Parashat Emor 5786 – 05/02/2026
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 established that he believes that the “inner planets” (Mercury and Venus – inner meaning their orbits are within the earth’s orbit in the Copernican / heliocentric view of the heavens) lie above the sphere of the sun, along with the “outer planets” (Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). The significance of this is that there are 4, rather than 5 spheres: Moon, Sun, 5 Planets, and Fixed Stars. Were the inner planets “below” the sun’s sphere, there would have been 5 spheres: Moon, Inner Planets, Sun, Outer Planets, Fixed Stars. Rambam explains the significance of this fact:
It is likewise possible that the arrangement of the universe should be as follows. The spheres are four; the elements moved by the spheres are four; and the forces proceeding from the spheres into that which exists in general are four, as we have made clear. Similarly the causes of every motion belonging to the sphere are four: namely, the shape of the sphere – I mean to say its sphericity; its soul; and its intellect through which it has conceptions, as we have explained, and the separate intellect, which is its beloved.
There are actually quite a number of fours in Jewish tradition as well. Pesach was just a few weeks ago and there are a number of significant fours in the Seder: the four sons, the four cups of wine (which correspond to the 4 expressions of redemption (Ex. 6:6-7, viz. I will take you out [of Egypt], I will save you, I will redeem you, I will take you as a nation ). In addition, there are the four worlds of Kabbalah (Atzilut / “Nearness”; Beri’ah / “Creation”; Yetzirah / “Formation” and Asiyah / “Action”), which are the stages of emanation from Gd from the finest level (Atzilut) to the most manifest (Asiyah).
Some commentators have pointed out that all these 4’s are really subsets of 5’s. For example, we drink 4 cups of wine at the Seder, but we have a fifth cup as well – the cup of Eliyahu (Elijah). This cup is not put out for Eliyahu to “drink” by the way. There was a dispute as to whether or not to have a fifth cup, so the cup is put out, but not drunk. In the days of Mashiach, Eliyahu will resolve the dispute, hence the name “Cup of Eliyahu.” And which expression of redemption does this fifth cup go with? R. Sacks opines that it’s Gd’s promise to bring us into the Land of Israel, which follows very closely after the four expressions of redemption quoted above: I will bring you to the Land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… [Ex 6:8] (Translation by Sefaria).
R. Sacks adds that there is a fifth son – the son who is not even at the table. This is a more modern phenomenon. Until relatively recently, one’s personal status depended crucially on which community one was a member of – Jewish, Muslim, Christian or the like. If one were Jewish, one went to a Seder. This is no longer the case, at least in the West. One can “pick his own tribe,” be it a traditional one or any other affinity group one could wish. It is much easier nowadays to simply walk away from one’s family, tradition and heritage than it was in the days when people lived their whole lives within 50 miles of the spot they were born. Whether there was, at one time, a different “fifth son,” I don’t know.
What about the four worlds? Is there a fifth world? The four worlds are described as emanations of Gd. Perhaps we could say that the fifth “world” is Gd Himself – the “world” which transcends the manifest worlds. This would correspond to the fifth cup of wine, which is “beyond” the requisite four cups, and is associated with Eliyahu, the heavenly messenger, who represents the transcendental value of life. Eliyahu is associated with two important aspects of a Jew’s life – the Pesach Seder and the rite of circumcision. In the Seder he is associated with the “5th cup” which we will discuss shortly. Circumcision takes place on the 8th day of life, which the Sages explicitly associate with the transcendent – the 7 days of the first week of life correspond to the seven-day creation cycle, including Shabbat, and the 8th day is then beyond this natural cycle.
The 5th expression of redemption (which corresponds to the Cup of Eliyahu) is Gd’s promise to bring us into the Land of Israel. The first 4 expressions have to do with the relationship of the Jews with the Egyptians, and of course this interaction was almost entirely negative. The Hebrew word for Egypt, Mitzraim, is related to the word for boundaries or constriction. On the other hand, the Land of Israel is described as a broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and of course, a land where we can serve Gd freely and develop our unique spiritual talents and identity. Israel is the Holy Land, and “holy” in Hebrew is kadosh, which means “set apart.” That which is holy is set apart from the mundane, and the ultimate value of this separation is the separation of the transcendent from the world of boundaries. That’s what “transcendent” means – beyond, in this case beyond all of relative creation. So in this sense, the Land of Israel is transcendental to the land of Egypt. (R. Sacks identifies another set of 4 at the Seder, namely the four questions. He also indicates that there was a 5th question – why do we eat the Pesach offering, which of course we don’t ask any more since there is no Temple in which to make the Pesach offering. Again, the 5th question deals with a reality – the Temple service – which transcends the mundane questions about matzah and maror and leaning on our sides.)
Now to return to Rambam. He has his own pair of fours (not a great poker hand). He has the four elements and the four spheres. The four spheres are: Moon, Sun, planets, and fixed stars. Above all of them is a sphere that is empty of objects, but which moves all the spheres below it. This sphere transcends the creation, which resides in the four lower spheres, yet is the cause of the motion of everything below it. And in addition to the 4 elements, there is a 5th element – space or the ether, which is not physical, and represents the transcendent. It is the quintessence (quint = 5 + essence) that is at the basis of the whole system of elements.
So, the universe appears to have a 4+1 structure – 4 relative elements and one that transcends the four. We can picture this as a square and the point in the middle. From the center, the periphery flourishes. Rambam will elaborate on this structure, and we will pick the narrative up next week Gd willing.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Emor
“Emor” means “speak”: Gd commands Moses to speak to the sons of Aaron and to Aaron, 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, recording. Most important, it is available to us in our Awareness 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, narrow in the gap between our small self 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.” 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.
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 Kohanim, 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