Parashat Kedoshim 5782 — 05/07/2022
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 19:1-20:27
Immediately after discussing the root Q-V-M, to stand, rise, endure, Rambam goes on to discuss a related root – Ayin-M-D, generally translated as to stand. We contrasted qimah and amidah in the context of our discussion of qimah, but here is what Rambam has to say (this is the entirety of Chapter 13):
Standing [‘amidah] is an equivocal term. Sometimes it has the meaning; to rise and stand. Thus: When he stood before Pharaoh. Though Moses and Samuel stood. And he stood by them. And sometimes it has the meaning: to abstain and desist. Thus: Because they stood still and answered no more; And she left off bearing. Elsewhere it has the meaning: to be stable and durable. Thus: That they may stand many days; Then shalt thou be able to stand. His taste stood in him, that is, it was stable, durable, and unchanged; His righteousness standeth forever, that is, it is permanent and enduring. Whenever the term standing occurs with reference to Gd, may He be exalted, it is used in the last sense. Thus: And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, that is, his intermediate causes, I mean His effects, shall be established. This shall be made clear when the equivocality of the term foot is mentioned. This meaning also occurs in the words of Gd, may He be exalted, [to Moses]: But as for thee, stand thou here by Me; and in the verse: I stood between the Lord and you.
When we contrasted qimah [rising, getting up] and Amidah [standing] we drew a distinction between a silent phase (amidah) and a more active phase (qimah). Qimah denotes a resting phase that is beginning to prepare for activity, while amidah seems to connote a more static state, prior to preparing to become active. It is, perhaps, the difference between pure Being, pure Existence, which is inert, and Pure Consciousness, which is silent, but infinitely dynamic as well, as we have often discussed. We find this dichotomy in other places: subject (Consciousness) vs object (Existence) for example, or mind/spirit (Consciousness) vs body (Existence). In each case, the objective side is inert and the subjective side is dynamic. This makes intuitive sense – matter is inert and can only be acted upon by something with consciousness. On the other hand, modern physics has blurred the distinction between “matter” and “energy” by showing that both are just two different aspects of one underlying field. This is just the unified, but paradoxical nature of Gd – at once transcendental and immanent, detached from creation and engaged intimately in its dynamics. We explained this by saying that the dynamics of creation are really a sort of virtual, internal dynamics within Gd’s nature – this by analogy with the Unified Field of physics. Nonetheless, it remains a paradox on the level of duality. On the level of Unity (i.e., Gd’s level) I don’t think the question even arises.
Rambam also adduces another meaning – to be permanent and enduring. Interestingly, he finds this meaning in Gd’s words to Moses (when Moses asks to know Gd’s ways, in parashat Ki Tisa in the aftermath of the golden calf incident) – stand thou here with me. In order to know as much of Gd’s ways as a human being can, Moses is required to have his consciousness steady in awareness of Gd. This of course is only possible when one’s awareness is established in Pure Consciousness, because Pure Consciousness is the only type of consciousness that is absolutely stable, unchanging and eternal.
Chapter 14 is a very brief interlude on the word Adam, a human being, before returning to the idea of “standing” in Chapter 15. It would seem to make sense that Chapter 15 should follow Chapter 13, but that’s not what Rambam chose to do, and I will assume that he is a lot smarter than I am, so I will continue in the order he set out. Here is Chapter 14 in full:
The equivocality of the word Adam. It is the name of Adam the first man, and is a derivative word; for, as the biblical text states, it is derived from the word adamah [RAR: earth]. It is also the term designating the species. Thus: My spirit shall not abide in man; Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of man. So that man hath no pre-eminence above a beast. It is also a term designating the multitude, I mean the generality as distinguished from the elite. Thus: Both the sons of man and the sons of an [outstanding] individual. This third meaning is to be found in the following verses: The sons of Elohim saw the daughters of man; Nevertheless, ye shall die as men.
Note that Rambam does not adduce any usage of adam with relationship to Gd. Rather, it is used to distinguish between man and Gd: My spirit shall not abide in man; Is Gd a man that He should change? I believe that we can discover the reason in the root meaning of the word – adam comes from the root adamah which means earth, and what could be farther from Gd’s Heaven than the earth? Bereshit tells us that Gd created man’s body out of the earth, then breathed spirit into it. Human beings are both earthly creatures and spiritual beings.
A common trope in Western thought is that the body and spirit are eternal enemies, each pulling us in a different direction – the body downward, towards to earth and the spirit upwards towards heaven. There is some truth to this notion of course – the body wants physical pleasures and comfort, and is often not too particular about what it has to do or whom it has to oppress to get those pleasures. In truth, the physical world blinds us to the infinite bliss that can be ours by developing our spirit to the fullest.
In truth, like all the dichotomies we encounter in the created world, this fundamental split between body and spirit, objective and subjective aspects of our lives, is reconciled on the level of Pure Consciousness. Spirit and body actually need each other to reach fulfillment! Just as Consciousness itself has within its unmanifest nature a virtual subject-object duality, so the unification of subject and object in the human being is a necessary part of creation. It is the structure and activity of a human nervous system that supports the experience of consciousness, and it is the experience of individual consciousness’ settling down to Pure Consciousness through TM practice that purifies the nervous system so it is better able to support expanded consciousness. The two work together – hopefully in a mutually supportive way. When we reach a fully expanded state of Unity Consciousness we find that Consciousness is all that there is, knowing itself, as it does in the primeval, unmanifest state of Consciousness alone with itself, but now that much richer, because now all of manifest creation is also caught up in the Self-referential unity of our Consciousness. For this, objective creation, and specifically the human nervous system, must exist. Therefore, Gd created Adam.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Kedoshim
“Kedoshim” means “holy ones.” This parshah presents two of the six major statements of Torah:
- “Be thou Holy, for I Am Holy”
- “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
The other four are:
- “I Was, I Am and I Will Be”: Gd’s answer to Moses when Moses asks Gd “What shall I tell the people when they ask Who You Are?”
- “Listen [not just “Hear”: Listen!], Oh Israel: The Lrd, thy Gd, is One.”
- “Be Still and Know that I Am Gd”
- “Thou shalt love the Lrd, thy Gd, with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy might.”
How to be Holy!
Gd commands: honor thy parents, don’t worship idols, contribute to the poor, be honest and not greedy. Overall, to be holy we need to orient ourselves toward Wholeness, respecting everyone and everything as an expression of Wholeness, not getting lost in a part.
How to love our neighbor as ourself?
First, we need to know ourself and to love the self we know. This gets easier as we behave in the moral way the first statement tells us—we begin to know ourselves as Wholeness, Pure Love, Single Self, not just our limited individuality. We begin to experience that our individuality and all individualities are expressions of the One Self, All-in-All, Pure Love.
Torah, siddurs (prayer books), family and cultural traditions help us as do our own thoughts, feelings, intuitions.
We are doing well. Let us continue to expand our awareness and our sense of family, community, world, Creation so that we can be fully Holy in our lives and all souls will experience themselves as Holy. Pure Love, Pure Joy.
Baruch HaShem