Parashat Lech L’cha 5785 – 11/09/2024
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.
Bereshit 12:1-17:27
Rambam continues his discussion by demonstrating that saying “cause and first ground” or saying “maker” with regards to Gd are really one and the same thing. Basically the argument goes like this. When we speak of a cause, it can be in potentia, in which case it precedes its effect in time – the cause must be actualized (become in actu) for the effect to be realized. If the cause is in actu, then it is the existence of the effect that makes it so. An action or a thing is not a cause in actu unless it actually has an existent effect. But we can say the same for a maker. A maker in potentia precedes what it will make in time. A builder in potentia precedes the building he will build in the future. A builder in actu must have an actual building that he has made; it is the existence of the product that makes the maker an actual maker. The arguments are the same because the two terms are really describing the same underlying reality.
Rambam continues:
In fact the philosophers were induced to designate Him, may He be exalted, as a cause and not as a maker, not because of their generally known opinion with regard to the eternity of the world, but because of other notions of which I will give you a summary account. In natural science, it has been made clear that there are causes for everything that has a cause; that they are four: namely, matter, form, the efficient cause, and the end; and that some of them are proximate causes and others remote ones. Every cause belonging to one of these four is designated as cause and ground. Now one of the opinions of the philosophers, an opinion with which I do not disagree, is that Gd, may He be held precious and magnified, is the efficient cause, that He is the form, and that He is the end. Thus it is for this reason that they say that He, may He be exalted, is a cause and a ground, in order to comprise these three causes – that is, the fact that Gd is the efficient cause of the world, its form, and its end.
Now as far as the different “causes” go, I’d refer you to the Wikipedia article that describes them in some detail. In particular, look at the figure at the top of the article. It is a picture of a table, and the causes which create it. The efficient cause that creates the table is carpentry – that is, the actual actions that create the table. The form is the design of the table (and that, as we have analyzed, has many layers of abstraction). The material cause is the wood out of which the table is constructed. And the final cause (which I’m assuming is what Rambam is calling the end) is dining. That is, the final cause is the end to which the construction is aimed – the answer to “why are we going through this whole rigmarole to begin with?”
When we’re talking about Gd and creation, we have to analyze the relationship in terms of these causes. Note first that Rambam omits material cause as one of the ways that Gd is the cause of creation. This is, I assume, because Gd is non-material, not “stuff” out of which other stuff can be formed. Gd is not the wood to the creation’s table, to continue using the analogy. This leaves aside the question, where then did the “stuff” of the universe come from? Both physics and Vedic Science have something to say about this problem, and Gd willing I’ll return to it shortly.
According to Rambam, Gd is the efficient cause – in our analogy the carpentry to the table. It is the (skilled) activity which actually takes the material and forms it into the final product. Now it seems from the text of Bereshit, which we just recently read, that the way Gd created was through “speech.” Clearly this was not speech in the sense of air passing through tongue and lips, and we have speculated that this speech is actually the fundamental vibrations caused by Gd’s Self-referral nature. For Rambam, at any rate, Gd’s speech is the activity (highly skilled!!) that gave rise to creation, and indeed sustains creation at every moment of its existence, as well as guiding its evolution from moment to moment. So insofar as Gd is the actor, He is the efficient cause of the universe.
Gd is also the form of the universe. That is, the design of the universe is embedded in Torah (presumably the Supernal Torah of which the Kabbalists speak), and Torah is inseparable from Gd’s essence, so the (dynamic) form of creation is likewise inseparable from Gd.
Finally, Gd is the end of the creation. The story of creation is that of unity diversifying and the diversity then re-unifying into a greater wholeness than existed before that diversification. So Gd creates diversity out of His primordial Unity, and all the pieces of that diversity first stream out and individuate to the fullest degree possible, and then stream back to be reintegrated into the original Unity, enhancing it as it were by its journey. I think in this sense Gd, Unity, is the end of creation, the goal of all created thing, the endpoint of all evolution.
So Rambam has shown that Gd is 3 of the 4 causes of creation. I’d like to attempt to show that Gd is also the 4th cause – the material cause. For that I’ll turn to physics for a moment. We have discussed on numerous occasions that at the basis of all of physical creation there is one, underlying, unified field, which vibrates in different modes to give rise to the “elementary particles” of which all matter is structured. So it turns out that the particles of matter that make up the material cause of everything in creation, are not really material at all – they are just patterns of vibration of a purely abstract, non-material field. It is only our limited range of awareness that assigns material reality to the surface level objects that we perceive with our senses. The reality is, those “objects” are just complex patterns of vibration of the Unified Field within itself. In fact, the entire universe is nothing other than an extraordinarily complex pattern of vibration of the Unified Field, and in certain regions we can see that pattern on the surface level as an object. But that object is completely embedded in the Unified Field. In that sense, the Unified Field is the material cause of all objects. The Unified Field’s vibration is the “stuff” of creation as it were.
If we are talking about the transcendent, we have discussed that the transcendent has the nature of consciousness, and therefore must be conscious of itself, since there is nothing outside the transcendent. From this Self-referral nature of the transcendent comes the virtual polarity of Observer and Observed, and between this polarity there is an infinite-frequency vibration set up. This infinite-frequency vibration then breaks down into patterns of finite frequency vibrations that are what we perceive as creation. In this sense, the transcendent is also the material cause of creation, because it itself forms the material of which the material world is made. In Moshe Rabbeinu’s words, ayn od milvado – there is nothing but Gd.
I’ll leave you with the same point expressed humorously. A scientist tells Gd that we have learned how to make life from dirt. Gd says He’d love to see it. So the scientist bends down and scoops up some dirt. Gd immediately objects, “No! No! Get your own dirt!”
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Lech L’cha
Genesis 12-17:27
Audio-recording of Lecha: http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/3481585/jewish/Lech-Lecha-Audio-Recording.htm
Genesis 17:1: “And Abram was ninety-nine years old, and Gd appeared to Abram, and He said to him, “I am the Almighty Gd; walk before Me and be perfect.”
Torah tells us that Noah walked with Gd, was righteous and perfect but Torah doesn’t tell us how this came about; with Abram we can see what he did after Gd’s command and we can draw some tips about how we may also walk before Gd and be perfect. The deepest activity is the literal meaning of the name of the parshah: “Lech Lecha” means “Go to yourself.” It’s not usually translated that way but the Lubavitcher Rebbe writes this:
Lech Lecha: Go To Yourself
This is usually translated as “Get thee out (from your country and your birthplace and your father’s house….)” But it literally means, “Go to yourself.” “Going” has the connotation in Torah of moving towards one’s ultimate purpose – of service towards one’s Creator. And this is strongly hinted at by the phrase, “Go to yourself”—meaning, towards your soul’s essence and your ultimate purpose, that for which you were created. chabad.org (Source: Likkutei Sichot, Vol. V pp. 57-67)”
This view of the Lubavitcher Rebbe resonates beautifully to most, perhaps all, of our Beth Shalom Congregation. “Go to your Self,” your universal, unbounded, Self is the first step in acting so that we walk before Gd.
What does it mean to “walk before Gd”? The primary commentator on Torah is Rashi, and Rashi says it means “serve Me, cleave to My service.” The Rebbe looks at it the same way so we can be very confident in this guidance.
Whenever Abram was commanded by Gd, he did what Gd commanded. To Abram, Gd appeared in visions: Abram must have been very close to walking with Gd in order to trust Gd’s command. leave his home and “go to a place which I will show you.” I personally don’t feel that confident that I can trust visions or voices and so I am left with cleaving to Gd’s service by doing the ordinary things that good people everywhere do: honor my religion, do my best to be healthy, happy and to share my happiness with others through work with organizations I respect so I can attune myself to Gd through service to people I feel are wiser, more experienced than I and at least one of whom who I feel may be walking with Gd.
What did Abram do to be perfect? Prior to this command of Gd to leave his homeland, Abram had already come to the conclusion that all creation was made by One Creator, Gd, and he and Sarai spread the word and brought many to share this belief – and perhaps a taste of the experience.
Parashat Lech Lecha tells us that, after leaving his homeland to go to an unknown place, Abram continued to spread the word of monotheism and to build altars to Gd. From this we learn the very important message that we should share what we know, especially what we know by experience, and that Gd, as it says in Kaddish, is “beyond any words to describe” so simple acts of reverence, such as offering prayers, building altars, and temples are ways to grow in our ability to walk before Gd and with Gd and to be perfect.
When a famine caused him and Sarai to leave Canaan (the land where Gd promised him he would make him a great nation) and go to Egypt, this may have seemed like an exile but the Rebbe comments that it was an exile with a purpose: it gave Abram an opportunity to serve Gd by spreading the word of One Gd to a people who worshiped only partial values of Gd. While in Egypt, Abram told Sarai to say that she was his sister, not his wife. He did this because he thought otherwise, he would be killed.
Few of us are likely to be in such an extreme situation but we may take it that a lie to save our life, if we are otherwise innocent of any crime, is a way of serving Gd and being perfect.
In Egypt, Abram and his nephew, Lot, acquired many possessions, including cattle, which they took to Canaan. In Canaan their herdsmen quarreled. Abram and Lot decided to separate. Though physically separate, Abram and Lot were close emotionally: Love kept them together as we can feel even though separate physically from family and friends with whom we share love and Love.
From this we can learn, that if we have no other way to create harmony, separation is a valid way to create harmony, which is the essence of serving Gd. In a deeper sense.
Lot moved to plains near Sodom, an evil kingdom. Why did he move so close to an evil kingdom? A good question for further research and intuition. Sodom was attacked and Lot was captured when the city was captured: Abram took his trained men, though they were only few, and pursued the army holding Lot, defeated them, restored Lot’s possessions to him and restored four kingdoms, including Sodom, to their kings. Why did he restore evil kingdoms to their kings instead of taking them over and guiding them to righteousness? A deep mystery! But we can learn from Abram’s victory that we should be concerned with following right action as a way of serving Gd and not be afraid that our resources are too small: Gd protects those who serve Him.
Abram refused to accept any recompense from the King of Sodom for restoring his possessions to him. His reason: he did not want the King of Sodom to be able to claim he had made Abram rich. A traditional explanation of Abram’s reasoning is that he wanted it to be clear to everyone that any accomplishment of his was through Gd: it was not Abram who defeated the armies, it was Gd; it could not be through evil hands such as those of the King of Sodom that he would acquire possessions but only through the Hand of Gd. Certainly we can be kind to even those who are evil – our kindness will give them a softening of heart and they will become less evil. We certainly should refuse to accept any compensation from them – there is a saying “The gifts of the evil do not bring blessings.” Certainly we can recognize that any accomplishments of ours are Gd’s Gift to us.
Abram is blessed by Melchizedek, who was a king but also a priest of the Most High — this means Melchizedek was not only a monotheist in belief but also in experience. Enough experience of Gd to serve as Gd’s priest, and to be referred to more as a priest than as a king. We too, can put One first and material possessions second so that we are protected by our sense of proportion and serve Gd first.
And we can read Torah, listen to Torah, read from the Siddur, attend services at the Synagogue, as ways to raise ourselves up to direct experience and to priestly service, whatever our actual roles are in life.
Abram tells Gd, when Gd says his reward for this action will be great: Of what use is this to me since I have no son to inherit? And Gd responds: you will have a son and be a mighty nation, more than the stars. From this we learn that service to Gd can include asking Gd to redress a situation we feel is amiss: we can pray for help, we can ask simply and Gd responds. To Abram, He responded clearly; to us, perhaps not so clearly but we need to be alert to the response.
Abram’s son, Ishmael, is born with Hagar, Sarai’s maidservant, and Isaac is born, with Sarah.
From this we learn that when we serve Gd, we raise ourselves up, and what Gd promises, Gd delivers. Trusting Gd is very important and when we are not able to experience Gd directly, trusting our Traditions, especially Torah, is very important.
Gd tells Abram to circumcise his son and that all males of the community shall be circumcised as a Covenant with Gd. From the Babylonian Talmud we learn that through circumcision Abram became sanctified. He became not merely a physical person fathering physical children but a spiritual person fathering spiritual children, protecting Gd’s Spiritual Wisdom and spreading it in its purity.
We can treat circumcision not merely as something physical for males, but something everyone, males and females, can do: cut off anything that binds us only to the physical and thus rise to be spiritual: to walk before Gd and become perfect as Abram did, and Sarai did: Abram became become Abraham, father not only of Isaac and Ishmael but of nations and Sarai became Sarah: princess not only of Abram but of all souls.
Baruch HaShem!