Parashat Vayikra 5784 — 03/23/2024
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.
Vayikra 1:1-5:26
Rambam continues with his discussion of attributes from a different angle.
On the attributes; more obscure than what preceded. It is known that existence is an accident attaching to what exists. For this reason it is something that is superadded to the quiddity of what exists. This is clear and necessary with regard to everything the existence of which has a cause. Hence its existence is something that is superadded to its quiddity.
As for that which has no cause for its existence, there is only Gd, may He be magnified and glorified, who is like that. For this is the meaning of our saying about Him, may He be exalted, that His existence is necessary. Accordingly, His existence is identical with His essence and His true reality, and His essence is His existence. Thus His essence does not have an accident attaching to it when it exists, in which case its existence would be a notion that is superadded to it. For His existence is necessary always; it is not something that may come suddenly to Him nor an accident that may attain Him. Consequently He exists, but not through an existence other than His essence; and similarly He lives, but not through life, He is powerful, but not through power, He knows, but not through knowledge. For all these attributes refer back to one notion in which there is no idea of multiplicity, as will he made clear.
I had to look up quiddity too, because I don’t think the Harry Potter books were around in Rambam’s time: Quiddity is a noun that means the basic nature or quality of something that makes it different from other things. It is also called “whatness” or the essence of an object.
Rambam here argues that existence is an accident in cases other than Gd. In other words, for all of us mortals we can exist or not: existence is something which is attached to our essence, and may be so attached or not, like a set of clothes on a mannequin, which can be swapped out for something else without changing the basic structure of the mannequin. Such is of course not the case with Gd. Rambam describes Gd’s existence as “necessary,” which appears to mean that there is no circumstance under which Gd does not exist. The argument is that if Gd’s existence were not “necessary” it would be dependent on something external to Gd. Since there is nothing outside of Gd, Gd’s existence cannot be dependent on anything and is therefore “necessary.” This necessary aspect of Gd’s existence means that there is no separation between Gd’s essence and Gd’s existence.
In the same way, Gd has knowledge, but it is a knowledge that is inseparable from Gd’s essence. Our knowledge is an accident – we study and we now know things that we didn’t know before. We forget things that we used to know. And all of this knowledge is knowledge of things outside ourselves. This split between knower and known, observer and observed, mirrors the virtual Observer-Observed relationship within Pure Consciousness. The difference of course is within Pure Consciousness the Observer-Observed distinction is virtual, while when our awareness is limited and there is an outside and an inside. In this case, there is a separation between observer and observed, between knower and known. But we can see that the Observer-Observed relationship in the unmanifest Pure Consciousness and in manifest nature are really of two different kinds. We use the language of the manifest, which we know, to try and get a handle on the very different phenomenon in the unmanifest, which I believe is Rambam’s point.
We can analyze power in the same way. A human being may be powerful if he goes to the gym and works out every day, or if he becomes the ruler of a country, and that power goes away if he stops going to the gym or loses muscle mass in some way, or loses control of the country. So power is something that comes from the outside and is not intrinsic to the person. In the case of Gd, Gd’s power is absolute and certainly cannot be dependent on anything outside of Gd, because there is nothing outside of Gd. So Gd’s power, as in the case of the other attributes, is not something added to His essence, but rather is coextensive with His essence.
Rambam continues along similar lines:
It is likewise necessary to know that oneness and multiplicity are accidents that attain an existent thing with regard to its being many or one. This is made clear in the “Metaphysics/’ Oneness is not identical with the thing that becomes one, just as number is not identical with the things that are numbered. For all these things* are accidents belonging to the genus “discrete quantity,” which is attached to the existent things that have the disposition to receive accidents of this kind.
Now to ascribe to Him – whose existence is necessary, who is truly simple, to whom composition cannot attach in any way – the accident of oneness is just as absurd as to ascribe to Him the accident of multiplicity. I mean to say that oneness is not a notion that is superadded to His essence, but that He is one not through oneness.
Rambam uses the same framework to deal with Gd’s Unity. He points out that “number” is an accident that can change due to external circumstances. On April 22, 1984 I had one child and the next day I had 4. Torah tells us we should neither add to nor subtract from the mitzvot – there are 4 paragraphs in the tefillin, not 3 and not 5, although there could conceivably be a different number. It’s not impossible, it’s just not allowed.
Now “one” is a special number. It is the beginning of the counting number system, and if we are counting the number of items it is a possible that there would only be one item. This is an accident – one is as good a number as 2 or 3 or any other number. But this is another case where a word has different meanings in different contexts, When we are talking about counting things, one is a possible outcome. But when we say “Gd is One” (as in the Sh’ma for example), we don’t mean that somehow we counted up all the gods we could find, and it turns out that there’s only one of them, as opposed, for example, to the Greek pantheon. In other words, the fact that there is one Gd is not an empirical fact, an accident that happens to attach to Gd.
This brings us to the second meaning of “one,” which is a Unity, self-contained, self-sufficient and all-encompassing. This is what we mean when we say “Gd is One.” We mean that Gd is a simple Unity, not composed of parts, completely transcendental to the notion of division or boundaries. It is a Unity that is beyond description in words, which is why even the word “one” is insufficient to capture all the nuances of Gd’s Unity. Thus Rambam says, “Gd is One, but not through oneness.”
Rambam opens the next chapter by saying, “More obscure than what preceded.” We’ll take that up next week Gd willing.
Chag Purim Same’ach!
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Vayikra
Vayikra” means “and He Called.” Gd called to Moses to describe to him the Five Offerings. “Offerings” in Hebrew is “korbanot” which means “draw near.” Through our open hearts, sharing our love and our resources we limited beings draw near to Gd, the Unlimited.
The Five Offerings (Korbanot):
- Ascending Fire: to atone.
- Meal: a gift from one whose life is dedicated to generosity.
- Peace: made when making peace with others by dedicating one’s life to Gd.
- Trespass: to compensate for unintentional infringement on others’ rights.
- Sin: pay in full the debt of one’s unintentional failures and weaknesses, failures of one’s personality.
“Atonement” means “at-Onement” – restoring our awareness so we remember that we are a fascinating role that Gd is Playing within Gd. What we really offered when we offered the physical offerings in the days of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and of the First and Second Temple was ourselves: we offered the limits of ourselves to Gd to dissolve them in the Fire of Love so as to restore us to Wholeness, Oneness, Fulfillment.
This is what we do today when we use prayers instead of physical offerings: we offer our limits to Gd to Dissolve them in the Fire of Love and to Restore us to Wholeness, Oneness, Fulfillment.
And this is what we do today, whether formally praying or amid the rest of the activities of our life: Through our right actions in any way, we draw near: we draw near with our innocence, our naturalness, our kindness, our gratitude. We draw near with our simple, easy life that seeks to be in attunement with Gd and Gd’s Will, seeks to easily (but quickly!) return to Primordial Oneness, beyond the duality of Gd and soul, the Oneness within which all multiplicity exists as expressions.
Ahhh! Little by little: and suddenly! Home free! Home!
Baruch HaShem.