Parashat Mishpatim 5785 – 02/22/2025
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.
Shemot 21:1-24:18
Rambam continues his description of the universe:
There are many spheres, one contained within the other, with no hollows between them and no vacuum in any way whatever. For they are perfectly spherical and cling to each other, all of them moving in a circular uniform motion in no part of which there is acceleration or deceleration. I mean to say that none of these spheres moves more quickly at some times and more slowly at others. On the contrary, every one of them follows its nature in its velocity and the direction of its motion. However some of these spheres have a more rapid motion than others; the most rapid of all being the motion of the heaven encompassing the universe. This heaven is endowed with the diurnal motion and moves all the other heavens simultaneously with itself, as a part is moved in a whole, for all these heavens are parts of it.
The observational issue that ancient civilizations were dealing with is that the heavens appear to rotate above the earth in a daily and seasonal pattern. On top of this, the sun and the moon have their own motions, independent of the “fixed stars,” and the planets (lit. “wanderers” in Greek) have proper motions, in some cases discernable phase, and sometimes appear to turn around and go backwards (“Retrograde motion”). Dealing with the “fixed stars” is more or less straightforward – put them all in the outermost sphere and let that sphere rotate around the earth. Since (in modern terms) the fixed stars are at a very, very great distance (closest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4 light-years away – almost 3.8 x 10^16 meters) compared to the baseline of the diameter of the earth’s orbit (186,000,000 miles = about 3 x 10^11 meters or 5 orders of magnitude larger (100,000 x larger), the movement of the earth along its orbit doesn’t really have any noticeable effect on the angle at which we view those stars (this difference in perspective is called “parallax”) and therefore the “fixed stars” really do appear to be fixed in position with respect to one another. Also, because of the great distances involved, any motion of the stars with respect to one another (“proper motion”) virtually cannot be discerned by the unaided eye.
The next point Rambam makes is that each of the spheres moves uniformly. Uniform circular motion was held to be the most perfect kind of motion, and since the heavens were supposed to be perfect, they necessarily had to move perfectly. I believe the underlying issue here, and the area where ancient and medieval cosmology differs from modern cosmology, is that the older belief was that the heavens are qualitatively different in their material construction than the earth. Therefore, to some extent at least, the physics that we have discovered “down here” cannot be applied to “up there.” This is in direct contrast to all of modern cosmology, which explicitly attempts to apply physical laws known here on earth to the heavenly bodies and their evolution. For example, analysis of solar spectra in the light of our knowledge of atomic physics, allowed us to identify Helium on the sun, even before it was discovered on earth. Our understanding of stellar evolution is based on our understanding of the way atomic nuclei behave here on earth. Had we assumed that the sun were of some different quality of material that was unknowable from earth, such developments would be impossible in principle.
I should point at this juncture that in his discussion of the four elements (earth, water, fire and air) Rambam indicates that the same four elements are found on earth and in all the spheres, and in fact the “natural place” of the light elements – fire and air – is in the upper spheres. Perhaps it is the combinations of the elements which differ between heavens and earth, but we will return to this as we progress.
Rambam continues:
However some of these spheres have a more rapid motion than others; the most rapid of all being the motion of the heaven encompassing the universe. This heaven is endowed with the diurnal motion and moves all the other heavens simultaneously with itself, as a part is moved in a whole, for all these heavens are parts of it.
The outermost sphere is the largest, and for it to rotate once a day its surface has to go the greatest distance. Its linear velocity is the greatest while its angular velocity is still 1 revolution per day. One wonders if the ancients had any experience with rotating objects’ exceeding their tensile strength and tearing themselves apart as they rotated faster and faster. See below for some simple calculations of the centripetal acceleration of this outer sphere.*
The main point about the outermost sphere seems to be that it moves all the other spheres. Essentially, all motion percolates down through creation through the motion of this one, outermost sphere, the sphere of the highest heaven. How this takes place is not really explained. It could be through some kind of friction between the spheres, or perhaps the space between the spheres is filled with a kind of fluid that works like transmission fluid. To the best of my knowledge this is not specified, and it is very doubtful that any such arrangement would have made all the spheres turn in perfect circles at uniform speeds. In fact, any such speculation is a mixture of practical, material ideas with the idealistic notions that are ascribed to the heavenly realms.
In fact, I think the problem with trying to reconcile our scientific understanding of the world with the medieval one is that the medieval understanding was never intended to be a scientific explanation. I believe the older explanations operated on a completely different level. To be sure, whatever system of spheres and cycles and epicycles one posited would have to align with actual observations of the stars and planets – those “measurements” were available to all. However, in areas where such alignment was not possible, other considerations could take over. When the Sages of the Talmud said that the distance between the heavens was a journey of 500 years, do we think we can take this seriously as a measure of distance? Nowhere is a journey of even one day defined, and of course it would depend on the means of transportation used and the terrain to be covered. For my part, I don’t believe that the Sages themselves meant that number to be taken literally (although there are many nowadays who do and construct elaborate theories to try and reconcile such statements with scientific fact).
I think that the approach we need to take is this. The idea of perfect spheres moving in perfect harmony, with all imperfection confined to the sublunary world (i.e. this earth, the innermost sphere), is a non-scientific construct that is imposed from outside on the system of the cosmos. I believe that these constructs have relevance at subtler levels – those who derived them must have done so on the basis of some experience or perception, rather than a sadistic desire to throw off their contemporaries and descendants for centuries thereafter. The system of layered spheres, for example, appears to mirror the layered structure of creation, with the outermost sphere being the layer at the border of Pure Consciousness and the subsequent spheres the more expressed layers. The outermost sphere then is indeed the mover of the inner, more expressed spheres. It’s only when we get into the details of that motion that we have to worry about alignment with actual stars and planets. Of course, with the increasing ability to make more and more precise measurements, the possibility of aligning a system that is simplistic when taken as literal, physical fact, to the measurements, becomes more and more unlikely. Just like the quantum mechanical description of nature can’t really be shoehorned into a classical system, so the “harmony of the spheres” refers to a level of reality that can’t be shoehorned into the measurements made under a classical system of stellar and planetary motion. In a word, “Don’t mix metaphors.”
Next week, Gd willing, we’ll look at Rambam’s description of the 4 elements and how they create the forms and phenomena of creation.
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* There are opinions in the Talmud that the distance between each of the seven heavens is a 500-years’ journey. If one can travel even 10 miles/day for 250 days/year (no travel on Shabbat or holidays!), that would be 2500 miles / year. If the seventh heaven were 4000 years’ journey in radius, that would be 10,000,000 miles and its circumference would be about 60,000,000 miles. This would have to be traversed about 86,400 seconds, so the surface of the highest heaven would have to be moving at about 700 miles/sec. or about 1,000,000 m/sec. The centripetal acceleration of that surface would be about 60 m/sec 2, or about 6 g’s. Of course if these spheres are not made of earthly materials, these calculations are probably irrelevant.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Mishpatim
“Mishpatim” means “laws.” In this parshah, Gd gives many laws: The most important is “And you shall worship the Lord, your Gd, and He will bless your food and your drink, and I will remove illness from your midst.”
How are we to know that we are doing well in our worship?
Joy in eating and drinking is a sign that we are doing well and illness is a sign that we are lax in our worship.
Gd gives 53 laws in this parshah — 30 positive mitzvot and 23 prohibitions.
Moses tells the laws to the people and they say, “All that the Lrd has commanded we will do”!
These 53 mitzvot are details in our worship of Gd — so worship is not just saying a blessing, praising Gd, but acting in daily life, in and out of formal services, according to Gd’s Will — as best we can. The mitzvot in this parshah illustrate in many ways how we can worship Gd by “loving our neighbor as ourself” – as our Self.
Our ancestors heard Gd speak on Mt Sinai/Mount Horeb (there is disagreement as to whether this is one place or two separate places, whether the Ten Utterances/Words/Commandments were given out on Mt. Sinai or Mt. Horeb) and they heard Gd speak through Moses which Gd does also in this parshah. This is a sign that despite such faults as worshiping the Golden Calf, our ancestors were quite good in their worship. To hear Gd through Moses,they must have been doing quite well, generally, in performing the mitzvot – doing what should be done, avoiding what should not.
Some of these laws though clearly moral seem very secular: laws about slaves, homicide, insults, assault, crops. Only a few of the laws pertain directly to duty to Gd.
How are we to know in our time that in our daily life we are worshiping Gd and not just taking care of our individual selves, families, property?
Most of the mitzvot in this parshah are things that good people everywhere learn from their parents and their culture but also there are specific details for which regular reading of Torah and studying Torah can be helpful so that we become more and more attentive to the details of a good life, a life of worship. An example is offering first fruits to Gd. Unless we’re farmers or gardeners we have to think about what this means in our life. It could be symbolic of offering some part of any money we receive to Gd or to charity. It could mean that we need to align with what we know of what Gd wants. the first fruit of any thought we think.
Worshiping Gd is an ongoing learning experience: Comfort in our life is a sign that happiness is growing, Joy is growing. Comfort is a sign that we are learning how to be natural, unstrained, to act in harmony with Life, with Gd’s Will. And definitely when comfort rises to be Joy in our life we have a sign we are getting better, we are learning. We are becoming increasingly aware that Joy is Gd and by helping others to be comfortable, unstrained, we are sharing Joy, sharing Gd, Loving Gd. We are growing in our ability to know our Self–The Self–and to share this with others: we are growing in our ability to “Love Gd with all our heart, all our soul and all our might” and in our ability to “Love thy neighbor as thyself [Thy Self].”
Opening ourselves to comfort, Joy and Love is opening our awareness to Totality, the Primordial Oneness within which everything and everyone exists as an impulse, a flow, a ripple of Oneness flowing within Oneness
Because this is Reality, our growing sense of Gd in this way is a real taste and by devoting our self through service to Gd and Love and kindness to our neighbor. we commit ourselves innocently to develop Full Comfort, Full Kindness Oneness with Gd.
The mitzvot in this parshah help us to do this.
Through this commitment, our ancestors worshipped and we worship. Whatever words we recite in service and in prayer raise our awareness to deeper and deeper Tastes of Gd and help us innocently dedicate ourselves only to One and to nothing less.
Whatever acts we perform outside of formal religious service become service, acts dedicated to Totality.
We settle for no partial value: Even in the ordinary routine acts of daily life we become more and more dedicated to nothing less than Totality —Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omni-Joyful, Omni-Loving, Totality, All-in-All, everything included, nothing left out.
Through this innocent dedication our daily lives become worship and we grow in appreciating every aspect of life as truly Gd, we grow in our ability to love every detail of life as our Self, we grow in our ability to “love Gd with all our heart and soul.” We grow in fulfillment, restoring awareness of Oneness within our self and everywhere and we grow in the extent to which spontaneously this Fulfillment is shared, experienced by everyone and every thing, every where and every when.
This is a life worth living. The various laws of Mishpatim, some seeming secular and some clearly sacred, are aids in living this life and finding that Fulfillment always Is, never is missing, always Is.
Baruch HaShem