Parshiyyot Vayakhel-Pekudei 5786 – 03/14/2026
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.
Vayakhel: Shemot 35:1-38:20
Pekudei: Shemot 38:21-40:38
Today is the day we’ve all been waiting for – Rambam will be discussing angels! We all wanted to know everything about angels, didn’t we?!
The fact that angels exist does not require that a proof deriving from the Law be brought forward. For the Torah has stated this in a number of passages. Now you should know that Elohim is a term applied to judges. Thus [Ex. 22:8]: The cause of both parties shall come before Elohim. For this reason this word is applied figuratively to the angels and to the deity because of His being a judge of the angels. Hence it says [Deut 10:17]: For the Lord your Elohim – this being addressed to the whole of mankind, after which it says [ibid]: He is the Elohim of the Elohim – which means, the deity of the angels – and the Lord of lords – that is, the Master of the spheres and the stars, which are the lords of everybody other than themselves. This is the meaning of the verse, and not that the Elohim and the lords belong to the human species; for they are too lowly for that. This is so particularly in view of the fact that the dictum, your Elohim, includes the whole human species, the rulers as well as the ruled. Nor can the meaning be either that He, may He be exalted, is the master of everything that is believed to be divine – even if it is fashioned of stone and wood. For there is no glorification and no magnification in the affirmation that the deity is the master of stone, timber, and of a piece of cast metal.
Rambam starts by analyzing the way Scripture uses the word Elohim. The basis of the word is El which has the meaning of “power.” Thus, judges have power to administer justice, including assigning punishments and forcing monetary payments. It is also one of the Names of Gd; in particular it is the Name that is associated with both Nature / Attribute of Strict Justice. Strict Justice is of course an exercise of power. Nature too, is an exercise in power, in a way. The laws of nature are what they are, strict, exacting and mechanical, with intent and morality completely absent (in the classical view of the world). If you step off a cliff it doesn’t matter if you meant to do that, or if you’ve been bad or good – the outcome is going to be the same.
This is, of course, in stark contrast to the attribute of Mercy / Lovingkindness, which is symbolized by the Name YKVK, the Tetragrammaton, which is not pronounced as written. This more “subjective” aspect of Gd indeed cognizant and responsive to, moral values, such as kindness and compassion. This Name is related to the verb “to be,” and indicates Gd’s transcendental Being, the silent, unmanifest aspect of Gd. Elokim represents nature, which is Gd’s dynamic aspect that resides within the silence.
So uses of the Name Elokim refer to angels, because angels are actually the laws of nature that are the mechanism by which the unmanifest YKVK / Pure Being becomes the dynamic Elokim / Nature within Gd’s nature. According to Rambam, the angels control the spheres – that is, they are the laws of nature that are at the most subtle level of creation; by controlling the spheres, they control all movement in creation. They sit at the switchboard, so to speak, and from that level control everything.
Rambam now asserts that this is the only way we can say that Gd acts:
As for his [i.e. Aristotle’s] saying that these separate intellects are also intermediaries between Gd, may He be exalted, and the existents, and that it is through their intermediation that the spheres are in motion, which motion is the cause of the generation of the things subject to generation: this too is the textual teaching of all the books. For you never find therein that an act was performed by Gd otherwise than through an angel. Now you already know that the meaning of angel is messenger, Accordingly everyone who carries out an order is an angel so that the movements of animals, even when these beings are not rational, are stated in the text of the Scripture to have been accomplished through an angel, if the motion was produced in accordance with the intention of the deity, who put a force in the living being that moved him according to that motion. Thus it says [Dan 6:23]: My Gd hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me. The movements of Balaam’s she-ass are all of them brought about through an angel. Even the elements are in their turn called angels. Thus [Ps 104:4]: Who makest winds His angels, the flaming fire His ministers. It will be explained to you that angel is said of a messenger from among men; Thus [Gen 32:4]: And Jacob sent angels. It is also said of a prophet; thus [Judg 2:1]: And the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim; and [Num 20:16] He sent an angel, and brought us forth from Egypt. It is furthermore said of the separate intellects that appear to the prophets in the vision of prophecy . In addition it is said of the animal forces, as we shall explain later on.
The only counterexample to Rambam’s assertion that Gd never acts directly that I can think of is from the Pesach Haggada, where Gd is described as working without intermediaries, “The Lord brought us out of Egypt. Not by an angel, not by a seraph, not by a messenger but rather by the Holy One blessed be he through his own glory and his own power.” If we look more closely, we can discern an interesting difference between “normal” or “natural” events as opposed to “miraculous” events, where the laws of nature appear to be violated.
As Rambam states, Gd controls the world via His angles or messengers, which are identified as the various laws of nature. Ramban (Nachmanides, 1194-1270) states that Gd almost always does miracles using the regular laws of nature, albeit in a way that is very hard to explain as just ho-hum, mundane events. Thus, when Gd wanted to split the sea, He brought a “strong east wind” that blew all night to split the sea and dry up the bed of the sea. Now a strong east wind might, in fact, accomplish this effect, but of course to have it happen at exactly the right time, and for the exact duration, to allow the Israelites to cross the sea and for the Egyptians chasing them to be drowned in it, is highly unlikely. It is as if Gd wants to hide His intervention, in order to allow people to dismiss it. Gd gives us free choice to acknowledge His existence and power or otherwise, as we see with Pharaoh during the first nine plagues.
On the other hand, there are times when, apparently, Gd eschews this “hidden” method of action, and acts directly. It is, on the surface, hard to understand how an unchanging Gd can act in the world of change (other than through finite intermediaries). I think if we consider that the entire dynamic world of activity exists within Gd’s nature, perhaps this is not such a conundrum. Gd’s action is not really action and Gd’s nature does not change. It only appears so from our limited perspective. Whether Gd acts “directly” or “indirectly” through intermediaries, Gd is acting within Himself, and ultimately displaying His power to Himself. The difference is only in our perception. The angels are, after all, extensions of Gd. Perhaps we are more aware of the details of Gd’s activities if they are conducted through angels. When Gd acts directly, we may not perceive the mechanics, but we are certainly awed by Gd’s power to a much greater degree. Which path Gd takes may be dependent on the need of the times. In our case, the last plague had to break Pharaoh’s and Egypt’s back, and it is perhaps for this reason that Gd acted “directly.” But the bottom line is, Gd alone is, and all boundaries exist within Gd’s unbounded nature.
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parshiyyot Vayakhel-Pekudei
Vayakhel (” and he assembled”) emphasizes the building of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle); the materials through Divine Design wise craftspeople to build, pure hearts to donate the materials. The following parshah, Pekudei, emphasizes the construction of the Priestly Garments When both were completed, Gd’s Glory filled the Mishkan (Gd’s Glory Is always there – our ancestors became aware of It.).
Our pure individualities are the Tabernacle; our good actions are the Priestly Garments. Combine them and we become Aware of Gd’s Presence, Gd’s Glory.
In the previous parshah, Ki Tisa, Moses asked Gd to “Show me your Glory.” Gd said “I will show you my back but My Face you cannot see for no man can see my Face and live.” This means “I can show you My Material Values but in My Transcendent Wholeness all are restored to the Reality that we are all roles Gd plays – individuals become All-in-All and their attachment to a single personality is lost.”
The same Hebrew word translated as “Glory” is used in both Vayakhel and Pekudei: “kavod.” The construction of the Mishkan and the Priestly Garments created a harmonious resonance with Moses and with everyone so that more of the full perception of Gd’s Presence, Gd’s Glory, was possible but Full Awareness of Gd still depended then, as it does now, on the maturity of the soul of the perceiver and on the ability of the individual to experience Gd’s Transcendent Wholeness because of the purity of his nervous system.
Kabbalah is the tradition of looking into Torah and finding deeper levels of meaning; for example, Kabbalah views Gd as “Ein Sof,” Endless, also Beginningless, One, Eternal. It views individual souls as expressions of this Oneness remaining within the Oneness but diminishing progressively and then rising again until the full Reality is experienced: only Gd exists, everyone and everything is an expression of Gd, always within Gd and our individuality is Gd playing a game which Gd eventually (soon! we hope. Now! we hope) lets our individual souls win by returning to our status as Oneness, All-in-All.
From this standpoint, the meticulous design and building of the Mishkan was a help to experience Gd’s Presence but to return to the Oneness everyone had to also perform the offerings and other actions Gd Prescribed to be performed in the Mishkan and also the other aspects of living that Gd prescribed.
There are many guidelines Gd gives Moses to give us (the traditional version is that there are 613) and some can only be performed when the Temple is standing and we are in it but the basic ones are: “The Lrd, thy Gd, Is One;” “Love the Lrd Thy Gd with all thy heart, soul and mind,” “Love thy neighbor as thyself (thy Self),” “Be Still and Know that I Am Gd.”
Through our taking good care of our self and our Self and through our good actions we become spontaneously more appreciative of the beauty of the world within us and around us and the gift of life within us. Thus, we grow to love Gd with all our heart, soul and mind and we grow to appreciate and love the sweetness of being in communities where people appreciate each other, help each other, are kind to each other. We grow in our ability to love our neighbor as ourself and our Self. We grow in the ability to Be Still and Know Wholeness, Gd.
Through appreciation, gratitude, love, good actions, service we are restored to Oneness, the Fullness of Love and Joy, and Gd’s Glory is Fully Present in us as All-in-All of which our individualities are fully restored expressions.
In describing the details of building the Mishkan and the Priestly Garments according to Gd’s Plan, these parshiyyot help to inspire us to appreciate the world within us and around us as Mishkan, a Tabernacle, a Temple which we are in the process of building and help us to appreciate our good actions as Priestly Garments. These parshiyyot help us to appreciate Gd’s Gory and Gd’s Design imprinted within us and within all. Our appreciation and our actions bring the Grace that restores us to Full Awareness of Oneness.
Those who are wise guide us as those Gd filled with wisdom created the parts of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, which they brought to Moses who assembled them into a Whole. Those who are pure give us Love which is the Fullness of every donation and which unifies the parts of our personalities and assembles them into a Community, The Whole.
We may have a vision of the Whole that allows us to create each part according to the plan, human or divine. but to assemble the parts into a whole, a Whole, we must have harmony with ourself, with our surroundings, with Gd, so that we assemble from a level of Wholeness.
“Moses” is a quality of Wholeness, connectedness, that is within each of us, within everybody.
Through our innocence, our faith, our service, this level of Wholeness becomes more and more functional in our lives; we gain the Support of Nature, of Gd, to complete our tasks in a way that is Joyful and lasting. Our personalities, bodies, homes become Tabernacles, Temples within which Gd’s Presence is experienced as the Eternal Reality.
Once this is done, Gd’s Presence fills the Tabernacle. Gd’s Presence, of course, Was and Is always there, but the Fully Assembled Mishkan enables those within it to perceive what Is always there.
How fortunate we are, to be innocent, to trust, to serve, to be blessed and to live our lives as blessings so that Gd’s Presence becomes more and more fully visible to all of us, to everyone!
How fortunate we are!
Baruch HaShem!