Parashat VaYakhel 5784 — 03/09/2024
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.
Shemot 35:1-38:20
This is a leap year, so Vayakhel and Pekudei are read on separate Shabbatot; Vayakhel is this week and Pekudei next week.
Rambam now takes up the question of likeness:
Know that likeness is a certain relation between two things and that in cases where no relation can be supposed to exist between two things, no likeness between them can be represented to oneself. Similarly in all cases in which there is no likeness between two things, there is no relation between them. An example of this is that one does not say that this heat is like this color, or that this voice is like this sweetness. This is a matter that is clear in itself. Accordingly, in view of the fact that the relation between us and Him, may He be exalted, is considered as nonexistent – I mean the relation between Him and that which is other than He – it follows necessarily that likeness between Him and us should also be considered nonexistent.
Rambam is considering the possibility of comparing two things. If two things share characteristics then they can be compared and we can judge if one is “like” the other. In fact, in English, we may “like” someone (or we may “like” a Facebook post), meaning that we identify with that person (or that post) in some significant way. But the main point to note here is that for two things to be compared, there has to be an axis (or perhaps more than one) that is shared by the two things. In Rambam’s example, we can decide if two colors are alike because they are on the same axis (or in the same three-dimensional RGB color space). But we can’t compare colors and tastes, because they have nothing in common with which to compare.
Going a bit deeper into our previous example, we can find a more abstract level on which color and taste can in fact be compared. Both colors and tastes are sensory impressions, and sense impressions can be pleasant or unpleasant. This is a different axis, and it’s certainly not one that we are used to, but it’s a comparison that makes sense on its level. The point I want to make here is that the question “Is A like B” depends very much at what dimensions we’re looking at. Comparing apples to oranges may not generally be a good idea, but if you’re asking “what kind of fruit is generally sweeter” then it may be a very apt comparison.
Here is a very real world example. My daughter was visiting me in Fairfield with her then two year old son. He wanted to go on the swings, so we walked through a hot, summer Fairfield afternoon to the park. There were two swings that were safe for him to go in, and of course we were going to have to push him. Each of the two swings was made of the same design, the same materials and had the same length of chain as the other. One swing was in the hot sun and the other was in the shade. Little Nathaniel wanted to go on the sunny one. We told him better to go on the other one, but he was insisting. We told him that the two swings were the same, but he insisted that they were in fact different. Due to our greater size, strength and age we were able to get him in the shady swing, but as we were pushing him we contemplated the meaning of “the same” vs “different.” To our perspective, the physical feeling of rising against gravity and falling back, and feeling the boost of the push at just the right time, were the salient features of the swing. Under those criteria the swings were the same. We adults certainly recognized the difference between the two, because we wanted to be in the shade, so it’s not that the difference was not essential to our evaluation. What we were pointing out to Nathaniel is that from his point of view the swings were (or should be considered the same). Had he been older than two he would have shot back that from our point of view the swings should be considered different, and we just disagreed over which of the different swings we were going to use.
Here is another example from physics. Atoms are composed of elementary particles – for our purposes, protons and neutrons in the nucleus and electrons outside the nucleus, in patterns called “orbitals.” All this is described by quantum mechanics – the “orbitals” are patterns of the wave function of the electrons. The square of the wave function gives the probability of measuring the electron in any particular position. We can never measure the wave function directly, only its square.
Now consider a Helium atom. A Helium atom has two electrons in the lowest energy orbital outside the nucleus. What happens if we switch the two electrons? As far as anything we can measure goes, absolutely nothing at all! (For those sticklers for precision, the joint wave function of the two electrons flips sign, + values become – and vice versa. Since we take the square of the wave function to get measurements, the sign flip goes away – (-1)² = +1 – so there is no difference before vs. after.) What this means is that the two electrons – any two electrons in fact – are indistinguishable from one another. They may be in different quantum states, but as far as their intrinsic nature goes, all electrons are exactly the same, indistinguishable in principle.
Why is this? The answer goes to the nature of what an electron actually is. We started by thinking of the electrons as little particles, each existing by itself in the space outside the nucleus. In truth, electrons are not little individual particles. In fact, they are actually states of excitation of an underlying field. If the field is not excited, we don’t see any electrons. One unit of excitation appears to us as one electron. Two units of excitation appears as two electrons, etc. So electrons are indistinguishable because they are actually not separate entities that could theoretically be different from one another. The questions of likeness, difference and comparison do not arise, because we are not dealing with two separate entities.
If we take this to a deeper level, physicists believe that underlying all the fields in the universe is one Unified Field. When this Unified Field vibrates in a particular mode it appears as electrons, and in other modes it appears as all the different elementary particles and their interactions. On one level the particles are different from one another – they are vibrations of distinct modes of the Unified Field. On a deeper level however, all particles are the “same” – they are all vibrations of the Unified Field. And since everything is just a pattern of vibration of the Unified Field, , on one level, the level of the Unified Field, everything is the same, for all the difference we see on more expressed levels.
However, one thing is unlike all the manifestations of the Unified Field, and that is the Unified Field itself. The Unified Field transcends all its expressions, even though all of those expressions are nothing more than the Unified Field itself, vibrating. There is no way to compare the Unified Field to its expressions – they are totally different in kind. And I think this is the point Rambam is making about Gd (you knew I would bring it back to this, didn’t you?) – Gd is radically different from all of creation, such that there is no intersection between their qualities that can be compared. There is no axis on which creation exists that encompasses Gd in any way. Even though we say “Gd is One,” meaning the only existence in reality, and all of creation exists within Gd, we still cannot compare Gd with creation. We cannot liken the container to the contents so to speak. The transcendent, by definition, is beyond everything in manifest creation. In Rambam’s words, “…likeness between Him and us should also be considered nonexistent.”
Gd willing we will continue this discussion next week.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Vayakhel
Vayakhel (“and he assembled”) emphasizes the building of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle); the materials through Divine Design, wise craftspeople to build, pure hearts to donate the materials. The following parshah, Pekudei, emphasizes the construction of the Priestly Garments When both were completed, Gd’s Glory filled the Mishkan (Gd’s Glory Is always there – our ancestors became aware of It.). (Brother Bob adds: This is true on one level, but there’s an opinion that when everything came together it created a kind of focusing effect that made the experience of Gd’s Glory much more intense.)
Our pure individualities are the Tabernacle; our good actions are the Priestly Garments. Combine them and we become Aware of Gd’s Presence, Gd’s Glory.
In the previous parshah, Ki Tisa, Moses asked Gd to “Show me your Glory.” Gd said “I will show you My Back but My Face you cannot see for no man can see My Face and live.” This means “I can show you My Material Values but in My Transcendent Wholeness all individuals are restored to the Reality that all specifics are roles Gd plays – individuals become All-in-All and their attachment to a single personality is lost.
The same Hebrew word translated as “Glory” is used in both Vayakhel and Pekudei: “kavod.” The construction of the Mishkan and the Priestly Garments created a harmonious resonance with Moses and with everyone so that more of the full perception of Gd’s Presence, Gd’s Glory, was possible but Full Awareness of Gd still depended then, as it does now, on the maturity of the soul of the perceiver and on the ability of the individual to experience Gd’s Transcendent Wholeness because of the purity of his nervous system.
Kabbalah is the tradition of looking into Torah and finding deeper levels of meaning; for example, Kabbalah views Gd as “Ein Sof,” Endless, also Beginningless, One, Eternal. It views individual souls as expressions of this Oneness remaining within the Oneness but diminishing progressively and then rising again until the full Reality is experienced: only Gd exists, everyone and everything is an expression of Gd, always within Gd and our individuality is Gd playing a game which Gd eventually (soon! we hope. Now! we hope) lets our individual souls win by returning to our status as Oneness, All-in-All.
From this standpoint, the meticulous design and building of the Mishkan was a help to experience Gd’s Presence but to return to the Oneness everyone had to also perform the offerings and other actions Gd Prescribed to be performed in the Mishkan and also the other aspects of living that Gd prescribed.
There are many guidelines Gd gives Moses to give us (the traditional version is that there are 613) and some can only be performed when the Temple is standing and we are in it but the basic ones are: “The Lrd, thy Gd, Is One;” “Love the Lrd Thy Gd with all thy heart, soul and mind,” “Love thy neighbor as thyself (thy Self),” “Be Still and Know that I Am Gd.”
Through our taking good care of our self and our Self and through our good actions we become spontaneously more appreciative of the beauty of the world within us and around us and the gift of life within us. Thus, we grow to love Gd with all our heart, soul and mind and we grow to appreciate and love the sweetness of being in communities where people appreciate each other, help each other, are kind to each other. We grow in our ability to love our neighbor as ourself and our Self. We grow in the ability to Be Still and Know Wholeness, Gd.
Through appreciation, gratitude, love, good actions, service we are restored to Oneness, the Fullness of Love and Joy, and Gd’s Glory is Fully Present in us as All-in-All of which our individualities are fully restored expressions.
In describing the details of building the Mishkan and the Priestly Garments according to Gd’s Plan, these parshiyyot help to inspire us to appreciate the world within us and around us as Mishkan, a Tabernacle, a Temple which we are in the process of building and help us to appreciate our good actions as Priestly Garments. These parshiyyot help us to appreciate Gd’s Gory and Gd’s Design imprinted within us and within all. Our appreciation and our actions bring the Grace that restores us to Full Awareness of Oneness.
Those who are wise guide us as those Gd filled with wisdom created the parts of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, which they brought to Moses who assembled them into a Whole. Those who are pure give us Love which is the Fullness of every donation and which unifies the parts of our personalities and assembles them into a Community, The Whole.
We may have a vision of the Whole that allows us to create each part according to the plan, human or divine. but to assemble the parts into a whole, a Whole, we must have harmony with ourself, with our surroundings, with Gd, so that we assemble from a level of Wholeness.
“Moses” is a quality of Wholeness, connectedness, that is within each of us, within everybody.
Through our innocence, our faith, our service, this level of Wholeness becomes more and more functional in our lives; we gain the Support of Nature, of Gd, to complete our tasks in a way that is Joyful and lasting. Our personalities, bodies, homes become Tabernacles, Temples within which Gd’s Presence is experienced as the Eternal Reality.
Once this is done, Gd’s Presence fills the Tabernacle. Gd’s Presence, of course, Was and Is always there, but the Fully Assembled Mishkan enables those within it to perceive what Is always there.
How fortunate we are, to be innocent, to trust, to serve, to be blessed and to live our lives as blessings so that Gd’s Presence becomes more and more fully visible to all of us, to everyone!
How fortunate we are!
Baruch HaShem!