented to oneself without legs. For the existence of these facilities cannot possibly be represented to oneself except in so far as they subsist in these substrata. The motion of flying has been chosen in order to point to the angels’ being living beings. For it is the most perfect and the noblest of the motions of the irrational animals, and man believes it to be a great perfection; so that he even wishes to fly in order that it might be easy for him to flee from all that harms him and that he might betake himself swiftly to whatever agrees with him, even if it be far off.
There are some surprising statements here. First of all, why can we not imagine flying without wings? What about magic carpets, which I think have long been part of the cultural repertoire in that part of the world? Also, wings, at least in Ezekiel’s vision, are not all used for flying – certain angels are described as having 3 pairs of wings, one pair of which was used to cover their feet, one pair covered their face, and one pair was used for flying. It’s also unclear why flying is the “most perfect and noblest” motion, except that we can’t do it (in ordinary waking state of consciousness!), while we can walk, or crawl, or swim.
Rambam also notes that part of Ezekiel’s vision of the angels was that they had 4 faces, 3 being animals (lion, ox and eagle). Of course, of these only the eagle can fly. Rambam promises to return to explain this (Part 3, chapter 1), but on the surface it seems to be an exception to his rule. Of course these are only the faces – the angel still flies.
I don’t have the answers to these questions, but Rambam is not finished with the subject of angels, so I will wait for his answers before commenting.
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Just one more point. We have all seen the horrible events in Israel. How did this happen? One thing that was very clear is that Israeli political infighting at the very least took up a lot of our leaders’ attention, attention which could perhaps have been watching our enemies. But the most important thing is that society, and the world, needs more coherence, and it is our responsibility to provide that coherence. We have a 10,000 course coming up, with a “satellite” course in Fairfield, and I urge anyone and everyone who can to attend. And if you can’t, please try to coordinate your program with the group program.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Bereishit
Previously, I presented intuitions about how Never-ending Torah ends with “V’Zot HaBeracha,” the Fruit of the Never-Beginning Seed presented in “Bereishit,” In the Beginning.
• The same intuition applies as this week we continue reading Bereshit.
• ”V’Zot Ha Beracha” means, “And this is the blessing.”
Before we consider this blessing on the level of meaning, let’s consider that Torah is beyond language, beyond verbal definitions and grammar – it is the fundamental liveliness of Gd. On our level of life, of awareness, the sound value of Torah comes closer to the transcendental and all-pervading quality of Torah.
From this standpoint, here are two sources to listen to the beginning of Bereishit: the first is traditional; the second is creative.
1. Bereishit 1-8 with cantillation: Very sweet, easy to listen to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa_g1QOt9y0
2 Very lively. Award-winning singer Noa sings Bereishit with Philarmonic Rishon Le Tzion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYKMWtOlHVE
Consider Bereishit the Seed of Teshuvah — return to Oneness – and V’zot HaBeracha, the last parshah of the Five Books of Torah, the Fruit: Do we see in these parshiyyot and in our lives that the Seed has borne its intended Fruit?
If we take these parshiyyot on the plain level of meaning, no: the children of Israel (that’s not only a long time ago but today and in all times) have not yet entered the Promised Land, and Moses, the great leader, never will.
But perhaps we can say that Moses, one of the guests that visits the sukkah during Succoth, has entered Gan Eden, as tradition has it – not the terrestrial Garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve were evicted – but the Heavenly Garden of Eden in which Gd is enthroned and explains Torah to the residents. Explaining Torah is not just a matter of Gd talking to people but giving the Direct Experience that Torah,Gd and all Gd’s details are One. From this standpoint, Moses and all those who enter Gan Eden have been restored to Oneness and so the seed of Bereishit has borne fruit though V’Zot HaBrachah doesn’t say so.
Later in Bereishit, we see Enoch mentioned as walking with Gd – definitely return to Oneness. Then Noah is called a righteous person, one who Gd trusts to maintain life on our planet when the rest of humanity, due its wickedness, is destroyed in the flood. Only Gd is Fully Righteous so Noah has to be One with Gd to be truly called righteous.
So even early in Torah, even taken on the level of meaning, we see examples of the fruit of the seed appearing: people who walk with Gd, who are righteous.
Also, very importantly, Gd’s Torah, One with Gd, flowed though Moses – what wonderful fruit. Punctuated by the Word, the Command, the Kiss of G-d’s mouth which Parshah V’Zot HaBrachah tells us Moses was the way Moses died. Dying by the Touch of Gd is certainly entering the Promised Land.
Before he died, Moses, man of Gd, servant of Gd, gathered all the tribes together and spoke to them first as one, as the Children of Israel, giving them the command to obey Torah; then he gave specific blessings to each tribe. This is revealing first unity, then the diversity within the unity. This is action that in its Fullness, restores each individual in a community to unity with the community while retaining the special individual role. Symbolically, this gives the Blessing of Oneness on all its Detail.
So, the Five Books of Moses end with ripe fruit.
Having considered the fruit, let us consider the seed which is contained within the fruit and to which we return as on Simchat Torah we begin again reading Bereishit. Bereishit begins in Hebrew: “Bereishit bara Elohim et HaShamayim v’et Ha’aretz…”
The way this is commonly translated to English, Bereishit reads: “In the beginning, Gd created heaven and earth…”. Since Gd is Beginingless and Endless, this cannot be true.
The way the ArtScroll Chumash and chabad.org translate it, it reads, “In the beginning of Gd’s creating the heavens and the earth…”
This is better and according to scholars more grammatically correct but still puts Gd in time and the reality is that time is a role Gd plays in pretending to be limited.
Gd is always One, Wholeness in Detail, so let’s see if we can find a meaning for “beginning” that honors this.
One way is that it refers to any point in the infinite liveliness of Gd because at any point, separation and unification are always going on, and so at any point heaven and earth are always being separated and united.
Within every point is the Whole Unbounded Ocean of Gd so everything is always going on everywhere, in sequence and also in simultaneity. To Gd, Gd is always Totally Present, Infinitely Lively, Infinitely Silent, Omnidirectional, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnijoyful, Omniloving, and so the idea of beginning is just part of Gd’s “let’s pretend” to be limited.
In addition, Wikipedia notes that not only is “bara” a verb that is only used in reference to Gd but it doesn’t mean “create,” it means “differentiate/separate, assign roles to.” From this standpoint, heaven and earth though they are always One, are perpetually separated/distinguished/ from each other and given special roles. So Bereishit refers to the beginning of distinguishing “heaven,” the inner, subtle, abstract level of the details of God, from “earth”, the concrete aspect.
Jeff Benner (ancient-hebrew.org) translates “bara” as “shaped”: from this standpoint, there is neither creating nor separating, there is only refining what already exists.
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, in his “Body, Mind and Soul: Kabbalah on Human Physiology, Disease and Healing,” notes that “create” and “heal” in Hebrew have the same root: b-r-a: from this angle, we can say that the beginning of Torah is always the beginning of healing, of return to Wholeness. This is healing individual humans of their limits and restoring us to our unlimited status as impulses of One, restoring us to our status as the Full Ocean of One functioning through our individual personalities and bodies and also through all impulses of One.
What a Joy to Be Restored to full memory of the reality that only One exists and we are This!
So, creation, healing is eternal, as Torah, the fundamental liveliness of Gd – beyond language, grammar, definition, Gd conversing with Gd – is eternal, never beginning or ending yet always New.
And there are surely many more interpretations of “Bereishit Bara Elohim” everyone’s intuitions will add to the cornucopia.
On the ordinary human level of awareness, this variety of interpretations is consistent with the way we experience life. We are always evolving and seeing more completely. As we rise to higher levels and to Consciousness beyond levels – the Wholeness within which all levels exist – we are able to see the usefulness of each interpretation.
We humans are individual impulses of Gd who pretends to be limited for the fun of playing Hide and Seek, Peek-a-Boo in us, so Gd, pretending to be we limited souls, can have the fun of seeking as us, and Gd as Gd, can have the pleasure of Hinting and Revealing, through Torah sounds, Torah stories, Torah mitzvah and whatever way Gd Wishes.
In this game, this Game, little by little, and also suddenly, we are returned to Wholeness by Gd’s Grace Revealing.
Gd dissolves the veils of limits and reveals to us that Gd is All, within us and all around us, everywhere, One without a Second.
And this can happen with any sound of Torah, any word, any parshah, even the last one as we suddenly See and Know the Truth within the Stories.
And it can happen Now! And any Now! Wherever we are and whatever we’re doing.
Because Torah in a written book is only the most infinitesimal aspect of Torah as One with Gd, Torah as One can hint to us and reveal to us when we’re eating breakfast, walking down a street, snoozing – at any time, any place.
Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good And Evil as well as the serpent, are within us, ready to be clearly experienced as Omnidirectional, All-in-All Points of One, and the duality between Gd and the uncreated creation, is ready to be experienced as the Fun of Gd, always within Gd as One.
So, too, are all the details of Torah as the Book and Torah as Gd. Bereishit is a good seed that bears good fruit in V’Zot Haberacha and it is also the Fruit that sprouts to become all the Books of Torah and to loop back to itself with V’Zot HaBeracha.
Let’s continue doing our best to tune to Gd/Torah with “Be still and know!”; with “to love Gd with all our heart, all our soul and all our might,” with “love our neighbor as our self,” as our Self. As we do. we see, hear, taste, touch, smell the Beauty of Gd in every leaf, every sound, every bite of food, everyone and everything, everywhere.
Very encouraging!
Let’s keep on tuning.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
Baruch HaShem