Parashat Bereshit 5785 – 10/26/2024
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.
Today we begin our fifth year of discussion of Rambam’s Moreh Nevukim / Guide for the Perplexe . We’re almost finished with the first of two volumes. Volume 1 has a long introduction, as well as part 1 of the Guide. Volume 2 has parts 2 and 3 of the Guide. I am almost 76 years old and Gd willing I’ll be able to finish the project!
Bereishit 1:1 – 6:8
Again, we have a short week, so I will again try to be brief. I want to finish up on the discussion of the intellect in actu and in potentia. Here is what Rambam has to say:
Now when it is demonstrated that Gd, may He be held precious and magnified, is an intellect in actu and that there is absolutely no potentiality in. Him – as is clear and shall be demonstrated – so that He is not by way of sometimes apprehending and sometimes not apprehending, but is always an intellect in actu, it follows necessarily that He and the thing apprehended are one thing, which is His essence. Moreover, the act of apprehension owing to which He is said to be an intellectually cognizing subject is in itself the intellect, which is His essence. Accordingly He is always the intellect as well as the intellectually cognizing subject and the intellectually cognized object. It is accordingly also clear that the numerical unity of the intellect, the intellectually cognizing subject, and the intellectually cognized object, does not hold good with reference to the Creator only, but also with reference to every intellect. Thus in us too, the intellectually cognizing subject, the intellect, and the intellectually cognized object, are one and the same thing wherever we have an intellect in actu. We, however, pass intellectually from potentiality to actuality only from time to time. And the separate intellect too, I mean the active intellect, sometimes gets an impediment that hinders its act – even if this impediment does not proceed from this intellect’s essence, but is extraneous to it – being a certain motion happening to it by accident.
In previous episodes, we have seen that in Rambam’s system, the intellect in actu is completely identified with the essence of the object it is cognizing, and we surmised that Rambam was actually describing what Maharishi calls the samhita of rishi, devata and chhandas – the unity of the observer, observed and the process of observation within Pure Consciousness. In contrast, the intellect in potential has not cognized anything yet – it could potentially cognize any particular thing, but as long as that thing has not been cognized, and the intellect is still free to “choose,” so to speak, and there can be no identification with the not-yet-specified object.
Just as an aside, since this week we read the first parashah of the Torah, Bereshit, which contains the account of creation, we should note that it is the virtual observer-observed relationship within the structure of Pure Consciousness, where Pure Consciousness is aware of itself (it is conscious, and there is nothing else to be aware of!), and the tension between the two poles of this relationship gives rise to all the patterns of vibration that is what we call creation. Note that the Biblical creation narrative keeps repeating, “And Gd said…” To whom was Gd “saying”? It could only be to Himself! This is the virtual duality within Gd’s essence giving rise to the appearance of duality.
Now Rambam goes on to speak of Gd’s intellect. He says that Gd’s intellect is always in actu. Now when we think of the transcendent, we often think of it in terms of pure potential. The transcendent is not any thing, yet it has the power to manifest anything. Gd certainly has the power to create whatever He wants – and of all the possible universes, Gd created ours. In other words, the creation we live in is a particular instantiation of a sea of infinite possibilities, infinite potential.
Apparently, however, when it comes to the description of the cognizing intellect, the vernacular meaning of the word “potential” is not suitable. We say Gd is 100% in actu and not at all in potential. I believe it means this: Everything exists within Gd. Everything is already intimate to Gd, everything in its essence is identical with Gd’s essence. Gd is totally cognizant of everything, all the time, and therefore, by Rambam’s definition, Gd’s intellect is always in actu. Gd’s all-encompassing nature as well as His nature as Pure Existence, means that He is the ultimate reality, and everything that we consider to be real are nothing but partial values within that ultimate Reality.
I think I’m going to leave the discussion here and move on next week. A joyous Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah to all!
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Bereshit
Previously, I presented intuitions about how Never-ending Torah ends with “V’Zot HaBeracha,” the Fruit of the Never-Beginning Seed presented in “Bereshit,” In the Beginning.
The same intuition applies as this week we continue reading Bereshit.
”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 Bereshit: the first is traditional; the second is creative.
1..Bereshit 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 Bereshit with Philarmonic Rishon Le Tzion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYKMWtOlHVE
Consider Bereshit the Seed of Teshuvah – return to Oneness – and V’zot HaBeracha, the last parshah of the Five Books of Torah, the Fruit: Do we see in these parshahs and in our lives that the Seed has borne its intended Fruit?
If we take these parshahs 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 Bereshit has borne fruit though V’Zot HaBrachah doesn’t say so.
Later in Bereshit, we see Enoch mentioned as walking with Gd – definitely return to Oneness. Then Noah is called a righteous person, one who Gd trusts to maintain life on our planet when the rest of humanity, due its wickedness, is destroyed in the flood. Only Gd is Fully Righteous so Noah has to be One with Gd to be truly called righteous
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 Parshah 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 Bereshit
Bereshit begins in Hebrew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa_g1QOt9y0
“Bereshit bara Elohim et HaShamayim v’et Ha’aretz…”
The way this is commonly translated to English, Bereshit 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.
God 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 so 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, Omnijoyful, Omniloving, 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 Bereshit 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 “Bereshit 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 as One 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. Bereshit 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.
Very encouraging!
Let’s keep on tuning.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
Baruch HaShem