Parashat Emor 5785 – 05/17/2025
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.
Vayikra 21:1-24:23
Rambam has likened the structure of individual human life to the structure of cosmic life. He now goes into three points of discrepancy between them. We will explore the last 2 this week.
The second point is this. The heart of every living being possessing a heart is in its middle; thus the other ruled parts surround it so that the utility deriving from them should extend to it wholly in that it is protected and safeguarded by them in such a way that harm coming from outside cannot rapidly reach it. Now in the world as a whole, the position is inverse. Its nobler part surrounds its inferior part, for the former is secure against receiving an influence from what is other than itself. And even if it were capable of receiving such an influence, it would not find outside itself another body that could influence it. Accordingly, this part occasions an overflow into what is inside it, whereas no influence reaches it in any respect nor any force deriving from bodies other than itself. With regard to this point there is also a certain similarity. For in the living being, a part is less noble than other parts to the extent to which it is far off from the ruling part, whereas other parts are nearer to the latter. The position in the world as a whole is the same. For whenever the bodies are near the center, they grow dimmer and their substance coarser, and their motion becomes more difficult, while their light and transparency disappear because of their distance from the noble, luminous, transparent, moving, subtle, and simple body – I mean heaven. On the other hand, whenever bodies are near the latter, they acquire some of these characteristics because of their proximity to it and achieve a certain superiority over what is lower than they.
The third point is this. The rational faculty is a faculty subsisting in a body and is not separable from it, whereas Gd, may He be exalted, is not a faculty subsisting in the body of the world, but is separate from all parts of the world. For the governance and the providence of Him, may He be exalted, accompany the world as a whole in such a way that the manner and true reality of this accompaniment are hidden from us; the faculties of human beings are inadequate to understand this. On the one hand, there is a demonstration of His separateness, may He be exalted, from the world and of His being free from it; and on the other hand, there is a demonstration that the influence of His governance and providence” in every part of the world, however small and contemptible, exists, May He whose perfection has dazzled us be glorified!
Last week we discussed the first point – that Gd is the ultimate Giver and we, His creatures, are receivers of His bounty. From the point of view of Unity Consciousness however, Gd is the only reality and the giving and receiving is simply the internal dynamics within Gd’s nature.
The second point might be considered a corollary of the first. Rambam describes the situation with individual human beings where the heart is in the center, protected by the rest of the body outside (e.g. rib cage). In this sense, the periphery serves the governing center – it gets taxed, so to speak, to maintain the government. Of course in society, governments (are supposed to) provide services to the governed, even if many in government seem to forget this point. In any event, in an ideal society, everyone supports the government and the government supports everyone in the society by maintaining order and creating a situation in which everyone can grow and prosper.
In the case of Gd and creation, the situation is reversed. Using the model of the spheres, the highest, “outermost” sphere protects the inner spheres, which protect those spheres inside themselves, and everything protects the lowest realm, namely the earth. It is possible that Rambam is also alluding to a beautiful Midrash that describes the Roman Emperor’s attempt to bring his nephew, Onkelos (translator of the Torah into Aramaic), back to Rome after the latter had converted to Judaism. He sent a contingent of 50 soldiers to escort Onkelos back to Rome. As they were leaving the house, Onkelos touched the mezuzah he had on his doorpost, as the halachah requires (see the first two paragraphs of the Shema). The soldiers asked what that was all about, and Onkelos replied by asking them if the Emperor’s guard doesn’t stand outside his home, in order to guard the inside. They of course replied that he was correct. Onkelos went on to explain that Gd was not like that. His servants lived in their houses, and Gd (symbolized by the mezuzah) stood guard outside so that no harm befall us. As a result, all the 50 soldiers converted to Judaism. (The Emperor sent several troops, all of whom converted for one reason or another, until he finally gave up and left Onkelos alone.)
This idea that Gd stands “outside” our homes to guard them is another example of a strain of thought that pictures Gd as something outside ourselves, almost something objective. Vedic Science of course deals more with Consciousness, and sees Consciousness as the basic “Stuff” of creation. But Consciousness is not objective – it is purely subjective. In this view, there is really no separation between Gd and His creatures – we are part of the internal virtual dynamics within Gd’s nature. Gd’s protection, therefore, is both inner and outer, not so much the protection of some of His creatures from others of His creatures, but rather an arrangement of all these internal dynamics in such a way that each individuality interacts in a harmonious was with every other individuality – all of these individualities being parts of Gd, Who encompasses all of creation.
From the side of the individualities, Gd’s protection is dependent on our following Gd’s Will. In Vedic Science terms, it means that the action of the individual is in accord with all the laws of nature, in accord with the evolutionary trend of life. In both systems, the individual human being has free will to choose which path he or she will take at each point in their life. Rambam will write at length on the problem of reconciling Gd’s foreknowledge with human beings’ free will. I believe the question only exists when we conflate two different levels of existence, and two different states of consciousness. On the level of the individuals, we choose what we are going to do. From Gd’s perspective, we are all just fluctuations of the Wholeness which is Gd, and that Wholeness grows and evolves within itself, without actually ever changing. There is no contradiction. We just recognize that our evaluation of the situation is different depending on our perspective.
Gd willing we will get to the third point next week.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Emor
“Emor” means “speak.” Gd commands Moses to speak to the sons of Aaron and say to them, “A priest must not himself be ceremonially unclean…” This Is, Gd’s Voice speaking through an individual to a group, just as each Sound of Torah is an Individual Sound vibrating within the Whole, which is Gd. Repeatedly in Torah Gd has said “Be thou holy for I am Holy.” In this parshah, we see Gd’s commands about the nature of Holiness, purity and the nature of speech, human and Divine. Gd’s Speech is Pure, a model for Moses’ speech, human speech.
The overall context of Emor is that it is a parshah in “Torah,” a Vibration of Gd, the Liveliness of Gd, Gd Speaking within Gd to Gd but passing through Moses to our ancestors and today available to us in books, scrolls, recitations, recordings and, especially, in our own cognitions. Torah is One with Gd, Beginningless, Endless, Eternal. Most important, Gd’s Voice is available to us in our Awareness when our hearts are open, when our Heart is open.
Since Gd has no beginning or end, “Beresheit Bara Elokim,” the first words of Torah, cannot be “In the beginning, Gd created,” but “in the beginning of Gd’s revealing,” the beginning and the revealing to be found in every point of Gd, everywhere in Gd’s Speech. This means that Gd plays hide-and-seek within Gd – the unlimited, omniscient, pretends to be limited and a seeker of knowledge, of wisdom. To this role of Gd, Gd reveals the Nature of the process through which Gd appears to be void and then within the void, Gd reveals the range from apparent emptiness to Fullness, a ladder in time, a simultaneity which is also sequence, a never beginning, never ending cycle through which we find the emptiness within the detail and the detail within the emptiness.
This description shows us how each action of ours begins with our becoming aware of the silence of our awareness, the Self-Referral level of our awareness, always fulfilled, and unfolds more and more concrete and wide-ranging manifestations as increasing awareness of the gap between our Self-Referral level of awareness and our individual awareness produces a desire of ours to perform actions that will narrow and eliminate the gap and restore our individual awareness to Self-Referral Awareness, Total Awareness.
Parashat Emor shows four groups of commands that reveal the detail within the word “speak.” It continues the Book of Leviticus: “Leviticus” derives from “Levi,” attached, pledged to Gd. This is specifically referring to the Levites, the priests, who attached and pledged themselves to Gd during their service when the Mishkan and the Temples stood.
At any time, and certainly today, whether we are Levites or not, we pledge and attach ourselves to Gd, through not only our actions and our daily prayers, ideally through what we learned (and continue) to learn through our religion, but certainly through any innocent prayer for Gd to reveal to us Gd’s Will and to give us the purity to do It so that every action of ours is innocent, kind and loving, narrowing the gap between our small selves and our Big Self and attaching us to Gd.
The essence of Gd’s Will is that we should “Love the Lrd thy Gd with all thy heart, all thy soul and all thy might” and “shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Jesus beautifully added: “and love thy enemy as thy self (Self).” Gd may be a bit abstract but our neighbor is concrete and so something simple like helping a friend, a family member, or a stranger; something complex like doing a large project for an international organization or business that we feel is helping our world to become more pure helps us move in the direction of loving Gd.
“Loving thy enemy as ourself (Self)” does not mean we cease acting to overcome the enemy – it means, we fight with Love, not only to conquer the enemy with weapons but fight with Love to help the enemy so the enemy becomes our friend.
Prayer, the ideal speech, in Judaism is much more a recognition of the Blessedness, the Blissfulness of Gd, than it is a request for something. Our actions allow this Blessedness to increase in our awareness and flow through us when they are not just for our individual self but for the community, for the Harmony of Life.
The commands in Parashat Emor can be divided into four sections:
1. The commands about purity of the Kohens, the priests who are direct descendants of Aaron, himself of the tribe of Levi.
2. Establishing Festivals and the Sabbath – times when there are special rules to be pure and celebrate purity
3. Lighting the menorah – light that symbolizes the victory of purity over impurity.
4. Penalties for blasphemy, murder, destruction of property – very clear descriptions of actions to avoid so that we remain pure, grow in purity, act with love and do not suffer or cause suffering.
In the beginning of Parashat Emor, we see Gd, Who is Holy, Speaking to Moses, an open channel for Gd’s Speech and a good model for us to help us act so that we are holy as Gd is Holy.
In the conclusion of the parshah, we see the consequences of blasphemous speech, speech which moves away from Holiness rather than toward it. The penalty was stoning to death. This is certainly not the penalty today but the penalty at any time is that with blasphemous speech our nerves and heart become hard, like stone, and little by little, if we do not return to purity, we stone ourselves to a joyless life, to suffering, to death of our spirit, and eventually, to death of our bodies. This is a very good reason to speak in praise of Gd and to speak encouragingly to all, encouraging all to act purely so they return to Wholeness.
Parashat Emor is a good one to read aloud or silently, to listen to, to act on so that we continue to speak holiness and to act in holiness.
Baruch HaShem