Shabbat Chol haMoed Sukkot 5786 – 10/11/2025
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.
Rambam continues his analysis of infinity:
But as for what is infinite in potentia or accidentally, the existence of such an infinite has, in some cases, been demonstrated: thus it has been demonstrated that the division of magnitudes to infinity is possible in potentia, and likewise the division of time to infinity. Another case is an object of speculation: namely, the existence of what is infinite by way of succession. This is what is called the infinite by accident.
We have already discussed the issue of whether or not time and space can be divided into infinitesimal pieces. Of course, as we have seen, the Mutakallimūn believe that time and space are atomized, so actual infinite divisions of time or space are not going to be possible for them. We have noted that applying quantum mechanics to General Relativity may reveal that space-time may in fact be granular. Modern Unified Field theories, including string theory, imply that space and time are actually manifestations of some other, more expanded, underlying structures. All this is ongoing research.
I want to talk about getting to the infinite “by way of succession.” There are many instances of this in mathematics. The basis of the number system, the counting numbers, are produced by extension. The counting numbers are generated by a set of postulates called Peano’s Postulates. The postulates relevant to our discussion are (1) zero is a natural number, (2) for every natural number, n, there is a successor, S(n), which is a natural number and (3) there is no natural number whose successor is 0 (i.e. zero is the “smallest” natural number). This idea of a successor guarantees that there is no largest natural number, because whatever number we identify as the “largest,” its successor is larger. The natural numbers extend to infinity.
Just for fun, I’d like to show one more example, where we can create an infinite number of infinities by extension. First, we introduce the notion of a set, which is just a collection of items: for example set S = {A, B} is a set with two elements. A subset of a set is a set that contains only elements of the original set. The subset can have all the elements, some of the elements, or none of the elements of the original set. Thus, the subsets of S are {} (null set, no elements), {A}, {B} and {A, B}. For a set with two elements there are 4 subsets. For a set with 3 elements {A, B, C} there are 8 subsets: {}, {A}, {B}, {C}, {A, B}, {A, C}, {B, C} and {A, B, C}. You can try a few more and convince yourself that if there are N elements in a set, there will be 2^N subsets. That means that the power set of S, which is the set of all subsets of S, will have more elements than S (since 2^N is larger than N for any natural (counting) number N).
Now suppose we have a set with an infinite number of elements, like the set of the counting numbers: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4 …}. Comparing infinite sets is a bit more complicated than just counting the elements. For example, the set of odd counting numbers: {1, 3, 5, 7, 9 …} is a subset of the counting numbers (every odd number is a counting number), but both sets have the same number of elements. How can we say that, especially since there are elements in the counting numbers that are missing from the odd number – all the even numbers, an infinite number of them! The answer is that we can create a 1-to-1 mapping of the counting numbers to the odd numbers. Every counting number, n gets mapped to 2n + 1. So n = 0 gets mapped to 2 x 0 + 1 = 1; n = 1 gets mapped to 2 x 1 + 1 = 3; n = 2 gets mapped to 2 x 2 + 1 = 5, etc. Similarly, every odd number, m, gets mapped to (m – 1) / 2. Since m is odd by definition, m – 1 is even and (m – 1) / 2 is a counting number. So m = 1 gets mapped to (1 – 1) / 2 = 0; m = 3 gets mapped to (3 – 1) / 2 = 2 / 2 = 1; m = 5 gets mapped to (5 – 1) / 2 = 4 / 2 = 2, etc. The mapping is one-to-one in both directions, so we say that the sets are the same size. The size of the counting numbers is generally denoted ℵ₀, using the Hebrew letter aleph with subscript zero.
It is not that hard to prove that there is no one-to-one mapping of the power set of the counting numbers onto the counting numbers themselves. In fact, if we map the counting numbers into the power set, it is always possible to construct another member of the power set that is not mapped onto by a member of the original set. See here for a proof. But that means that the power set of ℵ₀ is bigger than ℵ₀ itself. We call it ℵ1 and it, too, has a power set which is bigger than it. Similarly, the power set of ℵ1 is greater than ℵ1, and we call it ℵ2. In fact, there is an infinite sequence of sets and their power sets, with increasing sizes – and this sequence is derived by the process of extension.
Of course these infinities exist in our consciousness. Their structures may have analogies in the physical world, but primarily they are structures of consciousness – i.e. they are “objects of speculation” (and logic, I might add) in Rambam’s words.
Rambam continues:
And it consists in a thing coming to exist after the passing-away of another thing, the latter’s coming to exist after the passing-away of a third thing, and so forth to infinity. About this there is an extremely profound speculation. Thus he who claims to have demonstrated the eternity of the world says that time is not finite, and nothing absurd follows necessarily for him therefrom. For as soon as a portion of time is actualized, another portion passes away. Similarly the succession of accidents, which attach themselves to matter, goes on, in his opinion, to infinity, without an absurdity necessarily following for him from this assertion. For the accidents do not all exist simultaneously, but in succession; and the impossibility of this has not been demonstrated.
Here Rambam is contrasting the view that infinity is real to the view of the Mutakallimūn, who hold that world is not eternal (this is also a big point of contention between Jewish thinkers and Greek philosophy) but was created at some point in time by Gd. As we have discussed, this connection between the existence of infinity in time and the creation of the universe may no longer be supported by modern physics and mathematics. If time is continuous, then any stretch of time has an infinite number of moments, and any process has an infinite sequence of states. Even if the universe began with the Big Bang, it is possible that it will go on to infinity in the forward direction.
In sum, it appears that the Mutakallimūn reject the existence of infinities (besides Gd) because they want to maintain the atomicity of space and time, which as we have stated, is to give Gd maximum free will, unencumbered by laws of nature of His own creation. And this to explain the miracles of Scripture, where it appears that the laws of nature are set aside, at least temporarily. This, of course, is part of Rambam’s agenda. He takes a very different approach, as we shall see as our study progresses. Next week, however, we will take up the 12th and final premise of the Mutakallimūn.
This post concludes the 5th year of this Rambam project. At the rate I’m going, I will be about 82 years old when I finish it, Gd willing I live that long in good health. Wish me luck!
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Commentary by Steve Sufian
Parshiyot V’Zot HaBerechah/Bereshit
A calendrical note. Parashat V’Zot haB’rachah is always read on Simchat Torah, as part of the ceremony of finishing the Torah and immediately starting the reading anew with Bereishit (the first Parashah of the Torah). In the Land of Israel, Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret are one and the same day (the 8th day of Sukkot), and this day can come out on Shabbat. In the Diaspora, Simchat Torah is the day after Shemini Atzeret, and the day after Shemini Atzeret can never be Shabbat. The reason is that Rosh haShanah (1st of Tishri), Sukkot (15th of Tishri) and Shemini Atzeret (22nd of Tishri) all fall on the same day of the week. For Simchat Torah to be on Shabbat, Rosh haShanah would have to be on Friday, and this is impossible. If Rosh haShanah were on Friday, Yom Kippur (10th of Tishri) would be on Sunday (beginning Saturday night) and Yom Kippur would be starting before Shabbat ends. This is not allowed for various reasons. The upshot is, V’Zot haB’rachah is never read on Shabbat in the Diaspora. The reading this Shabbat is the special reading for Shabbat Chol haMo’ed Sukkot (the Sabbath of the intermediate days of Sukkot). Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) is also read on this Shabbat. Parashat Bereishit will be read next Shabbat.
”V’Zot HaBracha” means, “And this is the blessing.”
Before we consider this blessing on the level of meaning, let’s consider that Torah is beyond language, beyond verbal definitions and grammar – it is the fundamental liveliness of Gd. On our level of life, of awareness, the sound value of Torah comes closer to the transcendental and all-pervading quality of Torah.
From this standpoint, here are two sources to listen to the beginning of Beresheit: the first is traditional; the second is creative.
1. Beresheit 1-8 with cantillation: Very sweet, easy to listen to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa_g1QOt9y0
2. Very lively. Award-winning singer Noa sings Beresheit with Philarmonic Rishon Le Tzion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYKMWtOlHVE
Consider Beresheit the seed of Teshuvah – return to Oneness – and V’zot HaBeracha, the last parshah of the Chumash, the fruit: Do we see in these parshiyyot and in our lives that the seed has borne its intended fruit?
If we take these parshiyyot on the plain level of meaning, no: the children of Israel (that’s not only a long time ago but today and in all times) have not yet entered the Promised Land, and Moses, the great leader, never will.
But perhaps we can say that Moses, one of the guests that visits the sukkah during Succoth, has entered Gan Eden, as tradition has it – not the terrestrial Garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve were evicted but the Heavenly Garden of Eden in which Gd is enthroned and explains Torah to the residents. Explaining Torah is not just a matter of Gd talking to people but giving the Direct Experience that Torah, Gd and all Gd’s details are One. From this standpoint, Moses and all those who enter Gan Eden have been restored to Oneness and so the seed of Bereshit has borne fruit though V’Zot HaBrachah doesn’t say so..
Later in Bereshit, we see Enoch mentioned as walking with Gd – definitely return to Oneness. Then Noah is called a righteous person, one who Gd trusts to maintain life on our planet when the rest of humanity, due its wickedness, is destroyed in the flood.
So even early in Torah, even taken on the level of meaning, we see examples of the fruit of the seed appearing: people who walk with Gd, who are righteous.
Also, very importantly, Gd’s Torah, One with Gd, flowed though Moses – what wonderful fruit. Punctuated by the Word, the Command, the Kiss of Gd’s mouth which Parashat V’Zot HaBrachah tells us Moses was the way Moses died. Dying by the Touch of Gd is certainly entering the Promised Land.
Before he died, Moses, man of Gd, servant of Gd, gathered all the tribes together and spoke to them first as one, as the Children of Israel, giving them the command to obey Torah; then he gave specific blessings to each tribe. This is revealing first unity, then the diversity within the unity. This is action that in its Fullness, restores each individual in a community to unity with the community while retaining the special individuality role. Symbolically, this gives the Blessing of Oneness on all its Detail.
So, the Five Books of Moses end with ripe fruit.
Having considered the fruit, let us consider the seed which is contained within the fruit and to which we return as on Simchat Torah we begin again reading Beresheit.
Bereshit begins in Hebrew:
“Bereshit bara Elokim et HaShamayim v’et Ha’aretz…”
The way this is commonly translated to English, Bereshit reads: “In the beginning, Gd created heaven and earth…”. Since Gd is Beginingless and Endless, this cannot be true.
The way the ArtScroll Chumash and chabad.org translate it, it reads, “In the beginning of Gd’s creating the heavens and the earth…”
This is better and according to scholars more grammatically correct but still puts Gd in time and the reality is that time is a role Gd plays in pretending to be limited.
God is always One, Wholeness in Detail, so let’s see if we can find a meaning for “beginning” that honors this.
One way is that it refers to any point in the infinite liveliness of Gd because at any point, separation and unification are always going on, and so at any point heaven and earth are always being separated and united.
Within every point is the Whole Unbounded Ocean of Gd everything is always going on everywhere, in sequence and also in simultaneity. To Gd, Gd is always Totally Present, Infinitely Lively, Infinitely Silent, Omnidirectional, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnijoyful, Omniloving, and so the idea of beginning is just part of Gd’s “let’s pretend” to be limited.
In addition, Wikipedia notes that not only is “bara” a verb that is only used in reference to Gd but it doesn’t mean “create”, it means “differentiate/separate, assign roles to”. From this standpoint, heaven and earth though they are always One, are perpetually separated/distinguished/ from each other and given special roles. So Bereshit refers to the beginning of distinguishing “heaven,” the inner, subtle, abstract level of the details of God, from “earth,” the concrete aspect.
Jeff Benner (ancient-hebrew.org ) translates “bara” as “shaped”: from this standpoint, there is neither creating nor separating, there is only refining what already exists.
Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, in his “Body, Mind and Soul: Kabbalah on Human Physiology, Disease and Healing”, notes that “create” and “heal” in Hebrew have the same root: b-r-a: from this angle, we can say that the beginning of Torah is always the beginning of healing, of return to Wholeness. This is healing individual humans of their limits and restoring us to our unlimited status as impulses of One, restoring us to our status as the Full Ocean of One functioning through our individual personalities and bodies and also through all impulses of One.
What a Joy to Be Restored to full memory of the reality that only One exists and we are This!
So, creation, healing is eternal, as Torah, the fundamental liveliness of Gd – beyond language, grammar, definition, Gd conversing with Gd – is eternal, never beginning or ending yet always New.
And there are surely many more interpretations of “Bereshit Bara Elokim” everyone’s: intuitions will add to the cornucopia.
On the ordinary human level of awareness, this variety of interpretations is consistent with the way we experience life. We are always evolving and seeing more completely. As we rise to higher levels and to Consciousness beyond levels – the Wholeness within which all levels exist – we are able to see the usefulness of each interpretation.
We humans are individual impulses of Gd who pretends to be limited for the fun of playing Hide and Seek, Peek-a-Boo in us, so Gd, pretending to be we limited souls, can have the fun of seeking as us, and Gd as Gd, can have the pleasure of Hinting and Revealing, through Torah sounds, Torah stories, Torah mitzvot and whatever way Gd Wishes.
In this game, this Game, little by little, and also suddenly, we are returned to Wholeness by Gd’s Grace Revealing
Gd dissolves the veils of limits and reveals to us that Gd is All, within us and all around us, everywhere, One without a Second.
And this can happen with any sound of Torah, any word, any parshah, even the last one as we suddenly See and Know the Truth within the Stories.
And it can happen Now! And any Now! Wherever we are and whatever we’re doing.
Because Torah in a written book is only the most infinitesimal aspect of Torah as One with Gd, Torah can hint to us and reveal to us when we’re eating breakfast, walking down a street, snoozing—at any time, any place.
Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good And Evil as well as the serpent, are within us, ready to be clearly experienced as Omnidirectional, All-in-All Points of One, and the duality between Gd and the uncreated creation, is ready to be experienced as the Fun of Gd, always within Gd as One.
So, too, are all the details of Torah as the Book and Torah as Gd. Bereshit is a good seed that bears good fruit in V’Zot Haberacha and it is also the Fruit that sprouts to become all the Books of Torah and to loop back to itself with V’Zot HaBeracha.
Let\s continue doing our best to tune to Gd/Torah with “Be still and know!”; with “to love Gd with all our heart, all our soul and all our might,” with “love our neighbor as our self,” as our Self. As we do. we see, hear, taste, touch, smell the Beauty of Gd in every leaf, every sound, every bite of food, everyone and everything, everywhere.
Sukkot/Hoshanah Raba/Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah are special times of Joy to make our tuning more charming, delightful, effective.
Very encouraging!
Let’s keep on tuning.
Practice! Practice! Practice!
Baruch HaShem.