Parashat Korach 5785 – 06/28/2025
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.
Bamidbar 16:1-18:32
Rambam goes on to point out some flaws in the system of the Mutakallimūn:
Hear now what they were compelled to admit as a necessary consequence of these three premises and what they therefore believed. They said that motion is the passage of an atom belonging to these particles from one atom to another that is contiguous to it. It follows that no movement can be more rapid than another movement. ln accordance with this assumption, they said that when you see that two things in motion traverse two different distances in the same time, the cause of this phenomenon does not lie in the greater rapidity of the motion of the body traversing the longer distance, but the cause of this lies in the motion that we call slower being interrupted by a greater number of units of rest than is the case with regard to the motion we call more rapid, which is interrupted by fewer units of rest. And when the example of an arrow shot from a strong bow was alleged as an objection against them, they said that the motions of the arrow were also interrupted by units of rest. In fact your thinking that a certain object is moving in continuous motion is due to an error of the senses, for many of the objects of the perception of the senses elude the latter, as they lay down in the twelfth premise.
In consequence, it was said to them: Have you seen a millstone making a complete revolution? Has not the part that is at its circumference traversed the distance represented by the bigger” circle in the same time in which the part near the center has traversed the distance represented by the smaller” circle? Accordingly the motion of the circumference is more rapid than the motion of the inner circle. And there is no opportunity for you to assert that the motion of the latter part is interrupted by a greater number of units of rest as the whole body is one and continuous, I mean the body of the millstone. Their answer to this objection is that the various portions of the millstone become separated from one another in the course of its revolution and that the units of rest that interrupt the motion of all the revolving portions that are near the center are more numerous than the units of rest that interrupt the motion of the parts that are farther off from the center. Thereupon it was said to them: How then do we perceive the millstone as one body that cannot be broken up even by hammers? One must accordingly assume that when it turns round, it splits into pieces; and when it comes to rest, it is welded up and becomes as it was before. How is it that one does not perceive its portions as separated from one another?
The problem with this whole atomic theory is explaining motion – the very problem (Zeno’s paradoxes) that led to this atomic business to begin with. Once matter, time and space are atomized, movement is no longer smooth, but rather has to be visualized as jumps of atoms from one position to another. The positions are also atomized, so the particle, according to them, can only jump from one atom of space to the next, and apparently, according to them, each jump takes one atom of time, or in any event a fixed number of atoms of time. In other words, everything seems to have an intrinsic speed given by the sizes of the atoms of space and time. The reason that we see things moving at different speeds is that between movements they “rest” for a certain number of atoms of time. Rambam’s example of a rotating millstone brings out the difficulties with this approach.
As we saw last week, we can avoid Zeno’s Paradox in a much simpler way by accepting the reality that space and time are continuous, and yet that there are infinite sequences (½ + ¼ + 1/8 + 1/16 …) that converge to a finite number (1 in this case). By constricting motion to jumps from one atom of space in one atom of time we run into all the problems Rambam brings out in his exposition. Furthermore, if we say that atoms of “stuff” move from one atom of space to the next, through whatever was “between” these atoms of space, what is to say that an atom can’t move from one atom to another that is not contiguous? If the atoms of space are contiguous to one another, how is this different from a continuous space? If the atoms of space are not contiguous, how do the atoms get from one to the other? Do they just disappear from one and reappear in another? If this is the case, there is no reason why an atom could only move to the “next” bit of space. That would answer Rambam’s questions, but would undoubtedly raise others.
I would like to turn our attention to the motivation behind this whole discussion of atomization of time, and that is the need to account for miracles. The idea is that at every instant of time Gd creates the world anew, as we say in our liturgy, “Who in His goodness renews every day the work of creation.” Since we observe that the world consistently appears to follow certain laws (“laws of nature”), we infer that Gd’s creation and recreation of nature at each instant proceeds in an orderly manner, to give the appearance of regularity, whereas the reality is that each creation is an expression of Gd’s independent Will at that instant. And of course, if Gd wants to alter nature from one moment to the next, it’s relatively easy to explain, since He was creating that moment in any event.
I might add that Bertrand Russel’s famous 5-minute hypothesis goes directly at this issue. He pointed out that we can neither prove nor disprove the assertion that the universe was created ex nihilo 5 minutes ago, with everything looking exactly like it’s been evolving from a big bang for 13 billion years. It’s actually equivalent to the Kalām assertion that Gd creates the universe anew every instant of time, because at each instant of time it will be impossible to prove that the universe has not been created, say, at the previous instant. Incidentally, this idea of continuous creation is present in Jewish thought as well. Ramban (R. Moshe ben Nachman, Nachmanides, 1194-1270) argued for it, stating that any consistency we see in nature is simply Gd’s Will expressing itself in a regular way, not the operation of laws of nature, like gravity. This leaves scientific inquiry with shaky philosophical footing to say the least, although, since we cannot disprove the existence of nature and its laws, it may make no practical difference. Ramban was himself a physician, and presumably used the (apparent) regularity of phenomena when he diagnosed or treated illnesses.
I think there are deeper problems still with this approach. First, if there is no continuity, there is no cause and effect. Any cause and effect we see is just Gd’s Will working in a regular manner, according to laws that we can discern. “Nature” and the laws of nature are not real – rather they are an artifact of the way the mind works, or appears to work. Furthermore, if there is no cause and effect, there is no free will – what we decide in this moment does not in the least constrain the universe that Gd is going to create in the next instant, since Gd’s Will is absolutely free. The corollary to the lack of free will is that the whole system of reward and punishment breaks down, yet Torah tells us what is right and wrong and which choices we should make. Rambam himself points out that the existence of human free will is a necessary condition for much of Jewish thought to be correct.
It seems to me that all of this twisting and turning is due to the fact that we are looking at time as time-bound creatures. Gd, of course, transcends time, and can have an infinite number of universes at His disposal. Furthermore, all of the virtual dynamics that take place within Gd, and which we perceive as creation, are in reality beyond time. It is only because our awareness is limited to a small slice of the unbounded reality that we see things constrained by time and causality. Once we take what we might call a quantum-mechanical view of reality, where all possible outcomes exist simultaneously, I think the issues with time and causality may disappear. What that does with free will I’m not sure, but the goal of the development of consciousness in Vedic Science is to create a situation where our individual will is completely aligned with the cosmic force of evolution – Gd’s Will – and free will is, so to speak, transcended. I think I will leave it at that before I rush in where angels fear to tread.
Gd willing we will go on to the next (fourth) premise of the Mutakallimūn next week.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Korach
Korach” means “baldness, ice, hail, frost.” By leading an insurrection against Gd-chosen Moses, Korach showed baldness of spirit, iciness and frost of heart and a hail of deluded thought
Parashat Korach reminds us that what is important in life is to live in harmony with Gd, not to worry much about our status relative to other humans – “to love Gd with all our heart, all our soul, all our might” and to “love our neighbor as ourself.”
Korach, Moses’ first cousin, along with 250 other leaders of the Children of Israel challenge Moses’ right to lead, claiming that all of Israel is holy and Moses should not place himself above everyone. They did not love Gd with all their heart, soul and might otherwise they would have felt Gd’s leadership flowing through Moses. They did not love their neighbor as their selves otherwise they would have been happy for Moses to be such an open person that Gd could flow through him.
Korach and the others forgot that Moses was selected by Gd, not by himself, to lead the Children of Israel out of slavery and into the Promised Land: They forgot that when the 10 Commandments were given out, all of the Children of Israel were frightened that they would die if they heard any more of Gd’s voice: they requested Gd to give the rest of Torah to Moses – so they also placed Moses above them, more pure, more capable.
Moses pleads with the Levites to be grateful for what they have been given but they do not listen. Moses tells them to bring their fire pans (the pans through which they make offerings) and we will see whose offerings Gd accepts. Gd tells Moses He will destroy the rebellious.
At the appointed time, Moses tells the people of Israel, paraphrase. “We will see who Gd wishes to lead. If these people die a natural death, then they are right. If not, then Gd has appointed me to lead.”
The ground opens up and Korach, Datan and Aviram are swallowed up while 250 are consumed by fire.
Moses’s genuineness is confirmed.
We see a lot in Torah of complaining, sinning, Moses pleading for forgiveness for his neighbors, the Children of Israel. A lesson we can learn from Moses is to be open to Gd, to love our neighbor as ourselves (our Self) , to plead with others to be open also, and to plead with Gd that he forgive those who lack openness.
In such ways, little by little, person by person, we help to create a world in which harmony, respect, friendliness, love, contentment, fulfillment exist. In such a world, Torah is experienced not just as words in a book but as the living eternal reality of the liveliness of Gd, of One. We function not just as our individual selves but as Totality functioning through all.
And this world is the Real World – achievable soon. Let’s continue creating it and request that Gd bring it NOW!
Love and Love and Love,
Baruch HaShem