Parshiyyot Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5785 – 05/10/2025
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.
Acharei Mot: Vayikra 16:1-18:30
Kedoshim: Vayikra 19:1-20:27
Rambam has likened the structure of individual human life to the structure of cosmic life. He now goes into three points of discrepancy between them.
Know that in this comparison that we have established between the world as a whole and a human individual, there is a discrepancy with respect to what we have mentioned only with regard to three points. The first is this. The ruling part of every living being possessing a heart is profited by the ruled parts, the profit deriving from the latter accrues to it so as to be useful to it. There is nothing like this in the universal being. For to no being, the governance of which overflows or confers a force, does any profit accrue in any respect from that which is ruled by it. For its giving the gifts it gives is like the giving of gifts on the parts of a generous and superior man who does it because of the nobility of his nature and the excellence of his disposition, not because of a hope for a reward: this is to become like to the deity, may His name be exalted.
The second point is this. The heart of every living being possessing a heart is in its middle; thus the other ruled parts surround it so that the utility deriving from them should extend to it wholly in that it is protected and safeguarded by them in such a way that harm coming from outside cannot rapidly reach it. Now in the world as a whole, the position is inverse. Its nobler part surrounds its inferior part, for the former is secure against receiving an influence from what is other than itself. And even if it were capable of receiving such an influence, it would not find outside itself another body that could influence it. Accordingly, this part occasions an overflow into what is inside it, whereas no influence reaches it in any respect nor any force deriving from bodies other than itself. With regard to this point there is also a certain similarity. For in the living being, a part is less noble than other parts to the extent to which it is far off from the ruling part, whereas other parts are nearer to the latter. The position in the world as a whole is the same. For whenever the bodies are near the center, they grow dimmer and their substance coarser, and their motion becomes more difficult, while their light and transparency disappear because of their distance from the noble, luminous, transparent, moving, subtle, and simple body – I mean heaven. On the other hand, whenever bodies are near the latter, they acquire some of these characteristics because of their proximity to it and achieve a certain superiority over what is lower than they.
The third point is this. The rational faculty is a faculty subsisting in a body and is not separable from it, whereas Gd, may He be exalted, is not a faculty subsisting in the body of the world, but is separate from all parts of the world. For the governance and the providence of Him, may He be exalted, accompany the world as a whole in such a way that the manner and true reality of this accompaniment are hidden from us; the faculties of human beings are inadequate to understand this. On the one hand, there is a demonstration of His separateness, may He be exalted, from the world and of His being free from it; and on the other hand, there is a demonstration that the influence of His governance and providence” in every part of the world, however small and contemptible, exists, May He whose perfection has dazzled us be glorified!
Let’s take these points one at a time. The first has to do with the mutual interaction between the governing force or part of the system and the governed parts. In the case of the individual human being the heart is nourished by the other parts of the body – we eat and digest and the food provides material to keep the heart in good repair and to give it the energy to beat and pump blood throughout the body. The heart returns the favor by pumping oxygenated blood to the organs so that they can function (if we had to wait for oxygen to diffuse through the body we’d be unable to move or do anything). There is a symbiotic relationship between the governor and governed.
This is similar to any kind of relationship. In Maharishi’s words, when each of the two people in a relationship comes to give, both receive. But of course this is the situation in a peer-to-peer relationship. As Rambam goes on to point out, the relationship between the governing force in the universe and the universe itself is hardly peer-to-peer. “For to no being, the governance of which overflows or confers a force, does any profit accrue in any respect from that which is ruled by it. For its giving the gifts it gives is like the giving of gifts on the parts of a generous and superior man who does it because of the nobility of his nature and the excellence of his disposition, not because of a hope for a reward: this is to become like to the deity, may His name be exalted.” In other words, Gd is the Giver and we are the receivers. The asymmetry should be clear – Gd is infinite, eternal and completely self-sufficient, while we are finite, mortal and dependent on external inputs, which ultimately are provided by Gd.
The above consideration is predicated on the idea that we are separate from Gd, that Gd is outside us, as it were, an object to which we relate in some way. Another point of view is that of Unity Consciousness, where Gd is the only reality and there is actually no separation between Gd and any individual. The individual beings in creation are actually expression of Gd, the internal dynamics of Gd, so to speak. What we used to perceive as an “objective” Gd who showers goodness on us, is now seen as the all-pervading Wholeness which is self-sustaining and self-nourishing. And to the extent that we can identify ourselves with that Wholeness, everything we need is actually within us, within Gd. At that point, we too become givers of the highest order. I might point out that this is the goal of human evolution, from birth, when we are completely takers, through adulthood, when we learn to give and to grow through giving, to enlightenment.
We’ll take up the other two points next week, Gd willing.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parshiyyot Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
In Parashat Acharei Mot, Gd commands that only the High Priest may enter the Holy of Holies and he may only do that once a year, on Yom Kippur.
This raises the question: May only the High Priest experience this Holy Experience? And may he only experience It once a year?
Compare this commandment with the commandment in the next parshah, Kedoshim, in which Gd says, “Be thou Holy, for I Am Holy.”
This commandment says that we, all of us, must always be Holy, not just the High Priest and not just once a year.
Looking at the commandment in Acharei Mot from this point of view, we can see that, although the Tabernacle and all its details, including the Holy of Holies and the actions of the priests and the High Priest, were specifically designed by Gd to assist us in being aware of Gd’s Presence, it is possible for us to be fully aware of Gd’s Presence wherever we are and whoever we are.
The 10 Commandments/Statements/Utterances/Words give us very clear guidance for our behavior so that we can act and be Holy. The commandment/
statement/utterance, “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy Gd, with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy might” gives great guidance and this love is illustrated in the commandment which appears in Parashat Kedoshim, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (thy Self).”
Following the commandment, as best as we can, to love Gd results in our becoming increasingly better people routinely and moment-to-moment in an innocent, non-straining way that allows our Nature, which is Joy and Love, to be more and more deeply experienced and more and more deeply expressed in every feeling, thought and action.
Living this way, we become increasingly aware of Gd -Totality – as all there is and therefore our love becomes more and more, Love, the same Love that Gd Is; and Joy, the same Joy that Gd is. Thus, our love is naturally directed to Gd, without our having to think about it, no matter where our attention may be. Our love is not a mood, it is a natural experience of Gd as Love. Naturally we experience our individuality as a flow of Gd’s Love. Naturally we experience more and more of the Wholeness and Unite more fully with Gd. Naturally we more and more fully remember, fully experience, that we are an Expression of Gd – Gd is all there is.
The guidance to love our neighbor as ourself, naturally results in our doing our best to know our selves more and more fully as Self, the One Self and thus, to love all selves more and more fully, to increase in our love for every aspect of existence, every individual expression of Gd, flowing within Gd, including our neighbors.
Although it will be nice, great, wonderful! when the Temple is rebuilt and we have its assistance in being aware of Gd’s Presence, Kedoshim commands us all that we should be Holy, in and out of the Temple, whatever our status in the community.
Through our desires to love Gd, to love our neighbors, to be Holy and through the actions we take to fulfill these desires we become increasingly aware of Gd’s Presence as Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omni-Joyful, Omni-Loving and our behavior becomes increasingly naturally loving and Loving. Naturally our behavior sings as the angels sing: “Holy, Holy, Holy!” Naturally, we become, more and more completely united with Gd, One.
Naturally.
Thank You, Gd!
Baruch HaShem