Parshiyyot Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5783 — 04/29/2023
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.
Acharei Mot: Vayikra 16:1-18:30
Kedoshim: Vayikra 19:1-20:27
Having considered the meaning of “Face,” Rambam turns his attention, in chapter 38, to its opposite: “Back”:
Back [‘ahor] is an equivocal term. It is a term denoting the back. Thus: Over the back of the tabernacle. The spear came out at his back. Sometimes it is used as an adverb of time in the sense of: after. Neither at the back of him arose there any like him; At the back of these things. This use is frequent. The term also occurs in the meaning of following and imitating the conduct of some individual with respect to the conduct of life. Thus: Ye shall walk at the back of the Lord your Gd; They shall walk at the back of the Lord, which means following in obedience to Him and imitating His acts and conducting life in accordance with His conduct. Thus: He walked at the back of a commandment. In this sense it is said: And thou shalt see My back, which means that thou shalt apprehend what follows Me, has come to be like Me, and follows necessarily from My will – that is, all the things created by Me, as I shall explain in a chapter of this Treatise.
If we go back to last week’s essay, there is a section that we didn’t comment on, which is further elucidated by the current discussion of “back”:
The biblical expression, But My Face shall not be seen, is understood in this sense in the interpretation of Onqelos, who translates: And those in front of Me shall not be seen. He indicates by this that there are likewise great created beings whom man cannot apprehend as they really are. These are the separate intellects. They have been thought to be in a relation to Gd as being constantly in front of Him and in His presence because of the power of the providence constantly watching over them. On the other hand, the things that in his opinion, I mean that of Onqelos, can be grasped in their true reality are such as are beneath the separate intellects with respect to their rank in that which exists. I mean things endowed with matter and form. Of them [Onqelos] has said: And thou shalt see that which ls behind Me. He means the beings from which I [RAR: i.e. Gd] have, as it were, turned away, and upon which, speaking in parables, I have turned My back, because of their remoteness from the existence of Gd, may He be exalted.
Rambam here sets up the obvious contrast between Face (i.e. front) and Back. But when he applies it to verses referring to Gd, he appears to use front and back as proxies for close and far away. This appears strange, because one would think that close and far away imply a linear comparison, and not a difference in direction. I’d like to explore this a bit in terms of the structure of creation as understood by physics and by Jewish tradition.
Physics tells us that creation is structured in layers. There is the surface layer of macroscopic phenomena like the stars and planets, our bodies, etc. These structures too come in layers – our bodies are made of organs, which are made of tissues, which are made of cells, which are made of organelles like the mitochondria. All the layers of any macroscopic object are made of molecules, molecules are made of atoms, atoms are made of the various subatomic particles, which themselves are levels of excitation of various fields that interact with one another. Those fields, in turn, are all different aspects of one underlying, unified field.
It is important to note that these different “levels” of creation are not in different “places.” They interpenetrate, from one point of view. From a subtler point of view, they are different ways of describing the one functioning of physical nature. The molecular level is not different at all from the atomic level. On the molecular level we are describing physical nature in terms of the interaction between atoms that bond them together into larger structures. On the atomic level we are ignoring the larger structures and focusing on the components of those structures. On any level, the structures and components are just patterns of vibration of the Unified Field – the Unified Field is the ultimate (physical) reality and there is nothing that is separate from it, even though the subatomic, “elementary” particles may seem to be “closer” to the Unified Field and the surface level of macroscopic objects appear to our limited understanding to be “farther away.”
In Jewish tradition we also have a layered structure, called the sefirot, which are Gd’s emanations into creation – in fact the structure of creation is the structure of the sefirot. It is not clear whether the etymology of the word sefirot comes from the root of the word “sphere,” but one way of envisioning the sefirot are as a series of concentric spheres with Gd at the center. The more typical way is a two-dimensional pattern that you can find here. In any event, this is one way of describing a layered structure emanating from Gd. The esoteric tradition also locates a hierarchy of heavenly beings, some “closer” to Gd and other “further away” – where “closer” means more abstract and spiritual and “further away” means more concrete and material.
The reality of course is that nothing is separate from Gd (in Judaism) or the Unified Field (in physics). Everything exists within the transcendent, in whatever language we use. It is the virtual dynamics contained within the silent depths of existence that appears as a layered structure, be it material or spiritual, but it is not separate nor distant from Gd. It is intimate to Gd’s own nature. Front and back, high and low, near and far, abstract and concrete – these are all ways of describing a reality that is nothing like those terms, but is eternally present.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parshiyyot Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
In Parashat Acharei Mot, Gd commands that only the High Priest may enter the Holy of Holies and he may only do that once a year, on Yom Kippur.
This raises the question: May only the High Priest experience this Holy Experience? And may he only experience It once a year?
Compare this commandment with the commandment in the next parshah, Kedoshim, in which Gd says, “Be thou Holy, for I Am Holy.”
This commandment says that we, all of us, must always be Holy, not just the High Priest and not just once a year.
Looking at the commandment in Acharei Mot from this point of view, we can see that, although the Tabernacle and all its details, including the Holy of Holies and the actions of the priests and the High Priest, were specifically designed by Gd to assist us in being aware of Gd’s Presence, it is possible for us to be fully aware of Gd’s Presence wherever we are and whoever we are.
The 10 Commandments/Statements/Utterances/Words give us very clear guidance for our behavior so that we can act and be Holy. The commandment/statement/utterance, “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy Gd, with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy might” gives great guidance and this love is illustrated in the commandment which appears in Parshah Kedoshim, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (thy Self)”.
Following the commandment, as best as we can, to love Gd results in our becoming increasingly better people routinely and moment-to-moment in an innocent, non-straining way that allows our Nature, which is Joy and Love, to be more and more deeply experienced and more and more deeply expressed in every feeling, thought and action.
Living this way, we become increasingly aware of Gd – Totality – as all there is and therefore our love becomes more and more, Love, the same Love that Gd Is; and Joy, the same Joy that Gd is. Thus, our love is naturally directed to Gd, without our having to think about it, no matter where our attention may be. Our love is not a mood, it is a natural experience of Gd as Love. Naturally we experience our individuality as a flow of Gd’s Love. Naturally we experience more and more of the Wholeness and Unite more fully with Gd. Naturally we more and more fully remember, fully experience, that we are an Expression of Gd – Gd is all there is.
The guidance to love our neighbor as ourself, naturally results in our doing our best to know our selves more and more fully as Self, the One Self and thus, to love all selves more and more fully, to increase in our love for every aspect of existence, every individual expression of Gd, flowing within Gd, including our neighbors.
Although it will be nice, great, wonderful! when the Temple is rebuilt and we have its assistance in being aware of Gd’s Presence, Kedoshim commands us all that we should be Holy, in and out of the Temple, whatever our status in the community.
Through our desires to love Gd, to love our neighbors, to be Holy and through the actions we take to fulfill these desires we become increasingly aware of Gd’s Presence as Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omni-Joyful, Omni-Loving and our behavior becomes increasingly naturally loving and Loving. Naturally our behavior sings as the angels sing: “Holy, Holy, Holy!” Naturally, we become, more and more completely united with Gd, One.
Naturally.
Thank You, Gd!
Baruch HaShem