Category Archives: Ramchal

Da’at Tevunot 1:12 (# 44 [end] – 46)

1.

We’d need to first elaborate on one crucially important and elemental point about G-d and His interactions with us before we can discuss the various epochs we spoke of, though.

We see G-d seeming to act certain ways toward us that have lead the prophets and our sages to depict Him as “compassionate”, “gracious”, “mighty”, and the like, depending on the circumstances. But that could be misleading, because it speaks of His interactions with us rather than of G-d Himself ¹.

2.

For not only is it utterly impossible for us to comprehend G-d Himself ², but we’re actually forbidden to delve into His Being ³. As His own being is beyond our ken, and because nothing within our experience is within His own ⁴.

In fact, attributing to Him even the greatest of all things known to us would be an insult to Him and is utterly irrelevant to His presence. For everything in the universe — be it good or bad, perfect or imperfect — has been purposefully created anew by Him and has been made for our needs and experience rather than His. As it’s said. ” To what, then, will you compare Me? Whom am I equal to?” (Isaiah 40:25).

As such, all of the actions and traits attributed to Him have nothing to do with G-d Himself! For while a human being’s actions come about as a consequence of his character, G-d’s “actions” ⁵ are a pure product of His will alone ⁶ and are merely suited to the needs and makeup of His creations ⁷.

And so in short: G-d is comprised of nothing that we’re comprised of or exhibit, He alone is the true perfect Being to whom no imperfections can be attributed. He’s utterly unfathomable, and nothing about our reality is relevant to His ⁸ .

3.

It’s just that He wanted to create beings, to interact with them, to be benevolent and grant His blessings to, and to exhibit a degree of His Yichud to (which is greater than any other blessing) so that we might bask in His light. So He established the sorts of righteous rules and regulations we know of in order to interact with Him.

And He seemingly adopted all sorts of attributes, which He only did in order to exhibit as much  benevolence upon us as is possible. Now all of those attributes and such are attributed to Him since He did the things He did, even though He was forced to do none of them ⁹ . In fact, He could have acted otherwise in ways unfathomable to us, as He very well can do even now.

4.

At bottom, then, it comes to this. G-d’s reign is thorough, complete, purposeful, and constant; absolutely nothing can thwart it, as we explained. And His being is unfathomable to all of us, despite the fact that we can discern His actions, which point to His presence and allude to Him so that we might sense Him. But all we can grasp of him comes from those actions  and nothing else.

Footnotes:

¹                See 1:3:2, 1:4:1.

There’s a major dilemma involved in the subject at hand that comes to this: if, as we’ll soon see, G-d Himself is unfathomable, then how can He be depicted at all? But if He can’t be depicted, then how is the Torah to refer to Him and how can we speak of Him whatsoever? And if we and the Torah can’t refer to Him, then how are we to worship Him and draw close to Him, seeing how remote He would be from our minds? So there has to be some way of referring to Him.

The truth of the matter is that the subject of G-d’s depictions has concerned many of our greatest thinkers (see Moreh Nevuchim 1:56–60 for example, and Chovot Halevovot 1:10). The Kabbalistic solution to the problem lies in our being allowed to discuss the means G-d uses to interact with the world — His “tools”, if you will, which they termed His sephirot — rather than Him. For by understanding His tools, we understand His methodology, and by understanding his methodology we understand something of His thinking, which then helps explain something of Him.

The best classical text for a full treatment of the sephirot is R’ Yoseph Gikatilla’s Sha’arei Orah. For references to sephirot in Ramchal’s works see 2:6, 4:14 below; Klallim Rishonim 1; Da’at Tevunot 80, 156, 180; Klach Pitchei Chochma 5-11, 24-25; Pitchei Chochma  v’Da’at; and elsewhere.

Another point to be made is that a major issue associated with depicting G-d is that those descriptions make it seem as if He acts one way now and another at another time — as if He were very human, and was affected by circumstances enough to need to change. But if G-d were indeed affected by things so, then He’d be beholden to them and not omnipotent. He would also be quite knowable. After all, it would be easy enough to keep track of what would move Him in one direction or another to thus determine what makes Him “tick” and ultimately to control Him. But that’s entirely preposterous since G-d is utterly unknowable and is indeed omnipotent. It thus becomes clear that the traits that G-d is depicted as having are meant to speak to something else altogether. And that’s where the Kabbalistic perspective spoken of above comes into play.

²                In His own being, apart from and irrespective of absolutely everything and everyone.

³                See Chagigah 11b and 13a.

See the following works of Ramchal about our not being able or allowed to speak of G-d Himself:  Da’at Tevunot 80, Adir Bamarom p.59a, Ma’amar HaVichuach 44, and Ma’amar Yichud HaYirah. Also see the Vilna Gaon at the end of his commentary to Sifra D’tzniutah, “Sod Hatzimtzum”; the beginning of HaRav m’Fano’s Yonat Elim; Ramban’s introduction to his commentary to the Torah, Tikkunei Zohar 17a (Petach Eliyahu), and Moreh Nevuchim 1:58-59.

⁴                As G-d is not “merely” the Creator of the universe en toto and of all of reality — He’s beyond all of it.

⁵                … aren’t like that, they …

⁶                That’s to say that He’s not compelled by anything to act — all of His actions are a pure product of His will to do this or that.

⁷                See 1:2:4.

⁸                This is where non-believers go wrong: they belittle G-d and think He is like us because He often has things come about the way we do things. But He is not at all like us, has none of our intentions or impulses, and He is a wholly other sort of being.

After all, among other things, G-d is the only entity not to have been created. Just consider how radical a departure that fact is from reality as we know it! It sets G-d apart from absolutely everything past, present, and future; and other than His utterly sublime, perfect, single, and simple perfection, it’s the most singularly important factor separating us from Him.

⁹                Unlike human beings who are forced to do things as a consequence of our makeup. Indeed, G-d’s forced to do nothing.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Da’at Tevunot 1:11 (# 43 – 44)

But, why would we need to focus on G-d’s revealing His Yichud as the most important factor of all? Wouldn’t it be enough to reiterate the points made early on that G-d wanted to be utterly benevolent to us so He made it possible for us to earn our own rewards for our efforts rather than be granted them gratuitously, and thus allowed for right and wrong, the freedom to choose either, and the subsequent reward or punishment ¹? Aren’t those the most important things to concentrate on?

The truth is that it’s in fact essential for us to focus on the fact of G-d’s Yichud. After all, we’d already seen prophetic statements that G-d would ultimately redeem our people whether we deserve it or not ² , and that He’d eventually undo the yetzer hara and have us serve Him without the option not to — which implies the end of free choice and reward and punishment ³.

2.

But aren’t we always supposed to be free to be either righteous or wrongful ⁴ ? And won’t the righteous enjoy good as a consequence of their choices, and the wrongful suffer harm as a consequence of theirs? That’s the way it’s always supposed to be, isn’t it? And hasn’t G-d established a system of justice that will always be in place?

The truth is that we’re taught in the Torah, the books of the prophets, and in the words of our sages, that that’s not so.  Free choice will eventually be withdrawn ⁵ and there’ll eventually no longer be any wrongfulness in the world.

It thus follows that reward and punishment and everything that hinges upon it aren’t G-d’s ultimate goals — the eventual all-embracing rectification of the universe and perfection are His ultimate aim ⁶ . What’s important to realize, though, is that G-d interwove the two, and used the current system of reward and punishment as a means of eventually achieving rectification and perfection, as we’ll explain later on ⁷. Again, the point is that G-d’s revelation of His Yichud is the central theme of all of creation.

3.

Now,  there’ll obviously be two major epochs of time involved in all of that: the one in which G-d conceals His Yichud and the one in which He finally reveals it; and there’ll also be a transitional period between them ⁸ which we’d need to concentrate on as well. And we’d need to know what would be expected of us in the course of each and what we can expect in return.

Footnotes:

 ¹             See 1:1.

²             That’s to say, if we’d need to deserve redemption, who can be sure that it would happen in the end, given that we’d be free to do or not do the sorts of things that would earn it for us? Yet we’ve been assured by G-d Himself, through His prophets, that we’d indeed be redeemed! So, there’d obviously need to be something that could supersede free will and merits — and that’s the role that G-d’s intention to eventually reveal His Yichud and sovereignty plays.

See 1:4 above and 1:15 below, as well as Adir Bamarom pp. 211-212.

³             R’ Yoseph Spinner remarks that Ramchal is explaining one of the major teachings of Kabbalah at this juncture: that aside from the system of reward and punishment lies the “inner (loftier, concealed) and more fundamental” one of G-d’s own plan to rectify the universe which supersedes reward and punishment.

For, as the Kabbalists explain it, there are six Heavenly realms (termed Attik, Arich Anpin, Abba, Imma, Zeir Anpin and Nukveh). While the system of reward and punishment is derived from a relatively lower realm (Zeir Anpin) the eventual rectification is rooted in the highest and loftiest of them all (Attik).

⁴             That is, isn’t free will an essential and firm aspect of reality? No, it isn’t, Ramchal is offering. In fact, it’s limited even now. See Rambam’s Sh’mone Perakim Ch. 2 where he points out that we haven’t even any control over our inner organs now, for example, or over sudden thoughts that occur to us or the like. And we’re sometimes (though rarely) not even free to make ethical choices (see Ch. 8 there and Hilchot Teshuvah 6:3). It’s also important to point out that we’re also only free to make choices when it comes to the mitzvah-system (Sh’mone Perakim Ch. 2), so we can decide to accede to G-d’s wishes for us to eat in a kosher restaurant or not, for example, but the matter of our being in a neighborhood that has one may not be in our hands. So free will is clearly limited even now.

⁵             See 1:8 and note 8 there.

⁶             See 6:6 below.

Now, some might rashly ask why we’d need to bother to accede to ethics now given that right and wrong are destined to be undone in the end. But suffice it to say that just as no right-minded person suffering from a terrible fever would go about conducting his business as usual knowing that antibiotics will come to his rescue in a week or ten days, we likewise can’t deny the consequences of our actions now despite the fact that we’ll eventually be “well”.

⁷             See 1:14 and 1:17 below.

⁸             See 1:15 below.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Da’at Tevunot 1:10 (# 40 [end] – 42)

1.

Let’s reiterate the secrets of the universe we’ve been privy to so far since they’re so wide-ranging and challenging, and go so far to explain how things work. And besides, seeing this all laid out plain will remind us of just who we are at bottom and what’s expected of us.

In general it comes to this: G-d “wanted from the first to reveal His Yichud” (His utter sovereignty), as Ramchal puts it, which is to say, to demonstrate that nothing whatsoever can thwart His wishes. And He established that as the underpinning of all of reality ¹.

He first purposefully concealed His Yichud, though, which then allowed for wrong and injustice to exist; but once He will have revealed it, all wrong and injustice will be undone ². G-d thus presented us with the mission of perfecting ourselves ³ within the period of time between the concealment and revelation of His Yichud.

2.

Now, all this not only has countless ramifications for our day-to-day, to say nothing for our eternal lives, it also affects all of reality. For, “once G-d decided to follow this path”, i.e., of first hiding His Yichud and allowing for wrong and injustice, then revealing it and undoing all of that, “He then provided the space”, i.e., the environment and wherewithal, for all of us “to achieve true perfection” Ramchal asserts.

That means to say that now that this dynamic has been set in place it follows that everything functions in accordance with it, that this is the essential universal pattern, and that it offers us the means to grow and reach our full potential as G-d wants us to.

In any event, knowing this, we can now understand how the world is at once deeply flawed, chaotic, and puzzling by all appearances, yet it was made to be perfect, structured and comprehensible.

At bottom, though, we’re assured that G-d will indeed reveal His sovereignty in the end either with or without human intervention ⁴, we’ll eventually no longer need free will, and that we’ll have earned our eternal reward ⁵ and the universe will have achieved perfection.

Footnotes:

¹             See 1:3,4,6,7.

²             See 1:6,7,8.

³             See 1:1,2.

⁴             See 1:8,9.

⁵             See 1:1,7.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Da’at Tevunot 1:9 (# 40 [continued] )

We can come to “recognize the truth … about this world” and “draw close to G-d”, Ramchal assures us, if we’d just realize this: that doing things that go against G-d’s wishes are wrongful, and that G-d created wrongfulness in the first place by hiding His visage [1].

So, rather than be attracted to wrong we’d be wise to be drawn instead toward the holy things that carry the promise of our being exposed to “the hidden, mystic light … of the Living G-d’s own visage” instead. Make that choice, we’re told, and you’ll “reveal G-d’s sovereignty yourself” in your heart and in the world, and you’ll have achieved redemption rather than have to endure the travails of exile [2].

In fact, this was the opportunity offered to Adam at the very beginning [3]. He was faced with the reality of wrongdoing, too, in the form of the snake. But had Adam not been faced with that reality and had only seen G-d’s presence, he wouldn’t have grasped the actual extent of G-d’s rule. So, G-d allowed for wrong to be manifest in the Garden of Eden so Adam could understand the difference between its rule and G-d’s own, and come to fully appreciate G-d’s full sovereignty [4].

Yet he failed. He knew that he was told not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but he ate from it anyway, in the erroneous belief that there could be two rulers [5], as if what the snake said was true. Adam should have thought about the implications of what he saw and chosen right over wrong  — chosen the good that reiterated G-d’s sovereignty, and rejected the wrongfulness that denied it and which was only created to test humankind.

Had he in fact trusted his inherent faith [6] until the end of the day he was tested rather than fallen for the schemes of the snake, he would have more fully grasped the reality of G-d’s sovereignty, since he’d have seen wrongfulness for himself and known that G-d only allowed for it to exist for His own purposes. And he’d have accomplished in that one day what would subsequently take 6,000 years to do! For he’d have undone all wrongfulness right there and then.

Yet he was duped. He fell sway to his desires for the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and descended into error. Adam was then forced to see for himself the actual makeup of wrong — i.e., the fact that it’s “temporary” and due to be replaced by goodness alone. The sad fact is that he had to be shown outright what he’d known and believed from the first.

That’s indeed parallel to our own situation here. For, if we’d only be willing to take the reality of G-d’s sovereignty to heart and believe in it forthrightly, we will have succeeded from the start. But since we fall for the five calamitous theological errors spoken of before [7] G-d is forced to reveal His sovereignty to us outright in the end, and to have us experience the horrors of exile in the meanwhile which enables wrongfulness to grow exponentially.

In fact we pay an extraordinarily high price for the reality of G-d’s visage being hidden from us: our insights are skewed and our deeds are corrupt. That then brings about calamitous changes in all of reality around us to the point where life is chaotic and fraught with wrongdoing. Nonetheless we’re reassured that once G-d’s Glory and sovereignty are revealed our insights and deeds will be rectified and we’ll all cling on to His presence [8].

Footnotes:

[1]         How astounding! His point is that we can come to know what’s true and what’s not — and draw close to G-d at one at the same time — if we’d only take to heart the idea that what we should do is avoid what G-d wants us to avoid, and to realize that such things only exist in the first place because G-d created them in a “back-handed” sort of way in order for us to learn from them the reality of G-d’s utter sovereignty.

[2]         Thus, Ramchal’s position is that just realizing the truth of G-d’s utter sovereignty will greatly benefit us and the world. In fact, it could be said that the whole point of Da’at Tevunot is to enable us to come to that realization and to take it to heart.

[3]         Ramchal depicted the possibilities and failures of Adam a number of times in his works: see below 2:3, 3:5 and 3:14-17; Derech Hashem 1:3:6-8 and 2:4:2; Adir Bamarom pp. 389-395 (and elsewhere there); and Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at 120.

[4]         That is, if he’d only seen G-d, he’d just naturally have assumed that G-d ruled the universe, but by having seen wrongfulness in the world, too, he was presented with the possibility of it ruling. His turning his back from wrongfulness then would have been a brave and righteous choice on his part, it would have enabled Him to have bolstered his faith in the reality of G-d’s sovereignty, and it would have readied everything for sheer perfection.

[5]         That is, that G-d’s command was no more imposing than the snake’s.

In fact, Adam was referred to as an outright heretic by our sages (Sanhedrin 38a) for that, as Ramchal indicates later on in the text.

[6]         I.e., his personal knowledge of G-d’s ways in the world.

[7]         See 1:5 above.

[8]         Ramchal cites a number of well known messianic-like verses to buttress his points here, including the statement that in the end G-d “will pour out (His) spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 3:1) as a consequence of which “no longer will anyone (have to) instruct his neighbor or … his brother, saying, ‘Know G-d!’ for they will all know Me from their smallest to their greatest” (Jeremiah 31:33); there will be a point when “many nations will go and say, ‘Let us go forth and ascend G-d’s mountain. Let Him teach us His ways, and let us walk in His paths!'” (Isaiah 2:3) and “the wolf will dwell with the lamb“(Isaiah 11: 6).

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Da’at Tevunot 1:8 (# 40 [continued] )

1.

Indeed, “all flaws” like evil, injustice and the like “will be undone once G-d’s Yichud is fully displayed, and everything will be rectified by virtue of the fact that His goodness alone will reign supreme” in the end [1].

But let’s consider the ramifications of that. It means, among other things, that all such flaws are and have always been meant to be “temporary” [2] and to be undone.

2.

It’s explained that they’re derived from the phenomenon known as G-d “hiding His countenance” from the world or an individual: from His not wanting to “reveal His countenance” initially so that the world not be perfected from the first but rather in the end [3].

But it was never G-d’s intention to keep His countenance hidden – He always intended to reveal it eventually and to undo the wrongfulness brought on by it [4]. So He established a structure to accomplish just that: the mitzvah-system. Follow it and you’ll enjoy eternity, we’re assured, the “obscured light” will shine upon you, you’ll “bask in the light of life” [5], and you’ll witness the revelation of G-d’s countenance for yourself.

There are other options, though, if one doesn’t take advantage of that, since G-d’s Yichud will inevitably be made manifest, one way or another. One option is to experience the consequences of one’s own sins [6] and the other is to repent [7].

3.

There’s yet another implication to the fact that G-d’s Yichud will inevitably manifest itself. It’s that free will -– which enables us to decide to either perfect ourselves or not — will be undone, Ramchal points out, at the end of the six-thousand years given humanity to serve G-d [8]. We’ll thus be angelic [9] and freed from the ties of the yetzer hara and everything associated with it.

Indeed, the whole point of manifesting G-d’s rule will be to show just how all-encompassing it has always been. For while life is stormy, and evil and injustice seems to reign without impediment and in full throttle, in the end G-d will be proven to reign supreme.

This in fact is the foundation of our faith as Jews and what has always kept our hearts strong in the long and bitter course of exile — the idea that while wrongdoing and injustice has had the wherewithal to do what it will, it will ultimately be undone and G-d’s Yichud will eventually manifest itself [10].

Footnotes:

[1]         As Ramchal put it elsewhere, “wrongdoing will actually turn back into good … all harm will be rectified, and all evil turned back into actual good … (once) G-d’s Yichud is revealed”.

We’ve grown so used to wrongdoing and injustice that we tend to take it in stride. Children, on the other hand, are flabbergasted by it and say things like, “That’s not fair! It shouldn’t be like that!” They know that wrong is just … wrong and that things shouldn’t be that way. They’ll have been proven to be right when G-d’s goodness and fairness will have full reign — when we sad, weathered adults will have been proven too cynical.

See Klach Pitchei Chochma 4, and refer to R’ Shriki’s thorough treatment of the role and undoing of evil in pp. 314-328 of his edition.

[2]         I.e., a “passing phase”. See 3:20 below.

All wrongdoing will prove to have been nothing other than a straw-man — a huge and daunting artifice apparently given the power to oppose G-d Almighty Himself, but not actually so.

[3]         See Numbers 6:25-26: “May G-d shine His countenance upon you and favor you, (and) may G-d raise His countenance toward you and grant you peace”.

The contrast between G-d’s hiding and revealing His countenance will factor into other phenomena as well, as we’ll see in 1:14 and 3:3 below. Also see Derech Hashem 1:4:10.

[4]         Understand of course that G-d didn’t disclose His Yichud from the first for a good reason: it would have foiled His intentions for us to perfect ourselves, as we’d seen in 1:1:2. So He held Himself back, if you will, and granted us the opportunity to allow Him to reveal His countenance on our own.

[5]         I.e., in G-d’s own light. See Ch. 1 of Messilat Yesharim and Derech Hashem 1:4:10.

[6]         Either in life or afterwards.

[7]         There’s a world of things to be said about these three options (mitzvah-observance, repentance, or retribution) whose implications are vast, but we’ll limit ourselves to the following.

The most important implication is that each and every one of us is sure to experience the Divine up close; no one will be forsaken (see 1:15 below, Adir Bamarom p. 211, and Ramchal’s Peirush HaZohar Reish Mishpatim pp. 277-278). Some of us will come to it willingly while others will come to it “kicking and screaming”, if you will, but all will be accommodated.

[8]         Don’t underestimate the primordial shift involved in the undoing of free will. After all, as Rambam puts it, “the human species is unique in the world and unlike any other (in this way specifically) …. in that man, of his own volition, consciously and with his own mind, can distinguish between good and evil, and can (freely) do whatever he wants to do, either good or evil, without anyone stopping him” (Hilchot Teshuva 5:1); and, “the ability to willfully do either good or bad things at any time is an essential part of our beings” (Sh’mone Perakim Ch. 8). So in a sense, we’ll no longer be human when G-d’s Yichud is revealed; we’ll be “angelic”, as Ramchal words it in our text.

Notice, too, that the necessity for free will was brought up just before this, in 1:7. The point is that, indeed, it will be necessary for the meanwhile, but not forever: like evil, it too will prove to be “temporary”.

[9]         I.e., given that angels don’t have free choice.

[10]      The revelation of G-d’s Yichud will be the instance par excellence of everything falling into place and of all vexing contradictions being solved in one fell swoop undoing all chaos.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

1.

Ramchal had said that everything will eventually play a role in the revelation of G-d’s Yichud — including our having been created flawed, and the reality of sin and wrongdoing. But that begs the question, though, of why flaws like injustice, wrongfulness, and sin exist in a perfect G-d’s world in the first place [1]? Ramchal’s point will be that it all has to do with the makeup of G-d’s Yichud as opposed to His other traits [2].

2.

It comes to this: when we talk about human traits we speak of them in diametrically opposite terms or in shades of gray. We depict people as good, bad, or somewhere in-between; as brilliant, foolish, or in-between, etc. Yet for the most part we can’t really talk about G-d’s traits that way [3]. For, while we can cite His wisdom, for example, we can’t legitimately speak of His “foolishness” or variations in-between; and while we can likewise cite His righteousness we can’t speak of His “wrongfulness” or anything in-between there either. For, as a perfect Being, G-d is wholly wise, righteous, and the like.

We can, though, posit shades of gray when it comes to one of G-d’s traits — His rule [4]. We can acknowledge that His rule is sovereign, or we can cite examples of things that seem to show that it’s limited [5]. This is what sets G-d’s Yichud apart from all of His other traits.

So, in order to prove just how supreme His sovereignty is, G-d first allows for wrongdoing to exist, which seems to show that His rule is limited [6]. And once this possibility exists, G-d could then show that He’s in fact utterly in control of everything by undoing wrongdoing [7]. Wrong, injustice, sin, and the like thus serve a vital and well-intended end which is the unveiling of G-d’s utter sovereignty, and they exist because they serve G-d’s purposes.

In fact, the reality of G-d’s utter sovereignty as opposed to His perceived limitations is central to our religious and ethical life. It allows for free will [8] and for our subsequent reward or punishment [9]. G-d’s Yichud is in fact the most defining of His traits in the world  [10]. All of His other traits are actually subsets of it [11].

In short, G-d purposely allowed for all wrongdoing, injustice, and evil to exist from the first, and He’ll eventually undo all of that, as we’ll see. For, “imperfection had to be allowed to appear at first” Ramchal explains, in order “to allow for it to be undone” in the end.

The revelation of G-d’s Yichud thus not only goes to explain why there’s wrongfulness in the world, it’s also the central theme of all of existence.

Footnotes:

[1]         This question was discussed in 1:2:3 where it was pointed out that the world was created flawed so that we might perfect ourselves and it on our own (see there). But there’ll prove to be a deeper reason for it as we’ll now see.

[2]         Focusing the discussion here on G-d’s “traits” in this chapter is confusing. What’s being referred to here are G-d’s ways of interacting with it, as we’ll see.

[3]         That is, as a rule we really can’t explain G-d’s interactions with us in nuanced terms: He’s wholly this or that.

[4]         I.e., His way of interacting with us as the universal administrator.

[5]         Those who make the five errors discussed in chapter 1:5 do that, as when they speak of G-d working in tandem with some other entity, etc.

[6]         That is, it seems to show that people can thwart His wishes.

In other words, G-d initially interacts with us in a way that seems to indicate that He’s “vulnerable” and less than almighty.

[7]         Which He’ll eventually do, as we’ll see in the next chapter.

The next two themes in the original offer brilliant but decidedly tangential insights into the difference between human thought and G-d’s own, and into the idea that G-d accommodates His actions to our intellectual limitations in order to allow us to grasp something of His ways. Ramchal also discusses the idea that G-d could very well have created an utterly different reality than the one He did — an utterly un-linear one without clear cause and effect, without logical underpinnings. While all of this is astounding to consider and consequential in our understandings of the universe, its still-and-all out of place in the discussion and would draw us away from the vital point at hand.

It’s nonetheless clear that all of this is tangential since Ramchal says “let’s return to the subject at hand” right afterwards. So, we’ll be bypassing that discussion here so as to allow for an easier explanation of the very important an complex point about G-d’s Yichud which is central to Da’at Tevunot and Ramchal’s worldview.

See note 5 to 1:3 above which speaks to much of this when it speaks of the centrality of the idea of G-d’s Yichud in relation to G-d’s “accommodating Himself” to the reality of the world as we know it.)

[8]         After all, if we mistakenly believe that G-d’s reign is limited then we can also mistakenly believe that we can go against His wishes and suffer no consequences.

[9]         As a consequence of our reactions.

[10]      I.e., G-d’s interacting with us initially in a seemingly limited capacity then ultimately in an absolute capacity is in fact the most defining reality of our interactions with Him.

[11]      His sovereignty, we’re reminded here, implies that “no one else (but He) is in control, and (that) no one can oppose Him or thwart His wishes”. It follows then that His other traits like wisdom, which is defined in our text as His ability to “know how to fully and correctly conceive of things”, and His righteousness which is defined here as the capacity to “act (only) beneficially to all”, thus contribute to His ability to reign supreme — and beneficently, which is also His intention, as we were taught in 1:1:3.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Da’at Tevunot 1:6 (# 36 [cont.] – 37)

1.

What believing in G-d’s Yichud — His supreme sovereignty — comes down to is having faith in the fact that nothing whatsoever can thwart Him, as He alone reigns supreme. Among other things that implies that not only is there no opposing deity to Him who controls wrong and injustice, but that in fact He Himself created both good and evil [1].

Unlike the ancient idolaters, we believe that nothing under Him — no “ruler” or “governor” — has command of the world. In point of fact, G-d Himself oversees each and every created entity personally. And nothing comes about without His willing it and bringing it about, as nothing happens by chance or as a consequence of nature or “fate”; everything is on purpose and on target, and G-d’s own idea [2].

We also believe that G-d is the lone Judge over everything celestial as well as the most mundane of things [3]. Since He’s compelled to do nothing, He needn’t even comply with His own edicts and requirements if they disagree with His ultimate will [4]. That’s not to say that He hasn’t granted us the freedom to do what we will [5], yet He can decide to not take our actions into account and to be benevolent to whomever He cares to [6].

That in fact has always been our people’s consolation and has allowed us hope for our ultimate future. For we’ve been taught that G-d will always abide by the vow He made with our ancestors and will never abandon His people despite our failings, and that He will indeed bring on the long awaited redemption when He sees fit. For “He is the L-rd”, as Ramchal reiterates, “so He can do that whenever He wants to”.

And the other point to be made is that no one can oppose G-d, even if he uses the very supernatural or natural mechanisms that G-d set up to challenge Him. For since He allowed for those mechanisms He can undo them all the same or change the “rules” as He wills.

2.

In point of fact, the only reason why we don’t realize all of this viscerally and must accept it on faith is because G-d’s utter sovereignty has been hidden away from us [7]. But there’ll come a time when G-d will openly display His absolute sovereignty, His Yichud. For as Ramchal asserts, it was toward that end alone that G-d established the world and all of its ways [8].

Indeed, everything but everything will prove to have played a role in the great drama of the revelation of G-d’s Yichud in the end. And once it’s revealed, we’ll be able to understand in retrospect the singular role that each and every element of the cosmos en toto has played in that reality. For each thing and every moment will prove to have served as a clue and solution to the great and dazzling fact of G-d’s absolute sovereignty [9] .

And we’ll also learn that our having been created imperfect and having been granted a way to perfect ourselves, of being rewarded, and of drawing closer to G-d in the process will also all prove to be an offshoot of the phenomenon of the revelation of G-d’s Yichud [10].

Footnotes:

[1]         See Isaiah 45:7.

This and the following affirmations are intended to countervail the mistakes cited in 1:5.

[2]         This is what’s referred to as “radical monotheism” — the belief that G-d is the lone cosmic protagonist.

[3]         And that He’s also the sole administrator of His judgments.

[4]         That is, if they disagree with His ultimate goal. For, in G-d’s eyes the ultimate end justifies all means.

[5]         Which would seem to expose us to disobedience. And by the way, free choice will itself be undone in the end: see 1:11 below.

[6]         As it’s said in G-d’s own name, “I will be gracious unto whomever I care to be, even if he isn’t worthy of it” (Berachot 7a). Also see Job 35:6, Jeremiah 50:20, Isaiah 43-25 and 48:11, and Zachariah 3:9, all of which underscore the fact that G-d can undo the rules, so to speak, if He cares to.

Thus, it could be said that rather than enabling humans to possibly rebel, G-d Himself can rebel, if you will, against the very system He has set in place, and do as He will whenever and in whatever instance He cares to. This is once again an indication of the  radical and thorough-going nature of G-d’s sovereignty, His Yichud.

[7]         This harkens back to the point the Soul made in Ramchal’s Introduction that while he accepts certain principles of the religion on faith, he nonetheless doesn’t actually sense them to be true on his own. Ramchal’s point here is that he — and we — will indeed sense the truth of all of them in the end.

[8]         Put plainly, everything is as it is because G-d wanted it to be so, so as to allow for the revelation of His Yichud which is the point of it all.

This revelation will begin in the Messianic Era (see Klach Pitchei Chochma 49) and will conclude in the Great Day of Judgment (Ibid. 79, 87 and Da’at Tevunot 170.)

[9]         Given that, we can now grasp something of the depth and breadth of the eventual revelation of G-d’s Yichud. It will entail an infinite and utterly unearthly series of revelations of the meaning behind and the processes embodied in this world which will go deeper and deeper, wider and wider ad infinitum.

What that means to say is that we’ll each come to understand G-d’s ways in this world on an endlessly more and more profound level. So for example while we might at first understand how we’d been influenced by our parents’ actions and how we’d influenced our own children’s actions in the great course of things (which is no small feat), we’d then perhaps come to realize the role our grandparents played on our beings, and how we’d influenced our own grandchildren’s lives, etc. We might then transcend that too by understanding our parents’ thoughts and motivations, as well as our children’s, etc.; then what instigated those motivations, etc., and so one. And then we’d go past all that to the point where we’d understand G-d’s role in all that by degrees.

[10]      He’s referring to the questions raised back in 1:2:1 about why we were created imperfect to begin with; his assertion here is that that, too, will become manifest once G-d’s Yichud is revealed.

There very are many references to the fact, centrality, implications and revelation of G-d’s Yichud in Ramchal’s writing. See for example Klach Pitchei Chochma  1, 4, 16, 30, 39, 47-49, 79-80, 92, 113, and 138., Adir Bamarom pp. 197-199, 210, 225-227, Ma’amar Sod HaYichud, etc.

Refer to the following for discussions of G-d’s Yichud in Ramchal’s thoughts: R’ Shriki’s Rechev Yisrael pp. 167-228 and his essay HaYichud in his edition of Da’at Tevunot pp. 61-66; R’ Yoseph Avivi’s Zohar Ramchal pp. 178-191, 213-216; and R’ Friedlander’s edition of Klach Pitchei Chochma pp. 35-37.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Da’at Tevunot 1:4 (# 34 continued to end)

1.

As we’d indicated, the single thread that runs through the long course of history from beginning to end will prove to be the fact that G-d reigns over absolutely everything.

In point of fact, G-d’s sovereignty, know as His Yichud, is the only trait of His that we humans can fathom. For, while He is accessible to the heart and soul, and whereas we know a lot about Him from Torah, Tradition, and from logic, G-d Himself is utterly inaccessible to the mind.

So when reflecting on His perfection we might for example understand that G-d is wise, yet  we nonetheless can’t fathom the actual makeup of His wisdom; and though we can certainly follow that He’s omniscient, we nonetheless can’t grasp His actual omniscience; and the like. As our sages put it, “You (G-d) are wise, but not with a discernable kind of wisdom. You understand, but not with a discernable kind of understanding” (Tikkunei Zohar, 2nd Introduction) [1].

In fact, we’re not only not able to fathom those other traits, we’re actually warned not to even try. As it’s said, “Do not search out what is too wondrous for you, and do not delve into what is hidden from you” (Chagigah 13a), and “if your heart flees there …” i.e., to an idea that’s utterly beyond your mortal mind, then ”return to your place”, your own experience, instead (Sefer Yetzirah 1:8).

But while that’s true of abstract ideas about Him, nevertheless as the psalmist put it so effulgently, when one catches sight of G-d’s presence and sovereignty in the world he can “taste and see that G-d is good” (Psalm 34:8) — that He’s here in our world and holds sway over all of it.

2.

But Ramchal’s point is that not only can we discern G-d’s utter sovereignty now to a degree, it’s also true that it will become perfectly clear to us in fact in the end.

As such we’re actually charged by the Torah again and again to detect G-d’s sovereignty and to internalize its veracity, to the point where it’s unquestionable to us [2]. As it’s written, “Know this day and reflect upon it in your heart” again and again “that the L-rd He is G-d in heaven above and upon the earth below”, i.e., that He reigns supreme in all realms, and that “there is none else” who does (Deuteronomy 4:39). In point of fact, all of our people’s hopes and dreams as well as all the promises made to us about our ultimate redemption [3] hinge on G-d displaying His utter sovereignty — His Yichud — in the future.

We’ll discuss this all in more detail in the next few chapters; at this point, though, let’s just present the various verses that allude to this phenomenon.

G-d Himself expressed it in these terms: “I am He! There is no G-d with Me! I alone bring on death and bring on life; I alone wound and heal“(Deuteronomy 32:39); “I am He; before Me no ‘god’ was formed and after Me none shall be. I (alone) I am the L-rd, and aside from Me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:10-11); “I am the first and I am the last; there is no G-d beside Me“(Isaiah 44:6); and “Know … that there is none beside Me. I am G-d, no one else. I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I, G-d, do all these things“ (Isaiah 45:6-7) [4].

As the prophets Isaiah and Zechariah depicted it, “G-d alone will be exalted on that day“(Isaiah 2:11) — the day He reveals His Yichud — when, “G-d will (prove to) be king over all the earth. And … G-d and His name”, i.e., G-d and His reputation as sovereign of the universe, “will be one and the same“(Zechariah 14:9). And as it’s said “Hear O Israel! G-d our L-rd is the L-rd (i.e., His reign is sovereign) (Deuteronomy 6:4).

The point of the matter is that G-d alone reigns supreme — and that while there are undoubtedly other entities with wills of their own, ourselves included, in fact G-d alone will always have “the last word” so to speak; His Will will prove to reign supreme [5].

3.

In the end we’ll find that the whole slow, boundless, panoramic consideration of past, present and the promised future which we’ll be offered in this work will ultimately have us realize the fact of G-d’s Yichud.

And once we know that, we’ll be able to not only “know therefore this day” the truth of G-d’s absolute sovereignty in theory — we will have “reflect(ed) upon it in (our) heart”, and we’ll be able to realize on our own that “G-d alone is L-rd of Heaven above and of earth below — none other” (see Deuteronomy 4:39), despite the whirligig of earthly circumstances that seem to refute that.

Footnotes:

[1]         That’s because those and other such Divine traits are rooted in abstract notions about Him and about G-d’s inner being, while G-d’s sovereignty — His overarching command of everything in the universe — will manifest itself in the universe in the end.

[2]         Understand that most of us simply don’t sense G-d’s utter sovereignty. Even people of faith who assume that G-d certainly reigns in this world don’t actually assume He reigns supremely. And that’s because they presume that He Himself is subject and subservient to a number of cosmic laws and limitations (which Ramchal will discuss later on), and that His sovereignty can be thwarted, but that’s not true.

[3]         This refers to the Messianic Era, the resurrection of the dead, the great day of judgment, and the World to Come.

[4]         Great Mussar masters like R’ Yisrael Salanter, and R’ Yosef Zundel his teacher would counsel us to repeat Torah verses that speak to a trait one would like to foster in himself much the way that we in modernity speak of affirming certain insights we’d like to internalize by repeating them over and over again to himself. In that same spirit it would certainly do us all well to recite these statements about G-d’s utter sovereignty to affirm its reality to ourselves.

[5]         But haven’t we been granted free will which presupposes that one can thwart G-d’s will, which would suggest that His will and reign are not sovereign? And aren’t there forces for evil and sin in the world that seem to foil His will — and His benevolence cited earlier on — too? Suffice it to say that this will all be discussed later on.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Da’at Tevunot 1:2 (#’s 20-31)

1.

Now that we know that G-d wants us to perfect both ourselves and the universe we’ll need to unravel this next series of mysteries: just how are we imperfect and what are the consequences of that? What is human perfection in fact, and how does achieving it perfect all of creation? How do we come to it and what are its consequences [1]?

Well, there are Torah verses and quotes from our sages  we can cull from and some conclusions we can arrive at logically  to depict what perfection would be like. So we’d do well to use them to contrast perfection with, and to understand our current imperfection.

But Ramchal first indicates that in general perfection comes to “attaching oneself onto G-d’s holy presence [2], and to delighting in the act of grasping His glory without any of the impediments” [3]. He acknowledges that “we don’t really have the ability to understand just what this ‘attaching’ and ‘grasping’ is all about” at this point of our development, that is, “as long as we’re imperfect” [4]. But we’ve been granted allusions to it, as we’ll see.

2.

This phenomenon is depicted in the following verses: “Then you will delight in the L-rd, and I will have you ride on the heights of the earth” (Isaiah 58:14), “The upright will dwell in Your presence” (Psalms 140:13), and “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psalms 16:11). It’s spoken of in the Talmudic statement that “In the World to Come there will be neither eating nor drinking, nor procreation or business transactions, nor envy or hatred or rivalry; but the righteous will sit enthroned (there) with crowns on their heads, enjoying the luster of the Divine presence” (Berachot 17a). And it can be derived from the fact that like all things that yearn to return to their source, the soul likewise yearns to return its source, G-d Himself, and that achieving that would be perfection [5].

Nonetheless as long as we don’t yet cleave onto G-d’s presence and grasp His being we’re imperfect, and the fact remains that we were indeed created to achieve that and have been charged by G-d to set out to do it [6]. But there are a couple of other things we’d need to understand now that are rather mystifying before we can go forward.

3.

First off, it’s clear that G-d could have created us and the universe as utterly perfect to begin with, so why didn’t He? In fact we’d have expected Him to have, given His omnipotence [7]. The answer, we’re taught, lies in the fact that rather than create worlds and things in accordance with His own needs and abilities, G-d created them to fit ours.

As such, G-d could be said to have purposefully “held Himself back”, if you will; to have stifled His infinite ability to create perfectly when He formed the universe and ourselves. So, He didn’t create us as perfect to begin with simply because He deemed it necessary for us to perfect ourselves (and the universe with us) by ourselves. And that was so that we’d be able to achieve His goal that we be self-actualized [8].

Another legitimate question we could then ask is this: Given that we’re indeed imperfect, what then can we draw upon to perfect ourselves [9]? We’ll have to wait till we can answer that one, though [10].

Footnotes:

[1]         These themes will be expanded on later on in the book.

[2]         See Derech Hashem 1:2:3 and Messilat Yesharim Ch. 1.

[3]         There are thus two aspects to this: first “attaching oneself onto G-d’s holy presence” itself which is followed by the experience of “delighting in the act of grasping His glory without any of the impediments”. But the latter aspect would seem to suggest a certain detachment from G-d — a stepping back in order to fully assess on one’s own his grasp of His glory — while the suggestion has always been that we’d enjoy an eternal attachment.

It seems the implication is that one would first enjoy the utterly unfathomable state of adhesion on to G-d’s very being due him, but then he’d pull back to realize that it was he himself who was experiencing that as his reward for all of his efforts and service to G-d, and that he’d then adhere once again ad infinitum.

[4]         Much the way a four year old couldn’t be expected to fathom being forty.

After all, how could a mortal being subject to the exigencies of space and time ever fathom being attached on to and experiencing G-d Himself?

[5]         That’s to say that the perfection we’re capable of achieving is the state in which we’d dwell and delight in G-d’s lustrous presence joyfully as we soar above all human concerns, don regal “crowns”, and realize our dream of returning to G-d.

The idea that all things naturally yearn to return to their “source” is classical. It was used for example by the ancients to explain why fire flickers upward — to return to the source of fire in the heavens, etc.

While that concept no longer rings true to those of us with a scientific background, the basic notion behind it is still valid on a human level and helps to explain many things, including why children cling to their mothers, why individuals tend to stay close to their people or are drawn to others from their hometown or alma mater, why our minds and imaginations often draw upon archetypical ideas and longings, why people often regress into childhood patterns when they grow old, and most significantly (as Ramchal indicates) why we would want to draw close to G-d.

This model is in fact found in many Kabalistic works, including but certainly not limited to Leshem Shevo v’Achlamah which states that “the goal of everything is to return to its Exalted Source” (Chelek HaBiurim 1, p. 83), and that “a lower light always longs to rise upward and to attach itself up above, so as to garner more and more light and blessings from the Infinite Light on high” (Ibid. 2, p. 14).

[6]         Thus to answer the questions raised at the top as to what’s imperfect about us that needs to be rectified — it’s our disconnection from G-d; the consequences of that are our sinfulness as well as our toxic sense of purposelessness; and the consequences of our actually perfecting ourselves would be the sort of unalloyed joy that comes upon the soul when it realizes its full potential.

[7]         That is, would Almighty G-d have been expected to do anything less than perfectly? It follows that His having created an imperfect world was on purpose. And we can extrapolate from there that everything G-d does is purposeful and premeditated, which is an axiom of faith and trust in G-d’s being and actions.

[8]         This too refers to the Kabbalistic concept of Tzimtzum (see note 7 to 1:1 above).

[9]         This won’t be fully explained until Section Two below.

[10]      So, to sum up the last chapter and this one, we learn that G-d calls upon us to perfect ourselves and the universe at large, and that we’re to be richly rewarded for doing that; that the reward in fact will be an experience of G-d Himself, which we sorely lack now; that G-d purposely fashioned us and the entire universe to accommodate our mission; and that there’s something within us that allows for so bold and otherworldly a phenomenon.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.