Parashat Vayigash 5782 — 12/11/2021
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.
Bereshit 44:18-47:27
Last week we saw that the Hebrew terms tzelem and demut have to have a deeper meaning than mere physical resemblance, especially as Gd has no physical form. Rambam continues his discussion:
The term image [tzelem], on the other hand, is applied to the natural form, I mean to the notion in virtue of which a thing is constituted as a substance and becomes what it is. It is the true reality of the thing in so far as the latter is that particular being. In man that notion is that from which human apprehension derives. It is on account of this intellectual apprehension that it is said of man: In the image of Gd created He him. For this reason, also, it is said: Thou contemnest their image (Ps 73:20). For contempt has for its object the soul, which is the specific form, not the shape and configuration of the parts of the body. I assert also that the reason why idols are called images lies in the fact that what was sought in them was the notion that was deemed to subsist in them, and not their shape and configuration.
In what way(s) then, are we “like” Gd? Rambam continues:
That which was meant in the scriptural dictum, let us make man in our image (Gen 1:26), was the specific form, which is intellectual apprehension, not the shape and configuration. We have explained to you the difference between image and form, and have explained the meaning of image.
Here it appears that Rambam associates our intellectual activity with that part of the human personality that is in “Gd’s Image.” As we have surmised, when Rambam is talking about the intellect he is not talking about what we understand the intellect to be, namely the discursive thought process by which we make distinctions among the various aspects of creation. This is certainly a function of the intellect, and one which we share with Gd. Gd divided sacred from ordinary, light from darkness, Heaven and earth, etc. However, it is certainly not uniquely human – animals can make distinctions and do so constantly, because their lives depend on it. We will return to this point shortly.
There is another area of “likeness” between Gd and human beings, and that is in the area of speech. Gd creates by means of speech: And Gd said, “Let there be light” and there was light (Gen 1:3). Similarly, human beings have speech. Scripture says (in Hebrew), And he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul (Gen 2:7); the standard Aramaic translation of Onkelos renders living soul as speaking soul. We discussed earlier that the fundamental vibrations of Pure Consciousness that are the foundation of all matter and all the laws of nature, are perceptible as the sounds of human speech. In Vedic Science the record of these sounds is the Veda, and we have surmised that, despite the differences in language and phonetics, Torah is also a record of the same cognition. We will return to this point shortly.
A further two areas of “likeness” between Gd and humans are the related areas of creativity and free will. The relationship between these two should be obvious – one whose thoughts and actions are externally determined (whether by genetics or conditioning or particular circumstances) cannot do anything outside this predetermined programming. Only someone who is free can create something new and unexpected. Unexpected means unpredictable, and unpredictability implies freedom to choose. Gd is of course perfectly free and infinitely creative. Most significantly, human beings have free will, and therefore can create. All art, music, science, literature, culture is human creation, and therefore speaks to the choices we make in the way we live our lives and arrange our societies. It appears that other species demonstrate creativity in some aspects of their lives (e.g. toolmaking), but I don’t believe any other species creates art for its own sake, nor do other species investigate the universe in a systematic way. So, these characteristics appear to be unique to human beings.
I believe that the common thread running through all these “likenesses” between Gd and human beings is that they all involve self-consciousness. Intellectual activity, creative activity, speech and will all arise from our sense of being an independent actor, the subject in a world of objects. According to Vedic Science, it is precisely the self-referential nature of consciousness that is at the basis of cosmic creativity.
Gd’s “problem,” so to speak, in creating the world, was first to get from Unity to Duality – from 1 to 2. Gd is unbroken Unity, not made up of parts – so how do duality, and multiplicity appear? According to Vedic Science, it arises on the basis of Gd’s conscious nature. We are conscious, and we have the ability of self-consciousness, so certainly Gd, as our Creator, must also have consciousness. In Gd’s case, Gd must be aware of Himself, as there is nothing outside of Gd. Gd therefore assumes the roles of both Observer and Observed (and the process of observation is also internal to Gd) – a kind of virtual dichotomy within Gd’s nature (emphasis on virtual – this entire “process” takes place within Gd). Thus, creativity is a direct, natural consequence of Gd’s Consciousness!
I believe the same is true of human beings. Our ability to create within the world that Gd created, is based on the extent to which we are conscious. We all have the ability to develop our consciousness to the point where we identify with the silent level of Pure Consciousness within us, and to project our thoughts from that level into action. We engage in the same form of creation that Gd does – becoming aware of our Self, we find that all creativity takes place within our Self. I think this is the most profound way that we are made in Gd’s image and likeness.
Next week, Gd willing, we will proceed with Chapter 2.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Vayigash (“and he drew near”)
To whom do we wish to draw near? Most importantly, to Gd, to Wholeness, All-in-All, One without a Second, All Included, Nothing left out. People who can help us get closer are people we do our best to draw near to.
To draw near to Gd, we would like to be healthy and happy and we would like to have those who are dear us to healthy and happy, too. If we are happy and they are suffering we want to draw them near to us. In this parshah, Joseph plays tricks on his brothers in order to get his whole suffering family to draw near to him and for all the family to draw closer to Gd.
Previously, the famine in Canaan caused Jacob to send ten of his sons to Mitzrayim (Egypt) to draw near the food supply Mitzrayim had stored up during years of abundance. Mitzrayim had stored up food because Joseph correctly interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams about seven sickly cows swallowing seven healthy ones and seven shriveled heads of wheat swallowing seven healthy ones. Joseph’s interpretation was that seven good years of abundant food would be followed by seven years of famine. He suggested to Pharaoh, the ruler of Mitzrayim, that he store up food during the abundant years so they will have enough during the famine years. Pharaoh was wise enough to recognize that Joseph was divinely inspired and made Joseph viceroy of Mitzrayim, second only to Pharaoh and de facto ruler of Mitzrayim.
When Joseph’s ten brothers draw near, Joseph plays tricks on them in order to get his youngest brother, Benjamin, and his father Jacob also to draw near so the whole family will be re-united as a family not as a collection of individuals lost in their own desires. When a family is drawn together in this way, this is a taste of the reunion of isolated streams of life so they are brought together to experience the Wholeness that is greater than any of Its expressions, a taste of the reunion of the diversity of creation with the Unity that is Gd, the Wholeness within which all individuals exist as expressions of Wholeness.
It is a taste of teshuvah, a taste of what life is like when the isolation of individuality is graced by the Wholeness of Gd and all limitations dissolve in the Unlimitedness of Gd.
One of the tricks Joseph plays is to hide a silver goblet in his brother Benjamin’s bag so he can discover it and claim that Benjamin is a thief. and must serve as Joseph’s slave.
The reunion begins when Judah draws near to Joseph, appealing to him that he will serve as slave to Joseph, instead of his brother Benjamin, child of his father Jacob’s old age. Judah pleads that Benjamin is most dear to his father and his father would die if Benjamin does not return to him.
Joseph is moved by Judah’s loyalty to his father and reveals that he is their brother Joseph, saying for them not to regret their selling him into slavery because it was all ordained by Gd to save the family at time of famine.
In our own lives, we can look at our own faults and those we see in others as being ordained by Gd in order to cause us and others to let go the limited level of awareness we have and move to a greater wholeness and to Wholeness. It is a good lesson in letting go regrets and resentments and living in gratitude and forgiveness.
“Drawing near” is a means to get a taste of the reunification not only of Joseph’s family but also of all individuals with Gd. Torah gives a hint of this greater unification by sometimes calling Jacob, “Jacob” and sometimes “Israel”. “Jacob” means “heel”, spirituality clinging to the heel of materialism to infuse spirituality into “materialism”. “Israel” means something like “in the Splendor of Gd”, “embracing Gd”, “prevailing over Gd”. This is spirituality opening itself to the One Spirit, the Wholeness that is Gd.
When given the news that Joseph is alive and functional master of Egypt, as Jacob he is mistrustful but when he sees the wealth Joseph gave to his brothers, “his spirit is revived” and now that he believes Joseph is still alive, his trust in Gd is restored–he is called “Israel” and as Israel he sets out for Egypt, making offerings to God at Beersheba (“well of the oath”, and “well of seven”) where Abraham and Abhimelech swore an oath that recognized Abraham’s right to the well and to the land around it, giving Abraham some evidence that Gd’s promise to give him and his descendants land is being fulfilled.
When our lives are pure, then the signs that we are living in harmony with Gd’s Will become apparent to others and our right to the fruits of our labor is honored.
At the highest level, the land we want is the Land of Wholeness, One without a Second; the well we dig is our spiritual practices that open our awareness to the Inexhaustible Water that is Gd.; and the fruits of our labor are Full Restoration of our Awareness to the reality that we are One without a Second playing the role of us and of all.
When we trust that all happens according to Gd’s Will, that everything is done with the purpose of restoring us to Oneness, then we are no longer Jacob, spirituality clinging to the heel of materiality, but Israel, raised by the perception of Wholeness as the Essence of materiality, to awareness of our own Wholeness, our own Oneness.
Gd gives Israel a vision in the night, yet he calls to him “Jacob, Jacob”, —though Gd may refer to us in our limited aspect it is to wake us up to our Unlimitedness.
Gd tells him not to be afraid of going to Egypt because Gd will protect him, make him a great nation, take him into Egypt and raise him from there.
chabad.org suggests that Jacob and Israel refer to qualities of the human being: as Jacob we are innocent, but toil; but as Israel we are children of God, and enjoy the tranquil, non-toiling relationship beyond struggle.
Loyalty (“Love thy neighbor as thyself”) is a means to reunification with the Jacob aspect of ourself, the human servant aspect. “Offering” to Gd is a means to unfold more of the Israel aspect of ourself, the divine aspect. Through love of our neighbors/family/all beings/all diversity, we raise the toiling aspect of ourself to the higher level of our self — non-toiling, delighting as Children of Gd, delighting in the Oneness that is our Self, the Only Self, Pure Delight, Free from Toil.
Today, in Judaism, we give prayers instead of animals as our offerings. Through love we draw near and our actions and prayer become Pure, reuniting us to all, as we rise to All-in-All, to One, Pure Love, Pure Joy, Pure Delight.
This is a good lesson that Torah teaches us through the story of Joseph and his family drawing near.
Baruch HaShem.