Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah/V’Zot haBerachah 5784 — 10/07/2023
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.
Devarim 33:1-34:12
Rambam continues discussing angels and how we perceive them:
Now you already know that it is very difficult for man to apprehend, except after strenuous training, that which is pure of matter and absolutely devoid of corporeality. It is particularly difficult for one who does not differentiate between that which is cognized by the intellect and that which is imagined and who tends mostly toward imaginative apprehension alone. For such a one everything that is imagined exists or can exist, whereas that which does not enter within the net of imagination is in his opinion non-existent and incapable of existing. Accordingly, to individuals of this kind – and they form the majority of those engaged in speculation – the true reality of a notion never becomes known, nor does a difficulty ever become clear to them. Because of the difficulty of this matter, the books of the prophets likewise contain dicta whose external sense can be understood as signifying that the angels are corporeal, that they move, that they are in the form of men, that they are given orders by Gd, and that they carry out His orders and do what He wishes in virtue of His orders. All this is said so as to guide the mind to a knowledge of their existence and of their being alive and perfect, as we have explained with regard to Gd. However, if one would stop at this imagining with regard to the angels, their true reality and essence would be like the essence of Gd as it is conceived in the imagination of the multitude. For about Gd too, statements are made from whose external sense it appears that He is a living, mobile body, having the form of a man. Therefore the mind is guided toward a knowledge of the fact that the rank of the existence of the angels is below the rank of the deity through the admixture with their shape of something belonging to the shape of irrational animals, so that what is understood with regard to the existence of the Creator should be more perfect than what is understood with regard to their existence, just as man is more perfect than the irrational animals.
As we mentioned last week, angels are similar to Gd in that they are incorporeal, yet of course they are not Gd, they are Gd’s creations every bit as much as we are. We now need to see exactly what the distinction is. First, how do we perceive an angel? Rambam states that it takes “strenuous training” because we cannot use the senses directly. Rather, it is the “intellect” which “cognizes” the presence of angels, and normally the intellect does not deal directly with outside perception.
I was puzzling over the meaning of the intellect’s cognizing something when it occurred to me that I had a similar experience when I was writing my PhD dissertation. Just how striking such an experience can be can be gleaned by the fact that this was 48 years ago and the experience is as fresh in my mind as if it just happened. I was working to solve a problem that involved inferring the vertical profile of ozone concentration from radiometric data taken from an instrument on a U-2 spy plane. I was beating my head on this problem for a long time (“strenuous training”) and at the time I had been practicing TM for about 3½ years (“non-strenuous training”). At one point I was soaking in a hot bath, not thinking about anything, when suddenly the entire solution to the problem came to me in a point, deep within my consciousness. The result was a geometric solution between two multi-dimensional spaces, something which cannot really be “visualized” as any kind of real model. Nonetheless, I was able to “see” it, and then work out the mathematics, all within about 3 weeks.
So what is it that I saw? It was definitely not something physical, but it was real in the same way that the law of gravity is real. It was an intellectual construct that can produce real computational results in real physical cases. It was a law of nature if you will. Of course I couldn’t see it with my eyes, as you can’t bounce photons off a concept, but I certainly saw it with my mind’s eye. I believe that this is the kind of seeing with the intellect that Rambam is describing.
I might add that some contemporary Rabbis have equated laws of nature with angels, and this makes sense from the point of view of traditional Jewish sources. Angels are created for a particular mission – that is, to do a certain particular task or facilitate some kind of interaction. But of course, that is exactly what the laws of nature do – facilitate interactions between physical objects or phenomena. I heard R. Akiva Tatz say the “gravity is an angel.” Further, Maharishi has said that the devatas we find in the Vedic literature are likewise “laws of nature.” Now devatas are usually translated “gods,” but it appears from this consideration that “angels” might be a better translation, although trying to translate Vedic terms into words used in the context of Western religions is always somewhat fraught.
Another point about this experience. It happened not when I was working directly on the problem, but when my mind was not focused on anything at all. Those who practice the TM technique experience that when the mind is in “neutral” so to speak, it quickly settles down to quieter and more powerful levels of thought, simply because those quieter levels offer more charm. But these quieter levels are also where we are most perceptive and least distracted by all the signals coming in from the outside world. Therefore we are able to perceive subtler levels of reality – if not with the senses directly, then with the mind’s eye. If we want to see angels, we are not going to see them while our minds are scattered and our senses are focused on the crudest (most manifest) level of the material world.
According to Vedic Science there is a higher state of consciousness in which the senses actually do perceive the object at the subtlest level. With repeated experience of the deep silence of Transcendental Consciousness within ourselves, the mind and nervous system become cultured to maintain Transcendental Consciousness along with waking, dreaming and deep sleep states of consciousness. That is, all the activity of living takes place on a background of silence. This gives us the ability to perceive “intellectual” objects, as I described above. This state is called Cosmic Consciousness.
However, once Cosmic Consciousness has been established, the silence inside us creates a situation where the signals from objects coming in to the senses start to be able to be perceived in subtler and subtler shades. This is presumably because the level of “noise” in our nervous system has been greatly reduced. The “signals” coming into our senses presumably include some kind of waves that are subtler even than light or sound waves, that carry information about the subtler levels of creation, levels that are beyond the material. What those might be specifically I don’t know, but once the senses are refined they can presumably respond to these subtle signals and convey to us actual direct perception of the subtle levels of the object of perception.
I believe that this subtle perception is something more than the intellectual apprehension of which Rambam speaks. When Rambam speaks of the passage where the three angels visit Avraham, he avers that the entire incident took place within Avraham’s mind. In other words, he denies that angels have objective reality. In our discussion of Vedic Science, we have described a state of consciousness in which we actually perceive the subtle levels of the objective world directly, through the refined senses of a person who has gotten rid of all their stress. But in this case, it is certainly possible that angels have “objective” reality – that is a reality that is independent of any individual’s consciousness – and Avraham’s perception of the angels was much more than a phantasm of his imagination.
Again, I emphasize that I don’t know if my reading corresponds to Rambam’s intent. I am only offering the approach of Vedic Science as an alternate way of understanding Rambam, and in this case, perhaps extending his understanding. So please take it for what it’s worth.
Chag Same’ach and Happy Simchat Torah!
************************************************************************************************************************************
Commentary by Steve Sufian
V’Zot haBeracha/Shemini Atzeret/ Simchat Torah
“V’Zot Ha Beracha” means, “And this is the blessing.”
Before we consider this blessing on the level of meaning, let’s consider that Torah is beyond language, beyond verbal definitions and grammar — it is the fundamental liveliness of Gd. On our level of life, of awareness, the sound value of Torah comes closer to the transcendental and all-pervading quality of Torah.
From this standpoint, here are two sources to listen to the beginning of Beresheit: the first is traditional; the second is creative.
1. Beresheit 1-8 with cantillation: Very sweet, easy to listen to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa_g1QOt9y0
2. Very lively. Award-winning singer Noa sings Beresheit with Philarmonic Rishon Le Tzion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYKMWtOlHVE
Consider Beresheit the seed of Teshuvah – return to Oneness – and V’zot HaBeracha, the last parshah of the Chumash, the fruit: Do we see in these parshiyyot and in our lives that the seed has borne its intended fruit?
If we take these parshiyyot on the plain level of meaning, no: the children of Israel (that’s not only a long time ago but today and in all times) have not yet entered the Promised Land, and Moses, the great leader, never will.
But perhaps we can say that Moses, one of the guests that visits the sukkah during Succoth, has entered Gan Eden, as tradition has it-not the terrestrial Garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve were evicted but the Heavenly Garden of Eden in which Gd is enthroned and explains Torah to the residents. Explaining Torah is not just a matter of Gd talking to people but giving the Direct Experience that Torah, Gd and all Gd’s details are One. From this standpoint, Moses and all those who enter Gan Eden have been restored to Oneness and so the seed of Beresheit has borne fruit though V’Zot HaBrachah doesn’t say so.
Later in Beresheit, we see Enoch mentioned as walking with Gd – definitely return to Oneness. Then Noah is called a righteous person, one whom Gd trusts to maintain life on our planet when the rest of humanity, due its wickedness, is destroyed in the flood.
So even early in Torah, even taken on the level of meaning, we see examples of the fruit of the seed appearing: people who walk with Gd, who are righteous.
Also, very importantly, Gd’s Torah, One with Gd, flowed though Moses – what wonderful fruit. Punctuated by the Word, the Command, the Kiss of Gd’s mouth which Parashat V’Zot HaBrachah tells us Moses was the way Moses died. Dying by the Touch of Gd is certainly entering the Promised Land.
Before he died, Moses, man of Gd, servant of Gd, gathered all the tribes together and spoke to them first as one, as the Children of Israel, giving them the command to obey Torah; then he gave specific blessings to each tribe. This is revealing first unity, then the diversity within the unity. This is action that in its Fullness, restores each individual in a community to unity with the community while retaining the special individual role. Symbolically, this gives the Blessing of Oneness on all its Detail.
So, the Five Books of Moses end with ripe fruit.
• Having considered the fruit, let us consider the seed which is contained within the fruit and to which we return as on Simchat Torah we begin again reading Beresheit.
Beresheit begins in Hebrew: “Beresheit bara Elokim et HaShamayim v’et Ha’aretz…”
The way this is commonly translated to English, Beresheit reads: “In the beginning, Gd created heaven and earth… .” Since Gd is Beginningless and Endless, this cannot be true.
The way the ArtScroll Chumash and chabad.org translate it, it reads, “In the beginning of Gd’s creating the heavens and the earth… .”
This is better and according to scholars more grammatically correct but still puts Gd in time and the reality is that time is a role Gd plays in pretending to be limited.
Gd is always One, Wholeness in Detail, so let’s see if we can find a meaning for “beginning” that honors this.
One way is that it refers to any point in the infinite liveliness of Gd because at any point, separation and unification are always going on, and so at any point heaven and earth are always being separated and united.
Within every point is the Whole Unbounded Ocean of Gd everything is always going on everywhere, in sequence and also in simultaneity. To Gd, Gd is always Totally Present, Infinitely Lively, Infinitely Silent, Omnidirectional, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omni-joyful, Omni-loving, and so the idea of beginning is just part of Gd’s “let’s pretend” to be limited.
In addition, Wikipedia notes that not only is “bara” a verb that is only used in reference to Gd but it doesn’t mean “create”, it means “differentiate/separate, assign roles to.” From this standpoint, heaven and earth though they are always One, are perpetually separated/distinguished/ from each other and given special roles. So Beresheit refers to the beginning of distinguishing “heaven,” the inner, subtle, abstract level of the details of Gd, from “earth,” the concrete aspect.
Jeff Benner (ancient-hebrew.org) translates “bara” as “shaped”: from this standpoint, there is neither creating nor separating, there is only refining what already exists.
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, in his “Body, Mind and Soul: Kabbalah on Human Physiology, Disease and Healing”, notes that “create” and “heal” in Hebrew have the same root: b-r-a: from this angle, we can say that the beginning of Torah is always the beginning of healing, of return to Wholeness. This is healing individual humans of their limits and restoring us to our unlimited status as impulses of One, restoring us to our status as the Full Ocean of One functioning through our individual personalities and bodies and also through all impulses of One.
What a Joy to Be Restored to full memory of the reality that only One exists and we are This!
So, creation, healing is eternal, as Torah, the fundamental liveliness of Gd – beyond language, grammar, definition, Gd conversing with Gd – is eternal, never beginning or ending yet always New.
And there are surely many more interpretations of “Beresheit Bara Elohim” everyone’s: intuitions will add to the cornucopia.
On the ordinary human level of awareness, this variety of interpretations is consistent with the way we experience life. We are always evolving and seeing more completely. As we rise to higher levels and to Consciousness beyond levels – the Wholeness within which all levels exist – we are able to see the usefulness of each interpretation.
We humans are individual impulses of Gd who pretends to be limited for the fun of playing Hide and Seek, Peek-a-Boo in us, so Gd, pretending to be we limited souls, can have the fun of seeking as us, and Gd as Gd, can have the pleasure of Hinting and Revealing, through Torah sounds, Torah stories, Torah mitzvah and whatever way Gd Wishes.
In this game, this Game, little by little, and also suddenly, we are returned to Wholeness by Gd’s Grace Revealing.
Gd dissolves the veils of limits and reveals to us that Gd is All, within us and all around us, everywhere, One without a Second.
And this can happen with any sound of Torah, any word, any parshah, even the last one as we suddenly See and Know the Truth within the Stories.And it can happen Now! And any Now! Wherever we are and whatever we’re doing.
Because Torah in a written book is only the most infinitesimal aspect of Torah as One with Gd, Torah can hint to us and reveal to us when we’re eating breakfast, walking down a street, snoozing – at any time, any place.
Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as well as the serpent, are within us, ready to be clearly experienced as Omnidirectional, All-in-All Points of One, and the duality between Gd and the uncreated creation, is ready to be experienced as the Fun of Gd, always within Gd as One.
So, too, are all the details of Torah as the Book and Torah as Gd. Beresheit is a good seed that bears good fruit in V’Zot Haberacha and it is also the Fruit that sprouts to become all the Books of Torah and to loop back to itself with V’Zot HaBeracha.
• Let’s continue doing our best to tune to Gd/Torah with “Be still and know!”; with “to love Gd with all our heart, all our soul and all our might,” with “love our neighbor as our self,” as our Self. As we do. we see, hear, taste, touch, smell the Beauty of Gd in every leaf, every sound, every bite of food, everyone and everything, everywhere.
Sukkot/Hoshanah Raba/Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah are special times of Joy to make our tuning more charming, delightful, effective.
Very encouraging!
Let’s keep on tuning.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
Baruch HaShem