Parashat Bamidbar 5784 — 06/08/2024
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 1:1-4:20
Parashat Bamidbar is always read on the Shabbat before Shavuot, which is on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Shavuot is the holiday that commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, so I want to reflect a bit on the nature of Torah, Torah study and revelation.
First of all, nothing I will say here is meant to contradict our current understanding of what Torah study is. I want only to add another dimension, a dimension of direct experience on the level of consciousness, that can enliven our relationship with Torah and with the Giver of the Torah.
What is Torah? We know Torah as the Five Books of Moses, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. On the surface level, Torah is embodied in a Sefer Torah / Torah Scroll, which we read from in the synagogue. This is the most surface level. On a deeper level the Torah is the words of Torah. When the Romans were burning R. Chananya ben Teradyon alive, wrapped in a Sefer Torah, his disciples asked him what he saw. “The parchment is burning, but the letters are flying up to heaven!” The inner value of Torah – the letters, the words, the sounds of Torah, cannot be harmed in any way by anything physical.
Now, why did the letters fly up to heaven? It’s because that’s where they’re really from. Moshe Rabbeinu went up to the top of Mt. Sinai, and Gd bent heaven down to earth, so that Moshe could receive the Torah. The image seems to be a kind of lowering of something into a form that we can understand. What is the nature of this Torah that is in heaven and needs to be lowered to earth for our use?
Our esoteric tradition teaches that there is a “Supernal Torah” that is in heaven, written with black fire on white fire. Fire of course is ethereal – there is nothing corporeal about this “writing.” The Supernal Torah is eternal, one might even say co-extensive with Gd, for Gd “looked into the Torah” when He wanted to create. As we have been studying in Rambam, Gd’s knowledge is indistinguishable from Gd’s essence, and in a sense then, the Supernal Torah is Gd’s knowledge, and the world is the outgrowth of that knowledge.
Here is a wonderful description from the Times of Israel, by Yossi Klein Halevi writing about modern-day Kabbalist R. Yoel Glick:
There is a wonderful teaching from the Ari [the 16th century master Kabbalist] where he says that there is the physical Torah down here, but there is also a supernal Torah in the higher worlds. The supernal Torah is the first Divine thought that is the basis for the manifest universe. It embodies the truth of all being and all life – what Gd wants and hopes for the universe. According to the Ari, each of us is a letter in this Supernal Torah. The root of our soul is that universal consciousness. We’re each one bit of that universal consciousness, of that eternal truth, which we’re meant to reveal in our life and in our world. Meditation is a way of accessing that primal source, of being reconnected back to the essence of who we are. This is the unique aspect of a human being.
I’d like to analyze this quote as a framework for what I believe Torah study should be. It should be clear that the Ari’s description tracks very closely Maharishi’s description of the Veda. According to Maharishi, Pure Consciousness is the basic “stuff” of creation. Since it has the quality of consciousness, it is aware, but since it is unique, it can only be aware of itself. Therefore, inherent in the nature of Pure Consciousness, is a kind of virtual duality of Observer and Observed, Subject and Object. The tension between the two sets up patterns of virtual vibrations which ramify and become more and more concrete. The very finest level of vibrations within Pure Consciousness are the fundamental laws of nature that govern the process of manifestation and evolution, and these vibrations are cognizable as the sounds of human speech, even though they are inherent in the structure of Pure Consciousness and are not actually generated by humans.
Now consider the Ari’s words. The root of our soul is universal consciousness. I think we can identify that universal consciousness with Pure Consciousness, and it is the Self of every individual. We get to this level of consciousness through meditation, where the mind is allowed to settle down effortlessly to its root (and the root of every other individual). The Supernal Torah is the “first Divine thought that is the basis for the manifest universe.” That is, the Supernal Torah is the finest vibration of Pure Consciousness, which we can cognize directly, if our level of consciousness is advanced enough. Our individuality is one piece of the Supernal Torah, our own unique contribution to the pattern of vibration that is unique to us.
In both systems, human beings can experience Pure Consciousness as the basis of their own existence, and, if the nervous system is sufficiently purified, can experience the subtlest fluctuations of their own consciousness and the ramifications of those fundamental vibrations into manifest creation. Full knowledge of the total range of creation is available spontaneously to such a person. In Kabbalistic terms, we have learned Torah fully – that is, we have imbibed the Supernal Torah into our awareness and can therefore act in accord with all the laws of nature – in accord with Gd’s Will. To me, this is the highest value of Torah study.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Bamidbar
“In the Desert, the Wilderness”
The desert/wilderness symbolizes both barrenness and transcendence. Depending on our level of awareness we perceive it either as the opportunity of transcendence or the sorrow of barrenness. Fortunately, even the sorrow is temporary because the relation between Gd and Israel, Gd and human, Wholeness and expression, is such that Gd more and more deeply unfolds the opportunities within the seeming barrenness, eventually revealing to each individual that even within the barrenness there is Gd and Gd Is all there is, each individual is an expression.
We have a saying, “Gd helps those who help themselves,” not selfishly but as members of a community dedicated to service of Gd, Full Restoration of Awareness. For those experiencing bamidbar as transcendence helping our selves means acting with Love to bring the Transcendent Self into the everyday life of our self and our community.
For those who are experiencing bamidbar as sorrow, acting to create joy in that sorrow, fertility in the barrenness, is the way to reduce the sorrow and reveal the Transcendent within it.
We have another saying “Gd is in the details” meaning: “Don’t just look at the Transcendent as an Abstractness but see the liveliness within it; see it vibrating; hear it singing.” And also meaning “Look more carefully, more lovingly, into the barrenness and find opportunities for growth and happiness.”
When we don’t just pray to Gd for help but act from our own side to fulfill our desires then Gd is more and more revealed as the Source of our desires and our actions and not only is our immediate desire fulfilled but the purpose of all life is fulfilled: the return to experience the Oneness which we Are and which expresses Itself within Itself as Infinite Detail, Infinitely Harmonized.”
In this parshah, Gd commands a census – revealing the details of the population of the Children of Israel – at least, of the males of military age – and revealing the detailed opportunity to serve.
We also say, “You count!” People can get the sad feeling that they don’t matter: they’re just one person in a crowd. With a census it becomes clear that everyone counts, matters.
We also say, “Stand up and be counted!”: stand up for what you believe in. The census requires everyone to stand up and acknowledge they are not just individuals, they are part of the Children of Israel, the Community of the World, dedicated not just to their individuality but to Gd.
When Gd gives details or asks for details, Gd is showing us something of the Details of Gd, of the All-in-All. Gd is Showing us that Gd Is not just an abstract mass of Fullness, Gd has a Structure, just as do our bodies, our communities, our nations, planet, Universe. In the census that took place in Bamidbar, I could not think of any way the number “603,550” – the number of males of military age, excluding the Levites that were counted – connects to the Nature of Gd and I found only one source on the Internet that addresses the issue.
The source looks at the census from the point-of-view of Gematria, a traditional way of interpreting Torah from the standpoint of the symbolism intuited from comparing one word to another through the use of the numerical value that each letter in the Hebrew alphabet has.
The author looks at the earlier census Gd commanded and to this one, finds the number 1820 is significant in terms of one aspect of the difference between the censuses, and finds that this number is significant in terms of some of the Names of Gd and also the nature of Creation, of Amen, of the Messiah.
I mention this source, because from the standpoint that Gd is in the details, the author is attempting to attend to the detail of the census, to find meaning in it, and since every aspect of Torah is useful in our life, paying attention to its detail is an action that helps reveal to us the Nature of Gd as All-in-All, One that is All-in-All.
The parshah also describes the separate roles of the three Levite clans and also the spatial orientation of the different tribes in the encampment: Levites, including Moses, Aaron and Aaron’s sons, in the inner circle, the twelve tribes around that in the groups of three tribes for each direction.
Here we have a possible symbolism of Gd not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of space: not that Gd is limited to space that we can perceive with our senses but that Gd is Wholeness with a structure that we can perceive more and more as through our actions we attend to the details of Torah and of our lives as members of families, communities, planet, universe.
We have in Torah: “Gd created Man (Humanity) in His own Image” Genesis 1:27.
Torah is the Liveliness of Gd, One with Gd, and so to look at its structure and meaning helps us to find the way, the ways, in which we are Images of Gd, and to gradually find that we are not merely Images of Gd, but expressions of Gd. We find that Gd fully Acts through us.
Let us continue standing up to be counted, to act in the Service of Gd so that we can continue growing together and Fully Remember and Experience our Oneness.
Baruch HaShem