Parashat Ki Tavo 5782 — 09/17/2022
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.
Devarim 26:1-29:8
Rambam mentioned that the Torah speaks in the language of man, and we took that expression and ran with it into a region I think is valuable, but I doubt it is what Rambam had in mind in our chapter (I:26). He writes:
The meaning of this is that everything that all men are capable of understanding and representing to themselves at first thought has been ascribed to Him as necessarily belonging to Gd, may He be exalted. Hence attributes indicating corporeality have been predicated of Him in order to indicate that He, may He be exalted, exists, inasmuch as the multitude cannot at first conceive of any existence save that of a body alone, thus that which is neither a body nor existent in a body does not exist in their opinion. In a similar way one has ascribed to Him, may He be exalted, everything that in our opinion is a perfection in order to indicate that He is perfect in every manner of perfection and that no deficiency whatever mars Him.
The Torah was given to human beings to understand and to serve as a guide to right action. The understanding is necessary for us to follow the Torah’s guidance so that our action conforms to Gd’s Will. This of course is where Judaism gets its reputation as a very intellectual religion, and no exponent of Judaism is as intellectual as Rambam. Rambam rightly points out that if the Torah expects to be understood by human beings, it must speak in a language that human beings can understand. This, of course, leads to all the anthropomorphisms that Rambam has taken great pains to explain as having figurative meaning only, when used with respect to Gd.
This leads back to Rambam’s conception of “negative theology,” as we discussed when we were talking about the introduction. We cannot say anything positive about Gd, because the “language of man” is by definition finite and would constrain Gd, which is impossible. Thus, he says,
Hence attributes indicating corporeality have been predicated of Him in order to indicate that He, may He be exalted, exists, inasmuch as the multitude cannot at first conceive of any existence save that of a body alone, thus that which is neither a body nor existent in a body does not exist in their opinion.
Most people think in terms of their language. (Someone once commented that our highly monolingual culture [in the US] is dangerous because one begins to confuse “English” with “thinking.” Here’s an example: a friend of mine was married to a German woman who was multilingual. One day she was making tuna sandwiches. Their cat was watching her intently and preparing to spring onto the counter and snatch some of the food. My friend, noticing this, said to the cat, “Don’t even think about it.” The cat understood and backed off. A minute later his wife turned to him and commented, “There’s no way to say that in German!”) What their language can say, they can conceptualize. More important, what they can’t say, they can’t conceptualize. If someone has not experienced the infinite directly, it is very difficult to understand or “picture” an infinite Gd. Even if one does have the experience of the infinite, language will be insufficient to express infinity directly.
Rambam therefore evokes the principle of language of mankind to explain that we do the best we can with our language, but know intellectually that the reality of which we speak transcends the boundaries of thought, speech and visualization. By ascribing this kind of speech to “the multitude,” it may be that the Rambam is hinting that there is an elite among us who can, in fact, reach the level where they can intellectually grasp the infinite directly, transcending the need for speech. I don’t think the intellect (at least the way we understand it) is beyond speech, and consequently I would surmise that Rambam may have meant direct experience of the transcendent by the mind. Presumably, if he can hint at it, he must have had some experience of the transcendent himself. But this, of course, is speculation on my part.
From the perspective of Vedic Science, as we have been discussing, the language of man is equivalent to the language of nature, and nature is just the internal dynamics of the infinite. So rather than language of man being a concession to our finite minds and limited conceptual ability, it turns out to be a statement of the fact that human consciousness, in its most highly developed state, contains infinity, and all the internal dynamics of infinity, within it. Therefore, when we speak of Gd’s limbs, or actions, in anthropomorphic terms, we are actually expressing the sequence of sounds that describe the internal dynamics of creation-within-Gd. Clearly these terms cannot be interpreted literally, but, as opposed to what Rambam appears to be saying, neither are they entirely figurative either. As Rambam points out later in the current chapter, it is impossible to ascribe motion to Gd, because only bodies (that exist within space and time) move. Nor can we ascribe change to Gd, because only bodies that have parts (and exist within space and time) can be said to change. All this is true from a creation’s-eye view. From Gd’s perspective, since creation exists as virtual activity within Gd, all the attributes of change and motion can refer to virtual activity within Gd. Where we see paradox, Gd sees only harmony.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Ki Tavo (When you come in)
All the parshiyyot (parts) of Torah have levels: At the deepest level, they are vibrations of Gd, Gd’s Name, The Liveliness of Gd. Listening to these vibrations helps us to attune to Gd, Totality, to gain teshuvah, restoration to the Primordial Oneness.
But they also have meaning, stories, commandments that give us principles, values, rules for living life in the everyday way and attuning us to Gd through our sacred behavior, our religious behavior.
In this parshah, as in all of the Book of Devarim, (Deuteronomy), Gd, through Moses, is preparing the Children of Israel to enter the Promised Land. Torah is for everyone, for all times, so he is preparing us, too, to enter the Promised Land – not only the physical Land of Canaan, but more importantly, the Real Promised Land – dwelling in Gd, Totality.
The first words are encouraging: Ki Tavo means “when you come in”, not when you go in. The encouragement is that Gd is inviting the Children of Israel to come in – to join Him in the Promised Land, not just sending us out from the familiar land into an unknown one where we will have to fend for ourselves.
2. Encouragement is also given by the part of the parshah in which Moses says, (paraphrase) “You have selected the Lrd this day, and He has selected you.” This means whenever we move toward Wholeness-Gd – Gd moves toward us. A little love on our part brings Infinite Love from Gd.
3. Encouragement is given by the last words of the parshah: “And you shall observe the words of this covenant and fulfill them, in order that you will succeed in all that you do.” Moses tells us we will observe and fulfill, not that we must, but we will.
4. Encouragement also comes from the fact that our ancestors claimed Torah for everyone, not just for the Levites – the teachers and priests. Moses rejoiced over this, “… until this day, the Lrd has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear.” But today you have chosen Torah, chosen Gd, and you have become a people – a community, not just a collection of individuals.
Fortunately, for us, Gd has given our hearts enough Knowingness that we choose Him; enough eyes and ears that we can appreciate the beauty of Gd’s Creation, the Impulses of Gd, Flows of Gd that that are our primary food, shelter, clothing, that are the Joy of Being Alive and Together.
And, fortunately, He Is, as He has told Moses earlier, Beyond Time, “I Was, I Am, and I Will Be” so He is all there is, and He is always guiding us to open our hearts to Him – to our Self, to One.
And, also fortunately, we have examples, in our Jewish tradition, of Tzaddikim, the righteous, people whose hearts, eyes and ears were open enough to follow Torah well and to pass on traditions of openness. These examples confirm for us that the Goal is near, not far. (paraphrasing, “It is within to us to achieve”) Examples of Tzaddikim are the Baal Shem Tov and Schneur Zalman of Lyadi: The Baal Shem Tov we honor for bringing Direct Experience of Gd back into Judaism and bringing also the emphasis on Joy and Love in the services. Schneur Zalman we honor for being the founder of Chabad: “Ch” for “Chochmah,” Wisdom, “B” for “Binah,” Understanding, and “D” for “Da’at,” Knowledge, the Personal Aspect of Gd as Totality. He is the author of “Tanya”, a kabbalistic explanation of Torah that seeks to add the intellectual element to the Baal Shem Tov’s highly experience and feeling-based approach.
5. We can gain encouragement from the command to offer the first fruits – symbolically, the first fruits of any of our actions – to Gd: it means fruits will be there and we will have hearts open enough to express gratitude by offering them.
6. Similarly, the command to tithe to Levites, stranger, orphan and widow gives us the chance to keep our heart open and to share what we have earned in the awareness that our earnings are gifts from Gd to be shared. We are encouraged because Gd only commands us to do what we are able to do and so this commandment assures us that we will not be living bare-bones lives with not a penny to spare but we will have enough to share.
7. Through Moses, Gd commanded our ancestors to set up huge stones plastered with lime on which “you will write the Torah.” For us, hardbound copies or Torah on our computer or the Internet will serve. But in reality, it is our good actions that lead us to be aware of Torah in our hearts, Torah as the Liveliness of Gd, One with Gd. And it is our good actions that make Torah in our hearts, tablets of Joy and Love, not of stone.
8. Fortunately, even the curses that will be spoken from Mt. Ebal (as proclaimed in Parshah Re’eh) will have a quality of blessing in them because they will be proclaimed from the mountain on which Gd has put His Name and an altar has been built and because they issue from the Mouth of Gd and are intended to restore us to act with Gd’s Will and no longer to praise ourselves as if we were the Author of our accomplishments.
So this parshah gives us encouragement today that by reading Torah, listening to Torah, following Torah we can attune ourselves to Gd and enter the Promised Land, Oneness with Gd, full restoration of our awareness.
Baruch HaShem!