Parshiyyot Matot-Mas’ei 5784 — 08/03/2024
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.
Matot: Bamidbar 30:2 – 32:42
Mas’ei: Bamidbar 33:1 – 34:29
Before moving on from Rambam’s discussion of the Tetragrammaton, I’d like to consider a couple of points. First, the Tetragrammaton is considered to be the most fundamental Name of Gd, yet it is also associated with Gd’s Attribute of Mercy. Now Rambam has gone to some lengths to insist that Gd has no attributes, because Gd’s essence is complete unity, to which no partial values can attach. So what does it mean that we associate the Attribute of Mercy with the Name that represents Gd’s essence?
Perhaps we can understand it when we realize that all sets of opposing values are actually harmonized in the transcendent. The transcendent is completely abstract and devoid of any differences – as we move deeper and deeper into the structure of creation, we find that differences become less. On the surface level there are myriads of creatures. On the cellular level there are only a few types of cells – nerves, connective tissue, muscles, etc. On the molecular level, all life is made up of a small set of amino acids and a number of other types of molecules. On the atomic level, everything is made up of 92 types of atoms. Going deeper we get a smaller number of elementary particles, until we transcend all difference and arrive at the Unified Field. All the diversity of physical creation is contained in the Unified Field, which knows no diversity, and all the diversity of all aspects of creation is contained in the transcendent, which transcends all these differences. Perhaps it is this harmonization of differences that we can label “mercy,” as opposed to strict justice which is the Attribute that maintains boundaries and differences, so that the harmony of the transcendent can be lived and displayed. Note that the acceptance and harmonization of all differences will be interpreted by us on the level of behavior as Gd’s being merciful, and it is this active aspect that allows Rambam to say that Gd has attributes – they are not attributes of Gd or of Gd’s essence, but simple descriptions of the way Gd’s activity appears to us.
Incidentally, I just came across an interesting Talmudic passage ( Sanhedrin 60a, Koren translation):
There are those who say that Rav Aha bar Ya’akov says as follows: Conclude from the Mishna that the Tetragrammaton is also a name for which one is liable, and he is liable not only for cursing the 42-letter name of Gd. But isn’t that obvious? … Lest you say that one is not liable unless there is a “grand” name that he curses, i.e. the 42-letter name, and the tanna [RAR: Sage of the Mishna] mentions this statement as a mere example, Rav Aha bar Ya’akov teaches us that one is liable even for cursing the Tetragrammaton, and the name Yosei [RAR: this is a 4-letter name, used instead of the Tetragrammaton so we don’t even discuss cursing it] is mentioned specifically.
It would seem from this passage that there was a controversy as to whether the longer names had greater sanctity or the shorter ones. Rambam obviously comes down on the side that shorter is better. I opined last week that perhaps the Tetragrammaton was the basic DNA of creation, the template from which all the different levels of vibration can be constructed. It occurs to me as I’m writing this that the coding of DNA has 4 “letters” – 4 amino acids which can code for any protein in the organism. See the Wikipedia article on DNA for details.
Rambam now turns to another expression, the “glory of Gd”:
Similarly the glory of Y.K.V.K. is sometimes intended to signify the created light that Gd causes to descend in a particular place in order to confer honor upon it in a miraculous way: And the glory of Y.K.V.K. abode upon Mount Sinai, and [the cloud] covered it [Ex 24:16], and so on; And the glory of Y.K.V.K. filled the tabernacle [Ex 40:34]. The expression is sometimes intended to signify His essence and true reality, may He be exalted, as when he says, Show me, I pray Thee, Thy glory, and was answered [Ex 33:18]: For man shall not see Me and live [Ex 33:20].
If we hark back to the section where Rambam talks about different words which are used equivocally, this appears to be a similar phenomenon. Gd’s glory can mean Gd’s essence, as in the latter quotes, but it can also a light-like phenomenon that gives a numinous glow wherever it is found, as in the Tabernacle, or on Mt. Sinai. Now of course this light was no ordinary light – Gd didn’t simply shine a cosmic flashlight on some bit of ground. We have described the mechanism by which the transcendent begins to manifest as a virtual, infinite frequency vibration, which then breaks down into lower frequency patterns, which we perceive as the manifest creation.
This vibration may appear as a supernal light to people who are perceiving at the finest level, right at the junction point between the transcendent and the manifest. Perhaps the “created light” that Rambam is talking about is the perception of this finest level of creation. Why don’t we see this glow all the time? In the case of the individual, it’s because of stress in the nervous system. Stress makes the nervous system “stiff” and unable to respond to subtle fluctuations. In the case of a mass of people’s seeing Gd’s glory, if there is stress in the environment, nobody will be able to see the finest level of creation – in a smoky room, even the enlightened man’s vision is clouded. In some cases, like Mt. Sinai, it appears that the level of environmental stress is lower, and Gd’s presence is more palpable, and the people are able to perceive the vibration of the finest level of creation. And it is this lower level of environmental stress that allowed the Torah to be given to Moshe Rabbeinu, and for him to begin passing it on to the people. How does the level of environmental stress go down all of a sudden? It’s not clear to me why. In the case of the Temple it may be the carefully choreographed services and the sanctity of the kohanim that accomplishes it. In the case of Mt. Sinai, presumably Gd Willed it to be so.
I think the bottom line is that the two uses of Gd’s glory are not so very far apart. Gd’s essence is completely transcendent, while the “created light” is the dynamic aspect of Gd’s essence vibrating within itself, and appearing to us if our nervous system is purified enough.
Chazak! Chazak! V’Nitchazeik!
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parshiyyot Matot-Mas’ei
Why are the parshiyyot “Matos” and “Masei” combined? “Matos” means literally “wooden staff” but figuratively a tribe of Israel. “Masei” means “journeys.”
The Lubavitcher Rebbe comments (https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/92383/jewish/Matos-Masei-Home-and-Away.htm) that during prayer people are like branches of the divine tree and we are at home but outside of prayer we are like wooden staffs, people in exile from the “King’s Palace.” We need to be firm and strong to do right action so we journey home.
In Matos, there is a discussion of vows, when they can be annulled and when they must be kept. We can think of the time when a vow can be annulled as a time when we are connected to the tree and we have the supple nature of a live branch. The time when the vow must be kept is a time when we are like a wooden staff: we must be firm and strong to keep the vow.
Parashat Matos begins with Moses declaring that Gd has said whatever we vow to Gd to do or to refrain from doing, we must do or refrain from; the exceptions are a daughter’s vow may be annulled by her father and a wife’s by her husband at the time of hearing the vow. Rashi adds a third and fourth source of annulment, based on the fact that Moses spoke these words to the princes and not to all Israel: a single expert may annul (The Lubavitcher Rebbe says “a sage”) or three laymen.
I found the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s discussion particularly helpful: he presented the view that we need to bind ourselves to Gd as the Wholeness and let nothing stand between us and the Will of Wholeness so we are always knowing it and doing it. Similarly, we need to betroth ourselves to Gd and do Gd’s Will so the bondage of the world is annulled, and we rise to the state of marriage to Gd, to Oneness, with the “children” of our marriage being our good deeds.
We must rise to the level of marriage with Gd in which with Gd’s help we annul the bonds that keep us and our world in illusion, concealing Gd’s Presence: We become Live Branches on the Divine Tree, no longer wooden staffs.
“…nullifying in himself and the world, the masks of illusion that hide Gd’s presence from man. And this power is “retroactive,” that is, beyond the normal limitations of time and space. Just as a vow binds and an annulment breaks the bond, so he, with the help of Gd, releases the world from its bondage, from falsehood, finitude and the concealment of Gd.
Torah Studies: Mattot
Matos also deals with a battle: here again when we are facing challenges that isolate us from Wholeness, we must be supple branches of the Tree of Life and also firm like a wooden staff so that we are not lost in the fragments of life but experience Wholeness, draw on Wholeness and transform challenges and battles into opportunities to stay connected to the Tree or return to it if we are in exile.
Our Tradition helps us move in this direction.
Masei deals with journeys, battle, apportioning land, cities of refuge. Gd chooses Joshua and Eleazer and a chieftain from each tribe to apportion the land. Why did Gd choose Joshua and Eleazer to lead to the Promised Land, destroy the inhabitants and apportion the Land even though they were less than Moses, a prophet never equaled in the life of Israel?
The same principle that the Lubavitcher Rebbe uses in reference to annulment of vows by father or betrothed or husband, applies here:
Neither Moses nor Joshua nor Eleazer was the real leader, the real shepherd, the real High Priest: Gd is the Leader, the Shepherd, the High Priest.
As David puts it in Psalm 23 “The Lrd is my Shepherd, I shall not want; he leadeth me to lie down in green pastures, besides the still waters. He restoreth my soul…”
And in Joshuah I:5-9, Gd puts it this way to Joshuah:
“5 No man shall stand up before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so shall I be with you. I will not weaken My grasp on you nor will I abandon you.
6 Be strong and have courage; for you will cause this nation to inherit the land that I have sworn to their ancestors to give to them.
7 Just be strong and very courageous to observe and do in accordance with all of the Torah that Moses My servant has commanded you. Do not stray therefrom right or left, in order that you succeed wherever you go.
8 This book of the Torah shall not leave your mouth; you shall meditate therein day and night, in order that you observe to do all that is written in it, for then will you succeed in all your ways and then will you prosper.
9 Did I not command you, be strong and have courage, do not fear and do not be dismayed, for the Lrd your Gd is with you wherever you go.”
Translation from chabad.org
Moses, Joshua and Eleazer are not merely historic figures. They are also levels of consciousness within us and symbolic of aspects of our physiology. So Gd guides Joshua and Eleazer as Gd guided Moses and all that they do is Gd’s Will— perfect!
And when we open ourselves innocently to Gd, to Wholeness, Oneness—our actions are fully guided, perfect!
Prayer, Torah reading, good actions and the various spiritual practices we do lead us on our journey from exile in individuality to Fulfillment as Wholeness.
Baruch HaShem