Parashat Balak 5784 — 07/20/2024
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.
Bamidbar 22:2-25:9
Last week we discussed Rambam’s interpretation of the Name ehyeh asher ehyeh / I am/will be what I am/will be. Rambam points out that this name indicates that Gd as subject and Gd as predicate are one and the same – in other words, Gd is completely self-sufficient and all-encompassing, and there is nothing other than Gd, as we say in the liturgy, ain od milvado / there is nothing but Him. And we added our two shekels, pointing out that Rambam was describing the Self-Referral nature of Gd, which is the basis, according to Vedic Science, of all creation. Rambam goes on spelling out some of these notions:
Accordingly, Scripture makes, as it were, a clear statement that the subject is identical with the predicate. This makes it clear that He is existent not through existence. This notion may be summarized and interpreted in the following way: the existent that is the existent, or the necessarily existent. This is what demonstration necessarily leads to: namely, to the view that there is a necessarily existent thing that has never been, or ever will be, nonexistent.
It seems that Rambam starts with the Scriptural data point that Gd has this Self-referral nature and goes from there to prove that Gd is the (only) necessary existent – that is, the only “thing” in existence the lack of existence of which is unthinkable, because if Gd did not exist, nothing would exist, and we perceive that we do, in fact, exist. Cogito ergo sum. Note that for Rambam, the ultimate test of truth and the ultimate source of postulates for his system, is Torah. While he famously said that truth is truth wherever you find it, something that contradicts Torah is ipso facto not truth.
In Vedic Science, we seem to argue from the opposite direction. The existence of Pure Consciousness is taken as a given, perhaps because, through the technology of Vedic Science one can experience Pure Consciousness directly. We then derive the Self-referral nature of Pure Consciousness from its nature as consciousness. I don’t think this is really a contradiction. We are talking about the transcendental basis of all existence, and it has the aspect of existence and it has the aspect of consciousness, which is where it gets its Self-referral value. But that Self-referral value is not a notion that is “tacked on” to Pure Consciousness, it is inherent in it and is not separate from it. Therefore it doesn’t matter from which end we argue, the result is the same.
More important, as Maharishi puts it, Pure Consciousness is its own verification. When the mind settles down and experiences Pure Consciousness, it is really Pure Consciousness experiencing itself (through the medium of the human nervous system). So Pure Consciousness’ knowing itself is the most intimate type of knowledge that is available. And since Pure Consciousness is unchanging, that knowledge is unchanging – it is truth, which Maharishi defines as “that which never changes.”
Rambam goes on to discuss some other Names of Gd:
The name Yah refers similarly to the notion of the eternity of existence, whereas Shaddai derives from the word dai, meaning a sufficiency. Thus: For the stuff they had was sufficient [dayam]. The letter shin [occurring at the beginning of Shaddai] has the meaning who [RAR: i.e. the agent], as in shekbar [RAR: Eccles 4:2 The word is she + k’var = “who” + “already”]. Accordingly the meaning [of Shaddai] is He who is sufficient; the intention here being to signify that He does not need other than Himself with reference to the existence of that which He has brought into existence or with reference to prolonging the latter’s existence, but that His existence, may He be exalted, suffices for that.
The Name Yah is rarely used in a standalone context (for one example see Exodus 17:16, ki yad al kes Yah / a hand on the throne of Yah), but it is used as part of other words, especially names, such as HalleluYah (Gd be praised), ChananYah, AzarYah, YerumiYah (Jeremiah), etc. It is really an abbreviation of the Tetragrammaton (the first two of the 4 letters) but obviously it can be pronounced, because we find it in all kinds of contexts, although generally in a subordinate position in another word. Rambam asserts that it has to do with the eternity of existence. Clearly it comes from the root H-Y-H, which is Being, but why specifically it has to do with eternity I don’t know.
There is an interesting Midrash concerning the name Shaddai. Gd began to create the universe and it started expanding without limit (this may be reflected in the modern physics conception of an “inflationary period” in the early universe which was characterized by an extremely rapid expansion right after the Big Bang, faster than would ordinarily be expected under the so-called “standard model” of the elementary particles) – until Gd said Dai! / Enough! Thus, this name is associated with boundaries to expansion. It is significant that a shin is placed on a mezuzah to indicate this Name, and of course the mezuzah is the doorpost of the house – the boundary between inside and outside. The Name Shaddai indicates that Gd has no need of anything else and is therefore eternally fulfilled.
Eternity and Self-sufficiency are two aspects of Gd that are not really attributes – they are Who Gd essentially is, rather than describing the way Gd acts. As Rambam puts it, the name Shaddai indicates that Gd is not in need of any existent thing outside of Himself, which is good, because there is nothing outside of Gd. Gd is the first existent, upon which the existence of all other things depends and Gd’s Names reflect this reality.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Balak
“Balaam” means “swallowing up the people, the kinsman”
“Balak” means “empty, desolate.”
Why would any parents give their children these names?
Perhaps the parents meant that Balaam would be the Ocean of Joy and would view all with Love, as kinsmen. Balaam would swallow their limits and reveal the Ocean within them.
Perhaps the parents meant that Balak would be the Transcendent Wholeness in its Appearance as Blissful Emptiness.
Such a hope was not fulfilled: Balam and Balak travelled the path of greed and brought out the negative meanings of their names
In this parshah, we are reminded that Gd is always protecting us, Blessing us: by doing our best to follow Gd’s Will, this Protection and Blessing becomes clearer and more livable in our daily life. Balaam, though requested by Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel could only speak what Gd gave him to speak and that was blessings for Israel. Although Balaam was forced to give a blessing, he would have been happier to curse and tried to find ways to do so.
From our side we can be armored in purity and receive and give only Blessings by behaving like Moses who served Gd with all his heart and soul in leading Israel to high spiritual consciousness and to the physical Promised Land,
Or we can behave like Balaam, always holding something back so we can make a personal profit if at all possible. According to Jewish legend, Balaam was made a prophet so that the non-Jewish nations could not say, “If we only had our own prophet, like Moses, we could also have served Gd well.” But Gd abandoned him and he lost his status as a prophet after his advice to Balak to set up the conditions of harlotry and idolatry that would tempt a people too weak to resist – despite the blessing they had so recently received.
This parshah shows us that we need to be alert:
We really need to be following the straight path and we cannot forget that our good life is a gift from Gd for being good people; we cannot sharply depart from the Path of Virtue. Hardly a moment after Gd blessed Israel through words he put into the prophet Balaam’s mouth, the people are sinning with harlots from Midian and worshipping their gods – abandoning Wholeness for partiality.
Key in the blessings of this parshah are the words, “Ma Tovu, ohalecha Yaakov, mishkanotecha Yisroel”: “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, thy dwelling places, O Israel.” This is the prayer we recite when we enter the synagogue. And these words Gd put into Balaam’s mouth instead of the curse that Balak, king of Moab, wanted Bilaam to speak
Balak means “Destroyer”; Balak, the king of Moab, sends messengers asking Balaam (his name also means “no nation,” he does not serve a nation, a whole: he is a prophet that can be hired by individuals to bless or curse) to curse Israel as they pass through Moab.
Balaam replies that he can only speak what Gd puts in his mouth to speak and try though Balak does and try though Balaam does, Gd puts only a blessing for Israel in Balaam’s mouth.
This is the comforting side of this parshah: The warning side is the sinning with harlots and worshipping their idols, actions which result in a plague and Moses’ ordering each of the judges in the community to slay two wrong–doers to stop the plague.
The parshah ends with Pinchas, grandson of Aaron, slaying an Israeli prince along with the harlot he took into his tent in full view of the community.
Though we can hardly take such action today to end plagues and immorality in our community, in the world, we can do our best to live good, pure lives so that our community, our world, is blessed by Gd flowing through us and everyone feels comforted by this Blessing.
Our congregation can and is creating a world in which Gd’s Presence is becoming more visible (perhaps not in the mainstream news) but in everyday life and setting up the conditions so, as Rabbi Tuvia Bolton likes to say when ending his commentary on the weekly parshah:
“Moshiach Now!”
Baruch HaShem.