Parashat Re’eh 5784 — 08/31/2024
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.
Devarim 11:26-16:17
Having talked about Gd’s works, Rambam now goes on to consider the tablets that Moshe Rabbeinu brought down from Gd to the people at Mt. Sinai:
Similarly when it says the writing of Gd, [Ex 32:16] it has already made clear in what way the writing may be ascribed to Gd by its saying written with the finger of Gd. [Ex 31:18] Its saying with the finger of Gd is analogous to its saying, with reference to the heavens, the work if Thy fingers. [Ps 8:4] For Scripture has made clear with regard to the heavens that they have been made by saying: By the word of the Lord were the heavens made. [Ps 33:6] It has then become clear to you that, with regard to the coming into being of a thing, the texts figuratively use the terms saying and speaking and that it is one and the same thing of which it is said that it was made by speech and of which it is said that it is the work of a finger. Similarly the dictum written with the finger of Gd is equivalent to its saying by the word of Gd. Furthermore, the expression by the word of Gd would, if Scripture had used it, be equivalent to its saying written by the will of Gd, I mean by His will and volition.
The question is, were the Tablets natural or not? It appears that Rambam would come down on the side of “natural.” After all, “The tablets were the work of Gd; the writing was the writing of Gd, engraved on the tablets.” [Ex. 32:16] Since it is Gd’s “work,” by definition it is natural. In fact, the entire production is entirely from Gd’s side with no input from any human being, including Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe’s only input is to smash these tablets when he brings them down to the Israelites, only to see and hear them dancing around the golden calf.
Now there was a second set of Tablets that Moshe brought up to Gd to get a copy of the first tablets after the golden calf. These tablets were hewn by Moshe (“At that time Hashem said to me, ‘Carve for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones and come up to Me on the mountain.’” [Deut 10:1]), although they were still “written” by Gd. In other words, the second time around there was human influence on the Tablets. Now Moshe Rabbeinu was presumably at high enough a level of consciousness that his actions were fully in accord with natural law, and in addition he had been specifically ordered by Gd, so perhaps there’s not a great difference on the “naturalness” scale.
Our Sages describe an important difference between the two sets of Tablets, and they relate to the level of human input. According to the Sages, the first set of Tablets are associated with the Written Torah, while the second set are associated with the Oral Torah. What is the difference between these two Torahs?
The Written Torah is the Torah that we read every Shabbat, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. It is a fixed text, albeit Divine, and while it can be interpreted, it can never be amended. It is “written in stone,” to coin a phrase. Since it is fixed, it has to be very general, covering all situations and all times. It has to be abstract and give the basic principles by which we will evaluate specific situations. It presents law and knowledge in absolute terms, and our challenge is to learn to apply these abstract principles in concrete instances, including instances where two opposing principles might be in play. For example, both observing the Sabbath and saving human life are very deep and important values in Judaism. The penalty for violating the Sabbath is death. But what if saving a human life requires violating the Sabbath? The answer will not be found in the Written Torah.
Since, according to our tradition, Gd at first gave Moshe only the Written Torah, the assumption must have been that between Moshe and the collective consciousness of the entire nation, we could figure out the answer to these questions. Apparently the incident of the golden calf disabused Gd of this notion so to speak. Gd realized that the people were not on a high enough level of consciousness that they intuitively could act in accord with natural law, and that a written code would be enough to assure an ideal society.
The answer Gd gave us is the Oral Torah. The Oral Torah was given, orally presumably, to Moshe during his second sojourn on Mt. Sinai, where he received the second set of tablets – the ones he had hewn out, but which Gd still wrote. There is some dispute among the Sages about what exactly was passed on to Moshe. Some say that only the principles by which the Torah is to be expounded were given to Moshe, and he passed them on to the leaders to derive specifics from the basic principles. Another opinion holds that all the details of the entire Oral Torah, including “every novella that a student would present to his teacher” to the end of time was taught to Moshe, and our development of the Oral Torah is simply an unfolding of the knowledge that Moshe had gotten from Gd at Mt. Sinai.
I think we can reconcile these two views by recalling our earlier discussion of what the Torah is in the Vedic Science perspective. Torah, in its essence, is the record of the internal, virtual vibrations within the transcendent, that constitute what we would call “natural law” in its broadest sense. The Written Torah that came down on the first set of tablets was a kind of distillation of the Torah into a few short phrases. Perhaps the point of these few phrases was that they structured the entire range of natural law within the listener who heard them chanted, so that the full range of natural law would be in their consciousness, backing up all thought, speech and action. But in terms of intellectual understanding of the law, they had to be elaborated. This elaboration is the Oral Torah. The Oral Torah contains the record of statements that were given to Moshe at Mt. Sinai, but not recorded in the Written Torah – Moshe presumably taught them orally to the people – as well as the discussions of the Sages throughout the ages debating the meaning of the various verses and passages in the Written Torah (plus a lot of other, related material). The Oral Torah was actually redacted and committed to writing at various stages in Jewish history, generally when political conditions made it very likely that the oral knowledge would be lost. Nevertheless, the Oral Torah is still studied orally, passed on from teacher to student, from one consciousness to another, in order that it always remain flexible enough to be open to new approaches and new interpretations.
Now let’s see if we can understand the Oral Torah from the perspective of Vedic Science. As we have discussed, the full Torah, the Supernal Torah, is the record of the vibrations at the finest, most subtle and abstract level of creation. Although these sequences of vibrations, perceived as the sounds of human speech, can certainly be recorded, but in actuality they reside in our own Pure Consciousness. Of course, our consciousness and nervous system have to be at the supreme level of purity to perceive these vibrations. “Teaching” and “studying” Torah then, really means the teacher’s raising the level of consciousness of the student to the point where these vibrations are directly cognized by the student. This Torah is really neither Written nor Oral – it resides entirely within the infinite silence of Pure Consciousness.
This Supernal Torah was projected down to the Jewish people, first in the form of the Written Torah, on the first set of Tablets. Had the collective consciousness of the people been high enough, the verses of the Written Torah should have been enough to stimulate the people’s consciousness to the point that they could cognize, and act on the basis of, the Supernal Torah. Sadly, that was not the case, and some deeper teaching had to go on. This deeper teaching is the Oral Torah, which is transmitted from teacher to student, from mind to mind, from consciousness to consciousness, until the students rise to the level where they can cognize the wholeness of Torah for themselves. The second set of tablets, with the human input of the teacher (Moshe, who hewed them out), represents the Oral Torah, with its flexibility, its give-and-take, its direct transmission from teacher to student. Perhaps we can say that the Written Torah is the Torah for those already steeped in the Supernal Torah, while the Oral Torah is for those who are still growing in consciousness. Both are given to us by Gd to guide us to the highest level of human fulfillment.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parashat Re’eh
“Re’eh” means “See!” or “Behold!”
This is not ordinary seeing. This means “see deeply,” see into the level of life in which Gd’s commandments exist as One with Gd, not just the level at which we might hear them spoken or read them in a text. Moses speaks this word to make sure our ancestors and we see this Wholeness and experience this Wholeness as our Self so that we naturally choose to follow these commandments and are naturally Blessed rather than Cursed, as they and we would be if we are not open to the Wholeness but only to fragmented aspects of Life and therefore are unable to obey the commandments, even if we wish to.
This “See!” also resonates with the last part of the parshah, in which Moses says that three times a year (at Passover, Shavuot, and Succoth,) we should appear before the Lord – be Seen by the Lord – in the place which He has chosen — appear in the Temple, so we may bring offerings and be seen there. When we “See!” in the way Gd and Moses want us to see then when we are Seen by Gd, Gd’s Sight flows through our eyes and we see ourselves as Gd Sees us.
And what is to be seen? The blessing if we hearken to the commandments of the Lord and the curse if we disobey them. When we hearken, we see deeply, we are naturally in tune with Gd, Gd’s Torah, Gd’s commandments and we naturally act in the Glow, Joy and Love of the Blessing.
Imagine Moses speaking with the Voice of God to our ancestors: how much the Blessing must have filled them and how unappetizing must have been the Curse.
This was a good preparation for Moses to give our ancestors as they were about to enter into Canaan, the Promised Land. It is a good level of Being that everyone – at any time and in any place – should innocently seek to experience before beginning the day, any day, every day. It is a good level of Being that everyone should innocently tune in to every moment of every day. Innocently. Innocently, meaning, “naturally, spontaneously, effortlessly.”
Gd gives everyone guidance, through Torah, through teachers, through hints, to help everyone tune in and live the Wholeness that spontaneously acts Rightly.
Temple where Gd chooses to put his Name [big mystery]
Maimonides writes: “The location of the Altar [in the Holy Temple] is very exactly defined… It is a commonly-held tradition that the place where David and Solomon built the Altar on the threshing floor of Arona (sic: Arauna), is the very place where Abraham built an altar and bound Isaac upon it; this is where Noah built [an altar] when he came out from the Ark; this is where Cain and Abel brought their offerings; this is where Adam the First Man offered a korban when he was created – and it is from [the earth of] this place that he was created….” from chabad.org
But why was Adam created from earth on this spot?
There is a tradition that Torah is Gd’s Name, the primordial vibration of Gd, Omnipresent, All-Pervading.: All places are Holy.
Why did Gd choose to especially emphasize the power of His Name in a particular place, and why Jerusalem and why the Temple Mount? I’ve looked for answers on the Internet and could not find any.
Perhaps it is a “chok,” a decree of Gd’s that passes understanding. But even so, we can have the fun of attempting to understand and getting closer to Gd through our attempt.
There is Gd’s statement, “Man is made in Gd’s Image” and from this standpoint perhaps our planet is also made in Gd’s image, whatever that may mean, and Jerusalem might correspond to the heart or the brain or the navel or the womb of the physiology of our planet; the Temple Mount may correspond to the central portion of one of these.
Perhaps it is in this place that we can Hear His Name, See His Name and use His Name to call on Him to thank Him, to pray to Him, to ask for forgiveness from Him.
Just as the Mishkan, the Ark in the Wilderness, and the Temples were places where it was easier for people to perceive His Presence, even though His Presence is everywhere, so also the physical location of the Temple likely is a place where people can most easily call on Him, not only perceive Him, but communicate with Him: to speak and also to listen and to See!
Not only to speak but to hear and to listen, to see, to Behold!
Irrespective of the details of the physical Temple in Jerusalem, we know that our body and soul are Temples that we need to keep Holy so that Gd’s Presence is in our awareness at all times and in all places.
Just as “Man (humanity) is made in Gd’s image,” so also we are made in Jerusalem’s image, in the Temple’s Image and we can find Jerusalem within ourselves: our mind, our feelings, our physiology, our soul. And thus we can See and Hear Gd’s Name, Gd’s Presence – Totality – and restore to ourselves and to the world the reality that all there is Primordial Oneness, within which the duality of Gd and us is experienced as the Play of One. This is Seeing! Hearing! Healing! Holiness! Fulfillment!
Re’eh also warns to beware of false prophets or any others who entice idolatry — this would certainly bring the curse! “Idolatry” means not just worshiping statues of deities but worshiping fragments of Wholeness. Every action we do must be oriented naturally, spontaneously, effortlessly to increase the experience of Wholeness in our life and in all lives. Otherwise, it is oriented to a splinter of reality, a fragment and it is idolatry.
On the Blessing side, Re’eh tells us of Tithing, Charity, the Sabbatical Year in which all loans are forgiven, all slaves freed. This tells us that even on the ordinary level of life, no matter what place on Earth we are, by being good human beings, “loving our neighbor as ourself” we can attune to Gd and enjoy the Blessing – the Blessing is in our good actions, not something we need to wait to inherit.
Similarly, Moses speaks of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals: Passover, Shavuout, Sukkoth: Go to the Temple to appear with offerings before the Lrd.
This would certainly be good but we can also find Jerusalem in our heart and make special offerings with our open heart at these special times of year.
Re’eh begins with See! and concludes with: Appear so that you may be seen.
In every generation, especially ours today, we need to live our lives so that every moment we Behold! and every moment we Appear! with offerings, offerings to give back the Blessings we receive and restore ourselves and everyone and everything to Full Awareness: One and Only One!
Baruch HaShem!