Parashat Ki Tisa 5785 – 03/15/2025 – Shushan Purim
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.
Shemot 30:11-34:35
Rambam is now going to explain how the elements got out of their natural places:
As for the bodies that move in circles, they are animate, endowed with a soul that makes them move. And there is in time no principle at all that would make them to be at rest. No change attains them, except with regard to position, as they move in a circle. As regards the question whether they have an intellect by means of which they make mental representations, this does not become clear except after subtle speculation.
Inasmuch as the fifth body as a whole is engaged perpetually in a circular motion, it thus engenders forced motion in the elements because of which they leave their places. I have in view fire and air, which are pushing toward the water. All of them penetrate toward the body of the earth, in the valleys. In consequence a mixture of the elements comes about. Afterwards they start to move in order to return to their places; and because of this, portions of the earth in their turn are made to leave their places as they accompany the water, the air, and the fire. In all this, the elements exert influence upon one another and are influenced by one another. Accordingly changes occur in the mixture so that, in the first place, the various species of vapors come into being from it, then the various species of minerals, then all the species of plants, then many species of living beings in accordance with what is determined by the composition of the mixture. Everything that is subject to generation and corruption is generated from the elements and, being corrupted, passes away into them. The elements likewise are generated from one another and, being corrupted, pass away into one another; for the matter of the all is one; and the existence of matter without form is impossible and, on the other hand, no natural form subject to generation and corruption exists without matter. Thus the state of things with regard to the generation and corruption of the elements and with regard to the generation of everything that is generated of them and is corrupted so as again to be changed into them, comes back in a circle similar to the circular movement of heaven; so that the movement of this matter endowed with forms is, in respect to the succession of the forms subsisting in it, like the movement of heaven in respect to the “where,” every part of heaven returning repeatedly to the selfsame positions.
First Rambam describes the spheres as being animate objects – that is, objects that are animated by a soul (anima in Latin). Presumably this is the “animal soul,” which gives a creature the ability to move around volitionally, but not the thinking soul, as humans have, that allows us to make moral decisions. One cannot tell from their motions whether they have an intellect or an imaginative faculty, since they are constrained to move in their circles eternally. For the moment Rambam leaves this question open, pending further “subtle speculation.”
If I may take a bit of an excursion here, it seems that the answer to this question might lie in the Jewish conception of an angel. The Hebrew word for “angel” is mal’ach, literally, “messenger.” The general consensus is that although angels have minds and intellects, they do not have free will – that is, either they were created simply to carry out some command of Gd’s and have no power to do otherwise, or perhaps they are so close to Gd that violating Gd’s will is as unthinkable to them as holding our hand in a hot fire is to us.
There is another opinion, however, that angels do have at least some free will. In an analysis of the dialog between the angels who destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot, Avraham’s nephew, the angels start out by saying (Gen. 19:13) “For we are about to destroy this place; because the outcry against them before HaShem has become so great that HaShem has sent us to destroy it.” Although they admit that HaShem sent them, they say that we are about to destroy the place – as if they could act on their own. Not too many verses later they are forced to admit (Gen 19:22) “Hurry, flee there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” In fact, there is a Midrash that states that these angels were not admitted back into heaven right away because of their slightly prideful ascription of independent action to themselves. Perhaps it was the thick layer of stress that was characteristic of Sodom that obscured the truth of Gd’s Unity and omnipotence from them to some slight degree. Whatever the cause, according to this view, angels certainly have individuality, and even their very close connection to the universal Gd can, in some cases, be obscured.
Bringing the discussion back to the heavenly spheres and their objects, it may be that there is a parallel between them and the angels. They are constrained to do just what Gd created them to do, but it is also possible that they have a mind and intellect of their own by which, in some way, they can express their individuality. This is pure speculation on my part, and we will see what Rambam has to say on the matter when he raises it in his treatise.
Now we come to the elements and their mixtures, which is really the story of creation and evolution:
Inasmuch as the fifth body as a whole is engaged perpetually in a circular motion, it thus engenders forced motion in the elements because of which they leave their places. I have in view fire and air, which are pushing toward the water. All of them penetrate toward the body of the earth, in the valleys. In consequence a mixture of the elements comes about. Afterwards they start to move in order to return to their places; and because of this, portions of the earth in their turn are made to leave their places as they accompany the water, the air, and the fire. In all this, the elements exert influence upon one another and are influenced by one another.
In short, the “violence” that Rambam spoke of earlier that removes the elements from their “natural” places is nothing other than the motions of the outer spheres. I picture a kind of blender or food processor, with the inner part’s being stirred by the motion of the other bowl, rather than by blades on the inside. Incidentally, for this to happen there has to be friction between the spinning sphere and its contents – if there were no friction the outer sphere would just spin and have no effect on the inner fluid. If there is friction, then the spinning outer sphere would be expected to cause vortices in the inner fluid – how many and how large these vortices might be would depend on the viscosity of the liquid, the speed of rotation of the outer circle, etc. Of course friction turns kinetic energy into heat energy, so for this system to work there would have to be a way in which the frictional heat would be dissipated and the lost kinetic energy made up in some way, and for this process to go on forever. Since the heavens are supposed to be perfect, it is hard to see how there could be any friction there. Friction causes entropy, disorder, and we imagine the heavens to be a place of perfect order and harmony. We see the difficulties in reconciling the spheres-and-epicycles view with modern (or even Newtonian) physics.
Leaving aside these problems, the upshot is that there are two opposing tendencies here – we have the tendency of the elements to return to their natural places, and we have the constant turning of the spheres that continually knocks the elements around and mixes them up. It is not clear whether this process is cyclical or if it is somehow a progressive, evolutionary process.
I think this discussion is part of a larger difference in approach between Greek philosophy and Biblical tradition. Rambam has alluded to the fact that the Greeks held that the universe was eternal, while of course the Bible posits that Gd created the world at a specific point in time. Modern astrophysics, incidentally, inclines more towards the Biblical view, with the universe’s emerging from a singularity about 14 billion years ago. In both cases, we don’t know what came before creation, and the Talmud cautions against speculating about “what was before and what will be afterward…” In any event, the view that the universe is eternal lends itself to the constant cycling of the spheres, and of history for that matter. The Biblical view is more evolutionary – it has a starting point and an ending point in the Messianic Age, when violence and injustice will end. Furthermore, individual action affects the course of history. Right action brings the Messianic Age closer, and, unfortunately, vice versa.
Maharishi’s Vedic Science has a much more expanded view of the cyclical nature of creation. Please see Maharishi’s commentary on Chapter 4, verse 1 of the Bhagavad-Gita for an overview, and Gd willing we will consider it next week.
**********************************************************************
Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Ki Tisa
(from our archives)
“Ki Tisa” means “when you take.” The parshah begins with “The Lrd spoke to Moses saying, ‘When you take the sum of the Children of Israel according to their numbers, let each one give to the Lrd an atonement for his soul when they are counted so there will be no plague among them when they are counted.’”
This brings us several important points about our drawing on Torah as a help in our return to Oneness, Teshuvah.
The first is that taking a census is a way of revealing that a community is not just a mass of people: each one matters, each one is to be known.
The second is that taking is not just something that Moses was commanded to do so that he would know the community in detail but also something that showed to every member of community that they mattered.
The third is that this principle of knowing the details of the community applies to knowing anything, anyone, including knowing Gd — and it applies not only to Moses but to everyone at all times.
Fourth is that, having shown they matter to Gd, they need to show that Gd matters to them: they need to make a donation as “an atonement for their soul,” a donation to dissolve any impurity that clouds their soul so they can experience “at-Onement,” Oneness with Gd. The donation in this parshah is a half-shekel and this is symbolic of our relation with Gd: we do our part and Gd does the rest. It is extremely kind of Gd to suggest to us that we are doing half and Gd is doing half. The reality, of course, is that we do our maximum and it is only a tiny drop of the Unbounded Doing that Gd does.
If impurities are not dissolved, then they will distort our perception of Gd’s Presence and the Eternal Blessing that is Gd will be experienced as a plague. This is a particularly apt concern in this time when Covid-19 spread for almost a year as does a plague. Our donation at this time is to take very good care of our health: get good rest, good food, wash hands (see miu.edu/virus for guidelines and information). As always donations to charity with an open heart help us to stay pure and get purer.
Fifth is that the half-shekel will go to provide oil.
In the previous parshah, we presented the view that the oil intended to provide fuel for the Eternal Flame is by our Sages considered symbolic of wisdom and that wisdom and eternity belong to Gd so the Eternal Flame is symbolic of Gd.
The oil people bring will be enhanced by the “art of the perfumer” with various spices and will be used in anointing the Tabernacle, the Ark, the priests and various parts of the Tabernacle. This anointing oil will be holy and everything anointed becomes holy as does everyone who touches the holy objects. “Holy” means “Whole,” Teshuvah, Full Restoration of the Awareness of One beyond the duality of Gd and individual.
One way to look at this is that the enhancing brings out qualities in the pure oil that were latent without the enhancement. This is like the census that revealed details within the community. My guess is that not only were these qualities perceivable in the anointing oil but they also began to be perceivable in the un-enhanced oil used in the Eternal Flame and in Gd’s Presence in the Tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting. These qualities would be not only that of fragrance but of visibility, audibility, touch-ability. Gd would be Concrete and Detailed: The reality that Gd is All and Everyone; Everything would be perceivable in the Eternal Flame and everywhere. Our ancestors would be gaining Omniscience, they would be making significant progress to complete Teshuvah, complete restoration of the Awareness that all is One, beyond the duality of Gd and person. Gd and things.
The fact that enhancement of the oil and the enhancement of perception was needed is suggested by the fact that in this parshah we are also told that when Moses came down from listening to Gd at the top of Mt. Sinai, he found the people worshiping the Golden Calf, dancing around it. Despite hearing Gd’s voice, and seeing Gd in flame and smoke, our ancestors needed something concrete to trust in.
To make Gd Concrete in our lives, we need to offer not only abstract wisdom, symbolized by pure oil, but also something we ourselves create, not something to worship instead of Gd, like the Golden Calf created by Aaron from vessels brought by our ancestors, but something to enhance our worship of Gd, to make it personal, like the enhancements of the pure oil with the spices and the art of the perfumer. Living our daily life with such creativity. Gd becomes more perceivable to us, and we do not need a Golden Calf or any material object to substitute for Gd: we perceive Gd by Direct Experience sufficiently to trust that Gd is Real, Almighty, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omni-Joyful. Omni-Compassionate, Omni-Loving and to realize that we are Gd in disguise, playing the important roles of our individual lives
The cheerful respect and competence that that our Congregation displays at each service suggests we are doing well in our lives to be pure, loving, generous, simple and our making our relationship with Gd, concrete and personal. This makes me very happy.
Baruch HaShem