Parashat Pinchas 5785 – 07/19/2025
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 25:10-30:1
The Sixth Premise:
It consists in their assertion that an accident does not last during two units of time. The meaning of this premise is as follows. They think that Gd, may He be glorified and magnified, creates an atom and creates together with it, at one and the same time, any accident He wills as an accident subsisting in the atom. For it may not be predicated of Him, may He be exalted, that He has the power to create an atom without an accident, for this is impossible.
The first part of this passage is a bit perplexing. It speaks of Gd’s creating accidents in each moment of time, but apparently neglects to point out that Gd has to create the substance onto which the accident will attach. Perhaps that was considered self-evident. I picture the atoms of space as little ball-bearings filling a grid in space, with every moment (atom) of time represented by an identical grid (if you have trouble thinking in four dimensions, think of a two dimensional grid of ball-bearings – two dimensions in space – with each layer representing a moment (atom) in time). Each slot can have an atom or not, and that atom can have one or more accidents attached to it. The Mutakallimūn believed that the vacuum exists, so apparently each atom of space can either have or not have an atom of something in it. Gd would create the entire universe (an entire layer of ball-bearings in our visual) in every atom of time. That is, all atoms and their accidents would be created at each moment in the appropriate places. As we have seen, we get the idea of motion from the juxtaposition of atoms with the same accidents from one moment to the next. We have discussed this in previous essays, and we have analyzed some of the difficulties with this approach.
At the end of this passage Rambam brings up a conundrum that has puzzled people till this day.
For it may not be predicated of Him, may He be exalted, that He has the power to create an atom without an accident, for this is impossible.
Even on my childhood playgrounds we would occasionally stop and ponder whether Gd could create a stone so heavy He couldn’t move it. Since I, and most of my friends, were terrible at sports, this seemed like a more productive use of our time. Of course, in both cases, what we are dealing with is a logical contradiction. A logical contradiction occurs when we have statements that contain inherently contradictory concepts. “What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?” (This was the formulation we used when we weren’t in Hebrew school.) This contains two concepts, “irresistible force” and “immovable object,” that by definition cannot both exist. If the object moves, then it wasn’t immovable, was it? If it doesn’t move, then the force wasn’t irresistible, was it? We find that we can string words together in what appear to be meaningful assertions, but in fact don’t have meaning because they are self-contradictory. I’m sure you can generate many more examples with ChatGPT or the like. Creating an atom without accidents is such a string of words. The only thing that has no accidents is Pure Being itself, which is entirely abstract. So the idea of Gd’s creating an atom with no accidents doesn’t make any sense at all.
Rambam goes on and describes how we get from one moment to the next:
Now the true reality of an accident and its notion consist in its not enduring or lasting during two units of time, by which they mean: two instants. While this accident is being created, it disappears, having no continued existence. Whereupon Gd creates another accident of the same species, which accident disappears in its turn; whereupon He creates a third one belonging to the same species, and so on always in the same way in the period during which Gd wishes the species of that accident to last. If, however, He, may He be exalted, wishes to create in the atom another species of accident, He does so. If, however, He refrains from the act of creation and does not create an accident, the atom in question becomes nonexistent. This is the opinion of some of them – namely, of those who are the majority – this being the creation of accidents, which they affirm.
In other words, at every moment Gd creates all the atoms in every position that they need to be in, according to Gd’s Will. That means, of course, that any conception of continuity, or laws of nature, that we have are actually a mirage. When Gd wants us to find laws of nature He creates a sequence of moments that appear to follow laws, but if He wants to “violate” the laws of nature then He just has to create the next moment’s atoms in the appropriate configuration and poof! a miracle! I believe it is the requirement to explain miracles – that is, violations of the laws of nature – that drives the need for this whole system.
I should point out that the idea of space and time as a fixed grid, independent of what goes on inside the grid, is contradicted by both Special and General Relativity (which, of course, came some seven centuries after Rambam and the Mutakallimūn). Newton summed up the classical view (which comes from our ordinary experience of low speeds and moderate gravity) thus: “absolute, true and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, flows equably without relation to anything external.” Of course, it is now well established that there is no such thing as absolute time – our measurement of time depends on our state of motion. The faster we are moving, the slower our clocks appear to be moving to a stationary observer (“time dilation”). Our meter sticks appear to be shorter too (“Lorenz Contraction”), so not only is time not absolute, neither is space. And, in the case of a gravitational field, space and time are curved. With the curving and stretching of both space and time it is hard to see how any simplistic idea of atomized space and time could fit into the relativistic framework.
Furthermore, there are situations where spacetime curls up into a little ball – basically a single point, a singularity that is essentially twisted out of spacetime itself. I am referring, of course, to black holes, which are regions of spacetime that have been compressed into a single point – a singularity which cannot actually be described in terms of normal spacetime physics. This description is according to classical General Relativity. When we apply quantum mechanics to the situation it is not clear at all what the outcome is, but in any event, it is way beyond our atomized flat, static space and time. Obviously, given the different level in our ability to measure nature now, compared to that in the 12 th century, I am laying no fault on either Rambam or the Mutakallimūn. Newton’s theories, four centuries later, at least conformed more to our common observations of the world, and didn’t speculate what was behind it. Both Relativity and quantum mechanics must conform to classical physics in the classical limit, which the atomized space and time do not. But then, the paradigm is completely different.
Nonetheless, there is a way we can conceive of Gd’s constant recreation of the universe. Remembering that Gd is all that there is, and creation is just the virtual internal dynamics within Gd, and that these dynamics are transcendental to time and space, we see that creation is a process that is continuous and beyond time. It is as eternal as Gd Himself. As usual, the questions raised by Rambam and his contemporaries are conundrums and paradoxes because they come from a time-bound perspective. From the perspective of Unity Consciousness they don’t even get started.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Pinchas
The most upbeat and relevant meaning of “Pinchas” is “oracle,” one who can see the choices we need to make in order for the future to be good and the choices to avoid in order to prevent harm. There are other meanings given to it and an extensive discussion about whether the word is Egyptian or Hebrew in origin but since Pinchas acted as an oracle in this parshah, this seems the most appropriate.
Israel, including Pinchas, was a bit slow in this parshah – it wasn’t until a plague was caused due to many Israelites being beguiled by prostitutes that Pinchas acted to slay an Israel prince and a harlot, thus ending the plague.
Gd is All: Pinchas the oracle, Balaam, the prophet-for-hire and Moses, the servant of Gd, are all roles Gd plays. Gd plays the roles of the Children of Israel of ancient time and now – all beings, including us. Playing the roles of limited beings, God Hides and Seeks while remaining Gd. As Gd, Gd Reveals.
Gd’s Ways are Known only to Gd and hidden from we limited beings but Gd Guides our seeking, Gives us Clues. Torah, on the levels of story, symbol and sound Guides us to right action that dissolve our limits and make us fully aware that our individual selves are roles Gd plays.
In this parshah, hardly a moment after Balaam recognizes Israel’s virtue by saying, “How goodly are thy tents, Oh Jacob, thy dwelling places, Oh Israel,” Balaam (Gd in disguise) arranges for beautiful harlots to go among the Israel males; many are entranced and fall for their mesmerizing beauty.
Why did Gd, as Balaam, do this? We cannot know but one guess is that Gd wanted Israel not to become complacent and vain due to the blessing but wanted them to remain humble and alert, aware that they were still dependent on Gd and needed always to keep their hearts pure.
Although this parshah is named after Pinchas who stopped a plague by slaying a prince and a prostitute who openly violated the laws against adultery, the central event in this parshah is Gd fulfilling Moses’ request to appoint someone to lead B’nai Israel into the Promised Land. Gd tells Moses to lay his hands on Joshuah so that some of Moses’ spirit will enter Joshuah and Joshuah will be able to lead the people into the physical Promised Land. According to the Gemara the elders of the generation called this a “great embarrassment”, that Joshua was like the moon whereas Moses was like the sun.
If the Gemara is correct then the question arises, “Why did Gd appoint a leader who was less than Moses? who had only part of Moses’ spirit?”
Perhaps Moses did not need to enter the Promised Land to experience Teshuvah (Full Awareness) – he already had it, being soaked in Gd’s Presence as he was.
The Children of Israel, however, including Joshua, did need to enter the Promised Land in order to be fully aware of Gd’s Presence. If all of Moses’ spirit were given to Joshua, then he also would have no need to enter the Promised Land and the people would have no leader.
What can this mean in our lives?
The Promised Land is within us even when we are acting in the (relative) desert that is the ordinary life of human beings. The qualities of our awareness that are less than full – our thoughts, our feelings, our sensory awareness – lead us to the Wholeness, the Promised Land that transcends them and pervades them.
These thoughts, feelings, sensory awarenesses are like Joshuah—they allow us, through use, through practice, to experience more and more refined levels of them and eventually (Dear Gd, Please! Now!) to experience the Promised Land, the Wholeness, the Oneness in which Torah, Gd, we humans and all creation are experienced as One.
Now, please, Now!
Baruch HaShem