THINKING OF "GOD"

Rambam had just said—in the discussion we saw last week—that the highest level of closeness to God involves focusing totally on Him, and (to the greatest extent possible) removing all other cares, interests, or worries from our minds. That might lead us to think that a person who walks around thinking about God, speaking of God, and so on, has clearly achieved this level that Rambam is discussing. (Personal example: Many years ago, I began to say "Barukh Hashem, Blessed is God," when I was asked how I was doing. I did it consciously, correctly assuming that by invoking God’s Name about my health and welfare in life, I would also learn to relate the events in my life to His Providence. Does that mean that, in doing so, I was fulfilling the highest level that Rambam mentioned in the parable of the palace, those who are in the king’s chambers?)

Sadly, the answer is no, according to Rambam. The only way in which constant thinking about God achieves the goals that Rambam had laid out is if that thought is based upon a deep intellectualization of God to begin with. Unless one has thought about God to the extent possible (Rambam does not elaborate on this—presumably a careful study of the entire Moreh would be one place to start, developing a deep knowledge of what God is, to the extent that humans have any understanding of the issue), walking around and talking about God, and thinking of God, is really just thinking about a concept one has made up. I am not saying (nor do I know) that Rambam would have discouraged doing this, but it does not lead to the religious heights he is discussing here.

Achieving that intellectual conception of God, and then focusing completely on Him, constitutes love of God. Rambam again, however, goes to great pains to describe this as an intellectual process. He does not believe that love of God means feeling a certain emotional attachment to Him, it just involves the intellect. It is for that reason, he says, that excellent people spend a great deal of time in solitude and isolation, since it is there that the proper kinds of thoughts and focus can be achieved.

A WORD ABOUT RAMBAM’S INTELLECTUALISM

In the form just presented, Rambam’s views seem stark—knowing God is a completely intellectual process, without the intellect there is no knowledge, etc. However, we will see (in this chapter and in later ones) that there is more to the picture than that. In fact, in his chapters on prophecy earlier in the Moreh (which I thought might be interesting to study after we finish this), Rambam notes that both intellect and imagination (a term that may encompass emotions for Rambam), not just intellect.

I suspect therefore that Rambam’s stress on intellect here was to counter "know-nothing" views of prophecy and religious excellence. This is a theme that I have noticed in movies, the idea of the noble savage, the person who without any training can be excellent at some endeavor or other (an example that struck me at the time: in Titanic, the female lead is taken to an Irish dance, and after watching for a few moments is able to dance with the best of them). At least when it comes to God, Rambam is saying, it is impossible to develop any sort of "closeness" or understanding without deep intellectual consideration. As we will see, other factors are important as well.

CONTINUING CONCERN

Rambam then reminds us that the notion of focusing on God, on thinking about Him at all times, must be done on a continuing basis in order to maintain whatever attachment has been developed. A man might develop an extremely deep understanding of God, but if he then turns towards more mundane matters (directing his thoughts totally towards earning a living, or eating necessary foods), the connection that had been developed between that man and the Divine would wither away.

This is the point of various practices of the Torah, according to Rambam. Studying Torah, praying, and all the other commandments, are meant as ways to focus our minds on God, and to train us not to spend our thoughts and energies on worldly matters. If we study, pray, or perform any of the commandments without focusing our minds on what we are doing (and on the One who commanded us to do this action), we are not achieving the point of the commandment, since it was meant to help us focus on the important issues.

Rambam’s characterization of the study of Torah and of prayer are stimulating and yet disturbing. Stimulating, since he shows us a way to think of these practices in spiritual terms—it is not that I am trying to master arcane (and perhaps currently inapplicable) laws in studying Torah, it is a way to force my mind to focus away from this world and onto God. So, too, in praying, I am not only asking for help with my physical sustenance, I am, in a direct and meaningful way, furthering my connection with the Creator through prayer (and that is why, Rambam says, the Talmud refers to such activity as avodah she-balev, service of the heart).

IS THAT ALL THEY ARE THERE FOR?

And yet disturbing, because it seems to ignore the ostensible purpose of these activities—Torah study to further our understanding of God’s Law (and perhaps, by reflection, of God Himself) and prayer as a vehicle for us to express our needs and wants to the Master of the Universe, in the hopes of receiving a positive answer. Does Rambam mean to deny these aspects of those activities?

I suspect not. I think Rambam meant that the action of Torah study, even for one who knows the entire Torah (an interesting question to examine in the history of Jewish thought is which thinkers conceived of Torah as a corpus that could be mastered—as Rashi did in the commentary on Avot, and as I suspect Rambam did, and which thought of it as infinite and unmasterable), is still necessary as a way of maintaining connection. In addition, his recommendations about actually paying attention to one’s Torah study suggest that he was mostly bothered by those who "learn" without any real comprehension or attention—those who think while learning may already have achieved what he wanted; he was coming to mention to those who study unthinkingly that they need to use the activity as a way to focus on God.

So, too, prayer is given importance by Rambam even if I can find no pressing needs to present before God. Of course, more rationalist readings of Rambam could use his comment here to claim that he did not believe in the efficacy of prayer, but I think its being juxtaposed to the issue of Torah study (which he clearly did not think was only to provide an alternative to the football game) shows that he was simply offering another aspect of its utility to people. Again, it may also be that this passage was meant to address those who pray unthinkingly, not those who are putting effort into making actual requests of God.

RAMBAM’S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

Rambam now offers his view of how one can go about accomplishing the task of maintaining focus on God. First, he says, work on Shema and the prayers, making sure that throughout the Shema (not just the first verse, a minimum that halakhah absolutely mandates) and the Amidah (again, not just the first benediction, the halkhic minimum) one’s thoughts are focused on what one is doing, meaning contemplating and talking to God.

This has to be done for years. I remember Prof. Twersky, ztllh"h, once mentioning that he had spent decades wandering the stacks in Widener Library. It struck me then that doing anything for decades shapes us in significant ways. Rambam is here saying that if we spend years focusing during the recitation of Shema and during the prayers, we will be shaped as well.

Once we have successfully accomplished this, he turns to Torah, and focusing our thoughts while we are studying or listening to Torah, as we have mentioned above. After some years of doing this, we can do the same when studying the rest of Tanakh, and when saying berakhot.

I think we’ll pick up from here next time, but I would note that Rambam seems to see these steps as sequential, when they could just as easily be simultaneous. There is no reason that I cannot try to focus on God when studying Torah just because I have not yet succeeded at maintaining my focus in saying Shema or in the Amidah. Prof. Twersky, ztllh"h, raised this issue in the upcoming chapters, where Rambam seems to see various kinds of perfection as sequential. Here, I would suggest that Rambam saw the first group as easier than the next; we might try on all fronts at the same time, but we should expect success in the easier areas first. Of course, success, too, might be partial and fitful, so that we might record some success in Torah and Navi study before we are fully successful in our Shema recitation. Let’s hope for the broadest possible success in the shortest period of time. We’ll see what the next steps are next week, be"h. Shabbat Shalom.