Parashat Chukat 5782 — 07/09/2022
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.
Bamidbar 19:1-22:1
Rambam next considers the root ‘abor / to pass. This is the root of the word ‘ivri = Hebrew because “Abraham was on one side of the river and the whole world was on the other side.” Unlike most of the other roots we have been dealing with, this root is indicative of some dynamic action – the action of crossing over or passing by. Consequently, when we go to apply it to Gd, Who is All-encompassing and unmoving, we need to take a somewhat different approach than we did with concepts such as height and distance. Rambam writes:
To pass [‘abor]. The first meaning of this term is that of passage [RAR: Rambam uses the cognate Arabic term] in Arabic; and the first instances of its being used as concerned with the movements of living beings over a certain distance in a straight line. [RAR: It’s not clear to me why Rambam insists the line be straight – it seems that an insect flitting from one end of the room to the other in a very tortuous path has also “passed” over the length of the room.] Thus: And he passed over them; Pass before the people. Such instances are numerous. Subsequently the word was used figuratively to signify the propagation of sounds in the air. Thus: And they caused a voice to pass throughout the camp; Which I hear the Lord’s people cause to pass. Afterwards the word was figuratively used to signify the descent of the light and of the Indwellings seen by the prophets in the vision of prophecy. Thus it says: And behold a smoking furnace and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. This happened in a vision of prophecy. For it says at the beginning of the story: And a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and so on. It is in conformity with this figurative use that it is said: And I shall pass through the land of Egypt, and that the term is used in all similar instances.
In the instances that Rambam cites, it seems that the figurative use is not so far from the physical use. After all, a sound (“voice”) is an actual, physical wave (sound wave) that is made up of moving, physical particles and which transmits (“passes”) actual, physical energy and momentum as it propagates through space. A voice (announcement) can literally pass through the camp, whether by megaphone or speaker system, or by a crier passing through the camp and making his announcement over and over. In each case, something physical is passing through the camp, whether it is a concrete body or not.
Even if we are talking about a vision of prophecy, such as Avraham’s vision at the Covenant Between the Pieces, we see (i.e. Avraham saw) the flaming torch literally passing through the space between the severed animal carcasses. The usage is only figurative in the sense that there was, according to Rambam, no physical torch, yet it is concrete in that the vision was of a concrete torch performing a very concrete motion.
When we turn to using the terms in relation to Gd, the story is completely different. Since Gd transcends space and time, there is no question of any passage of Gd anywhere. Gd fills all space and is eternal. There is no motion or change when we talk about Gd, and therefore there is no room to use the word to pass. All of creation takes place virtually within Gd, so in a sense, even when discussing creation, things only appear to change or move, but from a creation’s-eye view, we do use the word pass.
Rambam’s approach, which may be based on Onkelos’ Aramaic Targum (translation) of Torah, posits that verbs like to pass actually refer not to Gd directly, but to some limited aspect or manifestation of Gd. Rambam continues in the passage quoted above:
In my opinion the dictum of Scripture, And the Lord passed by before his face, conforms to this last figurative use; the possessive suffix in the third person attached to the Hebrew word face [RAR: face = panim, his face = panav] mentioned in the verse is that of Gd, may He be exalted. Though they [RAR: the Sages] have mentioned this opinion while setting forth legends that are out of place here, this affords some corroboration for our view.
Whenever Scripture speaks of Gd’s Face or Gd’s Hands or Gd’s Feet, it certainly does not refer to bodily parts, since Gd is not corporeal and is not a composite being made up of parts. The entire first section of the Guide is dedicated to this proposition. All these anthropomorphisms describe the various ways that Gd appears to us to be interacting with creation. Since the creation is finite, the interaction, again, from the point of view of creation, appears to be finite, and therefore these equivocal terms can apply to it.
Rambam now discusses how Onkelos handles these ideas:
As Scripture says: And I will cover thee with My hand until I have passed. The [Aramaic] translation of the Bible, when rendering this verse, does what it customarily does in similar cases. For in every case in which it finds that a thing is ascribed to Gd to which the doctrine of corporeality or some concomitants of this doctrine are attached, it assumes that the nomen regens* has been omitted and considers that the ascription concerns something expressed by a term that is the nomen regens of the genitive Gd and that has been omitted. Thus when Scripture says, And, behold, the Lord stood erect upon it, it translates: The glory of the Lord stood arrayed above it. Again when Scripture says, The Lord watch between me and thee, it translates: The Word of the Lord shall watch [between me and thee]. This occurs throughout the translation of [Onkelos], peace be upon him. He does the same thing with regard to the dictum of Scripture, And the Lord passed by before his face, which he translates: The Lord caused his Indwelling to pass before his face, and he called.
*For those of you who have never heard the term nomens regens, here’s the Wiktionary definition (I had to look it up):
nomen regens
(grammar) The first of the two nouns in status constructus, which occurs in a phonetically abbreviated state. For example, in Hebrew, the word “queen” standing alone is malkah. When the word is possessed, as in “Queen of Sheba” (literally “Sheba’s Queen”), it becomes malkat sheba, in which malkat is the construct state (possessed) form and malkah is the absolute (unpossessed) form. Thus, the possessed noun in the construct state (Queen) is the nomen regens (governing noun), and the possessor noun, often in the genitive case (Sheba’s), is the nomen rectum (governed noun).
What this boils down to is this: Whenever Gd Himself is said to be doing anything, Onkelos supplies the missing aspect of Gd, albeit a non-corporeal one (Indwelling = Shechinah, “glory” which is often visualized as a cloud or a pillar of fire) to serve as the non-infinite, changeable aspect that can indeed “do” or “become” or whatever the verse is saying about Gd. In other words, if the original Hebrew doesn’t indicate a “contraction” of Gd in order that He be able to interact with creation, then Onkelos will make this “contraction” explicit in his translation. And of course Rambam is telling us that this is the way we should read these verses as well.
Rambam has more to say on this topic, and we will, Gd willing, take his further comments up next week.
**************************************************************************************
Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Chukat
In this parashah, Miriam dies, the well that follows her dries up, the people complain, Gd tells Moses to take his rod, speak to a rock and water will come out of it, Moses instead strikes the rock and Gd denies him entrance to the Promised Land for his disobedience — there are different rabbinical theories about why Gd denies Moses entrance but Torah is very clear that Gd did deny Moses entrance.
Does that mean that Moses lost his chance for teshuvah, return to primordial Oneness?
Put it another way: when Moses is denied entry to the physical land of Canaan, Eretz Israel, does that mean he’s also denied entrance to the spiritual Promised Land, the land of fully developed awareness?
No, this Land he can enter. And, perhaps, since he has been a conduit for Gd to speak through him, he is already in this Land. He struck the rock because Gd guided him to strike the rock, even though Gd told him to speak to the rock.
Let us see what we can find in Torah and in this parashah that supports this view, not only for Moses but for every generation, including our own and all future generations.
1) “Be Thou holy”:
Gd many times said, “Be thou Holy, for I Am Holy” (for example, Leviticus 11:44) and has given many directions that suggest how this can be done; for example, “Love the Lrd thy Gd with all thy heart, all thy might and all thy soul.” This Love is something Moses clearly has: even when he pleads with Gd to give forgiveness to wrongdoers, Moses is loving Gd with all his heart and soul, pleading for the life of people who are expressions of Gd, even though Gd is seeming to hide within them, even though they seem to be unaware that they are the Whole hidden in Its Expressions. “Loving Gd” is something that clearly doesn’t depend on entering the physical Promised Land.
2) Gd earlier in Torah (Numbers 12:8) describes Moses as someone with whom Gd speaks mouth to mouth, clearly, not in riddles.
What will make the physical Promised Land a spiritual place will be the ease with which people can perceive Gd’s Presence in it: since Moses is already in Gd’s Presence (and serves as the physical body through whom Gd’s Voice speaks to the people) Moses is already living in the spiritual Promised Land even though he cannot enter the physical Promised Land.
3) Going beyond duality.
Teshuvah, return to Oneness, requires going beyond the struggle between opposites; for example, requires seeing that Gd is within Egypt (“Mitzrayim”, restrictions), within the wilderness/desert (barrenness/Transcendent Fullness) and within the Promised Land (“Canaan”, synchronicity, Wholeness with its details, freedom along with restrictions). In serving Gd, anyone, not just Moses, can experience this Awareness that Gd is All-in-All, Wholeness containing duality and multiplicity.
4) Perceiving Gd in All.
Experiencing that All is One requires perceiving Gd in All. When Gd denies Moses entrance into the physical Promised Land, He is forcing Moses to experience freedom within restrictions: to accept the restriction of not entering the physical Promised Land and to find freedom within that restriction. Gd is the Restrictor and the Restriction: The Restriction is Filled with Gd’s Presence. Gd is setting up the condition in which Gd as Gd begins to reveal Himself fully to Gd, playing the role of Moses; Gd begins to reveal Himself as Unlimited, and His Moses role begins no longer to be lost in weeping over loss, exulting over gain, but begins to perceive himself as the Wholeness that flows in Streams of Loss and Gain, of Weeping and Exulting.
The same thing happens to us: Gd hides within each of us, playing the role of the limited people that we are and Gd may sometimes give us restrictions that force our limited self to surrender, open to Gd within our self, as Gd–always Gd, always Whole, always One – begins to soften the limits and to reveal that we are what we always are: One!
This Revelation becomes clearer, deeper, longer lasting, through our innocent desire and actions to serve Gd, to do God’s Will, as we know it from family traditions, religious traditions, spiritual practices, Torah on the surface, Torah in the Transcendent and our intuition.
Baruch HaShem