Parashat Ki Tavo 5785 – 09/13/2025
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.
Devarim 26:1-29:8
Rambam takes a detour to discuss the imagination and the intellect. These are Rambam’s words – not a description of the ideas of the Kalām.
Know, thou who studies this Treatise: if you are of those who know the soul and its powers and have acquired true knowledge of everything as it really is, you already know that imagination exists in most living beings. As for the perfect animal, I mean the one endowed with a heart, the existence of imagination in it is clear. Accordingly, man is not distinguished by having imagination; and the act of imagination is not the act of the intellect but rather its contrary. For the intellect divides the composite things and differentiates their parts and makes abstractions of them, represents them to itself in their true reality and with their causes, and apprehends from one thing very many notions, which differ for the intellect just as two human individuals differ in regard to their existence for the imagination. It is by means of the intellect that the universal is differentiated from the individual, and no demonstration is true except by means of universals. It is also through the intellect that essential predicates are discerned from accidental ones. None of these acts belongs to the imagination. For the imagination apprehends only that which is individual and composite as a whole, as it is apprehended by the senses; or compounds things that in their existence are separate, combining one with another; the whole being a body or a force of the body. Thus someone using his imagination imagines a human individual having a horse’s head and wings and so on. This is what is called a thing invented and false, for nothing existent corresponds to it at all.
The intellect is that which makes distinctions, as Rambam says: “For the intellect divides the composite things and differentiates their parts and makes abstractions of them…” In Hebrew intellect is binah from the root bein, which means “between,” and the intellect is that mental faculty that distinguishes between two things. A crude intellect, like a dull knife, can only distinguish between things that are obviously and superficially different, while a subtle intellect, like a very sharp knife, can distinguish very fine differences between two very similar things. Study of Talmud is an exercise in intellectual development from crude to exceedingly subtle – a subtlety that can comprehend “Talmudic hair-splitting.” A very common phrase in the Talmud is mai beineihu / What is the difference between them (i.e. two Sages’ opinions), and the answer is often a case that brings out a very tiny point of differentiation that clarifies the subject under discussion. I think the subtlest level of the intellect is that which stands at the doorstep of Pure Consciousness and distinguishes between Pure Consciousness and the very finest level of activity of Pure Consciousness. Alternatively, perhaps it is the ability to distinguish Pure Consciousness as Subject and Pure Consciousness as Object, although that distinction is purely virtual, and may not actually exist at all except as a model for us to understand how Unity becomes duality. Discuss amongst yourselves.
Imagination, on the other hand, is integrative, synthetic rather than analytical: “As for the perfect animal, I mean the one endowed with a heart, the existence of imagination in it is clear. Accordingly, man is not distinguished by having imagination; and the act of imagination is not the act of the intellect but rather its contrary. … For the imagination apprehends only that which is individual and composite as a whole, as it is apprehended by the senses; or compounds things that in their existence are separate, combining one with another; the whole being a body or a force of the body.” In other words, the imagination doesn’t piece together all the individual pieces that the intellect has taken apart, rather it grasps the object or system as a whole – the gestalt so to speak.
This dichotomy between integrative and analytic is reflected in many areas of Jewish thought, and indeed in many systems of thought about the real world. In the Kabbalah, we find it in the three “upper sefirot” – chochmah, binah and de’ah. Chochmah means “wisdom,” and is described as a glimpse into the ultimate reality, a revelation similar to the way we take in a complete scene when there’s a lightning flash on a dark and stormy night. It is integrative – we capture the gestalt of reality as a whole, rather than in pieces. This corresponds to what Rambam has called imagination. Binah means “intellect,” which, as we have seen, breaks wholeness down into its parts and their interactions. It seeks to understand wholeness by means of the parts. The integration between imagination / chochmah and intellect / binah, is de’ah / knowledge. Complete knowledge must understand reality in terms of its unity and in terms of its parts. And yes, the acronym for Chochmah-Binah-De’ah – ChaBaD – is the name of the Lubavitcher Chasidic movement.
R. Jonathan Sacks has an interesting discussion that I think relates to this topic. He points out that during the sojourn in the desert, when the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was set up, the area of the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant rested, was the most sanctified spot on earth. It’s where Gd’s Presence resides. But the next day, when the people decamped, the Mishkan was taken down and stowed on the wagons, and that spot of desert which had been of transcendent holiness, is now just another forsaken piece of arid landscape.
R. Sacks points out that this is the way we grow. We learn a chapter of Bible and we think we understand it. Then we go into the Talmud, and the Talmud completely destroys our understanding. We take the new information and the new approaches and integrate them into our understanding, creating a deeper understanding. Then we read Rashi on the passage and it tears down everything we thought we knew. So again we integrate the new information and gain an even deeper understanding. What is happening is there is an alternation between analysis and synthesis, breaking down of our understanding and then integrating the pieces back together. The result is fuller and fuller knowledge.
In Vedic Science too we have the same kind of pattern at the most fundamental level of life. Maharishi analyzes the structure of the first word of Rg Veda, agni. The A is the fully integrated value of wholeness, which collapses to G – a stop, a point value. We see this as well in the Self-referral nature of Consciousness. Consciousness is the Subject – unbounded, and Consciousness is the Object, bounded and finite, so to speak. This is the fundamental process of creation – fullness (think “imagination”) contracts to a point (think “intellect” / “analysis”) and in the tension between the two, all the levels of structure that we perceive as creation unfold. And, according to Rambam, human beings seem to be uniquely endowed with both faculties. At the most fully developed level of consciousness, human beings imbibe what Maharishi described as the fullness of fullness (Pure Consciousness in its infinite value) and fullness of emptiness (Pure Consciousness in its fully contracted value). The whole process of creation exists eternally within our own Pure Consciousness.
***************************************************
Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Ki Tavo (“When you come in”)
All the Parshiyyot (parts) of Torah have levels: At the deepest level, they are vibrations of Gd, Gd’s Name, The Liveliness of Gd. Listening to these vibrations helps us to attune to Gd, Totality, to gain teshuvah, restoration to the Primordial Oneness.
But they also have meaning, stories, commandments that give us principles, values, rules for living life in the everyday way and attuning us to Gd through our sacred behavior, our religious behavior.
In this parshah, as in all of the Book of Devarim, (Deuteronomy), Gd, through Moses, is preparing the Children of Israel to enter the Promised Land. Torah is for everyone, for all times, so he is preparing us, too, to enter the Promised Land—not only the physical Land of Canaan, but more importantly, the Real Promised Land,– dwelling in Gd, Totality.
The first words are encouraging: Ki Tavo means “when you come in,” not when you go in. The encouragement is that Gd is inviting the Children of Israel to come in – to join Gd in the Promised Land, not just sending us out from the familiar land into an unknown one where we will have to fend for ourselves.
2. Encouragement is also given by the part of the parshah in which Moses says, (paraphrase) “You have selected the Lrd this day, and the Lrd has selected you.” This means whenever we move toward Wholeness-Gd – Gd moves toward us. A little love on our part brings Infinite Love from Gd.
3. Encouragement is given by the last words of the parshah: “And you shall observe the words of this covenant and fulfill them, in order that you will succeed in all that you do.” Moses tells us we will observe and fulfill, not that we must, but we will.
4. Encouragement also comes from the fact that our ancestors claimed Torah for everyone, not just for the Levi’im – the teachers and priests. Moses rejoiced over this, “…until this day, the Lord has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear.” But today you have chosen Torah, chosen Gd, and you have become a people – a community, not just a collection of individuals.
Fortunately, for us, Gd has given our hearts enough Knowingness that we choose Gd ; enough eyes and ears that we can appreciate the beauty of Gd’s Creation, the Impulses of Gd,, Flows of Gd that are our primary food, shelter, clothing, that are the Joy of Being Alive and Together.
And, fortunately, Gd Is, as Gd told Moses earlier, Beyond Time, “I Was, I Am, and I Will Be” so Gd is All, always guiding us to open our hearts to Gd – to our Self, to One.
And, also fortunately, we have examples, in our Jewish tradition, of Tzadikim, the righteous, people whose hearts, eyes and ears were open enough to follow Torah well and to pass on traditions of openness. These examples confirm for us that the Goal is near, not far. (paraphrasing, “It is within to us to achieve”)
Examples of Tzadikim are the Baal Shem Tov and Schneur Zalman.
The Baal Shem Tov we honor for bringing Direct Experience of Gd back into Judaism and bringing also the emphasis on Joy and Love in the services.
Schneur Zalman we honor for being the founder of Chabad: “Ch” for “Chochmah“,Wisdom, “B” for “Binah“, Understanding, and “D” for “Da’at“, Knowledge, the Personal Aspect of Gd as Totality. He is author of “Tanya,” a kabbalistic explanation of Torah that seeks to add the intellectual element to the Baal Shem Tov’s highly experiential and feeling-based approach.
5. We can gain encouragement from the command to offer the first fruits – symbolically, the first fruits of any of our actions – to Gd: it means fruits will be there and we will have hearts open enough to express gratitude by offering them.
6. Similarly, the command to tithe to Levites, stranger, orphan and widow gives us the chance to keep our heart open and to share what we have earned in the awareness that our earnings are gifts from Gd to be shared. We are encouraged because Gd only commands us to do what we are able to do and so this commandment assures us that we will not be living bare-bones lives with not a penny to spare but we will have enough to share.
7. Through Moses, Gd commanded our ancestors to set up huge stones plastered with lime on which “you will write the Torah.” For us, hardbound copies or Torah on our computer or the Internet will serve. But in reality, it is our good actions that lead us to be aware of Torah in our hearts, Torah as the Liveliness of Gd, One with Gd. And it is our good actions that make Torah in our hearts, tablets of Joy and Love, not of stone.
8. Fortunately, even the curses that will be spoken from Mt. Ebal (as proclaimed in Parashat Re’eh) will have a quality of blessing in them because they will be proclaimed from the mountain on which Gd has put Gd’s Name and an altar has been built and because they issue from the Mouth of Gd and are intended to restore us to act with Gd’s Will and no longer to praise ourselves as if we were the Author of our accomplishments.
So this parshah gives us encouragement today that by reading Torah, listening to Torah, following Torah we can attune ourselves to Gd and enter the Promised Land, Oneness with Gd, full restoration of our awareness.
Baruch HaShem!