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Da’at Tevunot 2:9 (# 85 – 86)

1.

The idea that G-d’s manifest presence is epitomized by our souls while His hiddeness is epitomized by our bodies is clear enough. And the one that G-d’s interactions with the world are epitomized by the fact that body and soul are interlinked is clear enough, too. But where can we actually catch sight of the body and soul’s interactions, as we were told we’d need to concentrate on as well?

2.

Ramchal’s point is that there’s actually a plane upon which our body and soul manifestly function together, and that’s our facial complexion 1.

After all, aren’t the dead and the living differentiated by their complexions 2? Can’t we tell when a person is ill or not by his complexion? And don’t our feelings and deepest thoughts manifest themselves on our complexions — as when we smile, frown, seem pleasant, etc.?

In point of fact, the complexion is the property of neither our body nor soul alone. For the body couldn’t manifest a complexion without a soul nor can the soul manifest one without a body. Hence, our complexion is truly a product of the union of the two 3.

And we dare not belittle the complexion, as it touches upon a very important phenomenon 4.

3.

When they envisioned things, the prophets drew an analogy between what they “saw” and He who fashioned it, as when they saw images of G-d’s presence (or absence) playing themselves out in various ways: as when G-d exhibited Himself as a warrior, for example, as a merciful elder and the like, as our sages explained (Chagigah 14a).

For the prophet would envision something and then ruminate upon it so as to try to understand what that vision said about G-d’s hiddenness or revelation, or the combination of the two.

So for example a prophet might envision “the appearance of a man up above” (Ezekiel 1:26) with a body and a soul, and a complexion expressing the combination of the two that perhaps expresses cordiality, gladness, anger, or the like. The prophet would then use that “information” to figure out what G-d was about to do in the world, whether He was about to exhibit His benevolence or judgment, His closeness or distance 5.

So, just as a sensitive individual can catch sight of another’s soul by the effect it has on that person’s face, a prophet could likewise “catch sight” of G-d’s intentions and feelings by the effect it has on His “face” in a vision 6.

Footnotes:

1 Ramchal refers to the “face’s radiance” in the text, which is an odd turn of phrase. But as we indicate, the phenomenon he’s depicting is what we term our “complexion” or “skin tone” which is the surface upon which our emotions, etc. appear (as when we blush, glow with pride, and the like).
2 I.e., Aren’t the living full of coloration and the dead pale and waxy looking?
3 The ancient mystical study of the human face and its tell-tale signs termed “physiognomy” (which is not actually the subject under discussion) is discussed at length in that section of the Zohar known as Raza d’Razin at 2:70a–75a, as well as in Zohar Chadash 56c–60a. The Ari was especially able to read souls through marks on a person’s forehead.
4 Ramchal is referring to the point he’ll be making below about prophets and their visions, but he’s also alluding to a number of Kabbalistic concepts.

At bottom, it has to do with the phenomena we cited in note 1 to 1:15 and at the end of note 6 to 2:1. And it refers to the fact that the mere “Trace” of G-dliness left behind after the Tzimtzum, which represents the body and G-d’s hiddenness, then interacts with the “Line” introduced afterwards, which represents the soul and G-d’s manifest presence, upon the “Face” and “complexion” of Adam Kadmon, which then expresses things about G-d’s “feelings” and will.

The underlying point is that what happens here, in our realm, happens upon the uppermost realms, too, albeit on a whole other order of circumstance. For Man is said to be an olam katan, a miniature version — a microcosm — of the entire universe. Each element of the universe is said to correspond to an element of man and vice versa. See Avot d’Rebbi Natan (31, 92), Chovot Halevovot (2:4) and elsewhere for illustrations.

So by reflecting deeply and sensitively on the structure and makeup of humankind we can come to understand something about the interplay of body and soul, and we’ll also come to catch sight of some of the interactions between G-d and the world.

5 In other words, if a prophet envisioned G-d’s “face” as bright and shiny he’d understand that G-d was pleased with His people and was openly drawing closer to them; whereas if he envisioned G-d’s “face” as dark and murky the prophet would then understand that G-d was unhappy with His people and was hiding from them.
6 See Klach Pitchei Chochma 31, as well as Ramchal’s Biurim L’Sefer Otzrot Chaim.
c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.
He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.

Da’at Tevunot 2:8 (# 82 – 84)

1.

We’ll soon touch on the epochs of time that the body and soul will experience together that we’d just alluded to ¹. But we’d have to focus on something else beforehand.

Ramchal makes the point that the world is so stunningly awash in systems and processes that it’s hard for us mortal souls to capture it all. Didn’t the psalmist say, “You have done great things — You, O L-rd my G-d! Your wonders and Your thoughts are … too numerous to tell of” (Psalms 40:6); “How great are Your works, O L-rd! Your thoughts (alone) are very deep” (Ibid. 92:6), and, “How great are Your works, O L-rd! You have fashioned them all with wisdom; the (whole) world is full of Your possessions!” (Ibid. 104:24).

So he says that it would be best for us to speak of things in broad rather than in narrow and specific terms in order to be able to grasp this topic — or just about anything. After all, there are only so many broad categories, and while we can’t contend with a lot of specifics we can easily grasp the broad generalizations they fall under.

Indeed, our sages said that we’re to “always lay Torah concepts out in broad terms rather than in specific ones” (Sifrei, Ha’azinu 32:2) ².

2.

In any event, let’s recall that G-d’s hiding or revealing His presence are the very root causes of the body and soul respectively. So we’d need to dwell upon those two phenomena if we’re ever going to truly understand the makeup of the body and soul.

For in fact these two phenomena play themselves out everywhere, with G-d’s presence being alternatively hidden and manifest, manifest and hidden, at one at the same time, as we’d already indicated ³. We’d also need to discuss the consequences of the combination of the two, and the predominance of one over the other.

We’d thus need to concentrate on three ultimate realities and events: G-d’s hiddeness versus His revelation of Himself, the reality of their functioning simultaneously, and the consequences of that combination as well as of the predominance of one over the other.

Footnotes:

¹                As we’ll see, they include the sixth millennium (which we’re in the course of now, and only 200 some odd years away from completing at this point) and the more esoteric seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth millennia to come. The body and soul will interact in different ways in the course of each.

²                Ramchal always favored short, over-arching statements to close depictions of details. See his introduction to Derech Hashem and his letter 39 in the Yarim Moshe edition.

³                See 1:17 above

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.

He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.

Da’at Tevunot 2:7 (# 80 [middle) – 81)

1.

The idea just discussed that the body models one thing about G-d while the soul models another was best explained by a quote from the Zohar (3:257b) ¹. The Zohar there also addresses the point we’d made early on that while we attribute many traits to G-d, those traits don’t depict G-d Himself but rather what He does when He interacts with us ².

So it would do us well to address both of these things, then go on to relate them to the body and soul. The Zohar there also underscores the fact that the soul’s perfection alludes to G-d’s own perfection just as its unknowable nature alludes to G-d’s own unknowable nature.  So, we’ll touch upon that, too.

2.

Let it first be said that the traits that G-d exhibits here weren’t formed ad hoc when the world was created. For nothing about G-d ever suddenly appears out of the blue. G-d in fact always had the ability to manifest those traits within His being ³. It’s just that there came to be a point when one trait or another was appropriate to what was happening in the world and needed to be “called upon” just then, if you will.

3.

Now, the truth be known, we can’t even refer to G-d by a name, let alone depict Him ⁴. We call Him “G-d” in order to refer to Him, to be sure, but that’s not His actual name since we can only apply a name to something or someone that we can grasp, and we simply can’t grasp G-d. Also because a name defines whomever or whatever it refers to, and G-d Himself can’t be defined ⁵.

We likewise can’t attribute traits to something we can’t define or comprehend. And yet we seem to comprehend certain things about G-d, don’t we?

The point of the matter is that we comprehend what He does when He interacts with us, as when He seemingly exhibits compassion, governance, and the like. So we use those terms to depict Him even though those depictions don’t befit G-d Himself. But we only do that because He allowed us to.

We can now better understand something of the makeup of the body and soul, given all of this.

4.

As we know, the body is comprised of various component parts with distinctive functions ⁶ while the soul is a single, indivisible entity that’s utterly unlike the body ⁷.

And yet the soul lies behind the body’s functions. It’s what hears with the body’s ears, sees with the body’s eyes, and the like, even though the soul itself is beyond such things ⁸.  As such, the soul functions within the body’s components ⁹ and since the soul uses these component parts to do what it does, it’s somehow associated with those functions.

This contrast between the soul’s actual makeup and its functions in the body, then, is analogous to G-d’s makeup and His use of the traits attributed to Him when He interacts with the world.

For, even though He Himself is utterly removed from such traits, He nonetheless wants them to be attributed to Him. And so by virtue of the fact that He uses those traits to function in this world, He’s said to have those traits when He really doesn’t and He hasn’t any inherent connection to them ¹⁰.

We’ll soon see how this discrepancy between G-d’s being and His functions in the world also helps us to understand the relationship between the body and the soul, which itself will explain the human situation at all junctures ¹¹.

Footnotes:

¹                This theme will prove to be the thrust of this chapter, but that won’t become clear until the end since a number of other points will need to be made. That makes the chapter difficult, but keeping this idea in mind will help us to understand it. See footnote 10 below.

Ramchal explained this citation from the Zohar in a number of his works including Haga’aot Otzrot Chaim 9, Klach Pitchei Chochma 27, 29, and Iggerot Pitchei Chochma V’Da’at. Also see Eitz Chaim 1:1.

²                See 1:12 above where many of the very same points made here are first offered. The difference will lie in the fact that this idea is tied in here with the relationship between the soul and G-d’s interactions with the world.

³                So they could be said to lie latent somewhere deep in the Upper Reaches somehow, but not manifest.

⁴                The English term “G-d” itself, incidentally, is said to be derived from the Proto-Indo-European term for “that which is invoked” or prayed to, which thus refers to what G-d does rather than what He is.

⁵                This is a stunning statement, since we attribute many names to G-d and call out to Him by those names in our prayers to Him and the like. But the truth of the matter is that the four-letter name of Y-H-V-H referred to in the Torah which is said to be His “definitive name” (as opposed to E-L-O-H-I-M and the like which refer to His traits) only serves to depict His immortality (i.e., it contains the Hebrew words for “was”, “is”, and “will be”).     And, as the Kabbalists explain, the four letters of that name themselves actually stand for certain phenomena that function in creation and afterwards and the like, and have nothing directly to say about G-d Himself. But all of this is beyond the subject at hand.

⁶                And those various functions are analogous to the different depictions of G-d, as we’ll see.

⁷                The soul’s oneness is analogous to G-d’s own oneness which is utterly unfathomable.

⁸                Just like G-d’s own being is behind every trait that He exhibits in the world even though He’s beyond it.

⁹                Just as G-d, who is unlike anything in this world, functions within it by means of various traits.

¹⁰              This is the gist of what Ramchal is saying here. We already know that the body models one thing about G-d while the soul models another, as we indicated in footnote 1 above. He’s saying here that that theme also plays itself out in the difference between G-d’s essence and His role in the world and the soul’s.

For, just as the soul is unknowable, singular and beyond the doings of the world, G-d is likewise unknowable, singular and beyond the doings of the world. Yet both G-d and the soul interact with the world. The point is that just as the soul only “uses” the body’s many and variable parts to interact with the world even though it’s removed from those body parts by nature, G-d likewise “uses” or exhibits many and variable traits to interact with the world even though in His essence He’s removed from the world. So we see that the body models G-d’s ways when He interacts with the world while the soul models His ways when He doesn’t interact with the world.

¹¹              This alludes to the five junctures of time to be discussed in 2:10 below.

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.

He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.

Da’at Tevunot 2:6 (# 80 [beg. – middle])

1.

Ramchal reveals an important insight here — that this principle of G-d’s alternately concealing or revealing His presence explains many things about our body and soul. And conversely that our body and soul explain many things about G-d’s hiddenness or revelation, too, since they’re all interrelated ¹.

As such we’re told that not only is the body a product of G-d’s hiddenness, it also serves as a model of it, just as the soul serves as a model of G-d’s presence. And G-d’s concealing or revealing His presence also explains many things about ourselves, given that we were all created in G-d’s “image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26) ² and we reflect all of His ways in our makeup.

So, let’s see how this works.

2.

As we’ve explained before, the body is rooted in darkness ³. In fact, even if you’d purify your body as much as you possibly could it would never be a soul, since the soul is a lofty and illuminated product of G-d’s presence while the body is simply not ⁴. The body is rooted in G-d’s hiddenness. Indeed, the body could only be purified to the point where body and soul nearly touch, but no further ⁵. For, your soul will always be a soul and a perfect entity, while your body will always be imperfect, no matter how much you purify it ⁶.

It’s also obviously true that your body is comprised of a large number of parts with specific functions: with eyes to see with, for example, ears to hear with, etc. But that’s not true of your soul. All of your soul’s “parts” ⁷ are merged together rather than separate. And that’s connected to the body’s being a product of G-d’s hiddenness and the soul being a product of G-d’s presence ⁸.

Now, this is all rooted in a well-known principle that perfection ⁹ is rooted in oneness ¹⁰ and can’t be disproportionate ¹¹. But there are times — when G-d’s presence is hidden — that He doesn’t want perfection to be in place, as when He allows for reward or punishment ¹² for example. And when He sees to it that there are instances of multiplicity and disproportion ¹³ in the world ¹⁴.

3.

This paradigm also manifests itself in our having been created in G-d’s image, as cited above. Let’s see how.

Our body-parts correspond to the traits that G-d uses to interact with the world. And so our eyes correspond to the “eyes” that G-d observes and judges us with, our ears correspond to the “ears” that He listens to our prayers with, and our mouths correspond to the “mouth” that G-d uses to converse with, etc., as all of our body-parts correspond on some level to G-d’s traits in this world.

The fact that we’re comprised of a left and right side for our eyes, ears, hands, feet, etc. corresponds to G-d’s ways of interacting with us with either His “right”, loving side or His “left”, critical side ¹⁵, which He displays when His presence isn’t manifest ¹⁶.

It’s also true that just as our body-parts are differentiated by function, our experiences in this world are likewise all different from each other, as a consequence of G-d’s hiddenness. Whereas perfection, which is rooted in oneness as we said and in G-d’s presence, would undo all shortcomings, it wouldn’t be comprised of various parts, and it would see to it that everything achieves perfection ¹⁷.

4.

In any event, know that at bottom, the point is to have the soul take command of the body and purify it so that G-d might manifest His perfection here on earth and to rectify all of the world’s imperfections.

The body would then suffer judgment for having taken command of our souls, for having contributed to G-d’s hiddenness and for leaving humankind and the world to suffer all of the vicissitudes and upheavals that define the human situation.

So the body is equipped with all the parts it needs to contend with such vagaries and for the environment in which perfection is hidden away, and also to help bring perfection about. While the soul on the other hand has what it needs for perfection and in order to rectify each imperfection, so that it might be encouraged to do all of that – if only we’d improve our ways and allow the soul to reign ¹⁸.

Footnotes:

¹                See Clallim Rishonim 23, “V’ha’pen hasheini hu”; and Klach Pitchei Chochma 4, end of perush, “shehanivraim atzmam”; and 9, perush, “ach yesh metziut achas”.

²                This will be reiterated below. But refer to the following works on this vital concept: Kuzari 4:3; Moreh Nevuchim 1:1; Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 4:8, Hilchot Teshuva 10:6; Siach Yitzchak, Likkutim, p. 286; Nephesh Hachaim 1:3; Michtav M’Eliyahu 1, p. 32; Derech Hachaim 3:14; Zohar Chadash 1:28b, etc.

³                 I.e., in the fact that G-d’s shining countenance is hidden from it. See 2:5:2 above.

⁴                Even though we said above in footnote 6 to 2:1 that body and soul actually derive from the same root, it’s still and all true that that reality changes once the two are manifested in the world.

⁵                According to R’ Yoseph Spinner, some older manuscripts eliminate what’s said from this point in our text all the way to the beginning of section 4 below. That of course disallows for much of this chapter’s insights, but it also does away with a lot of its obscurity and wordiness, which makes it so difficult to understand. (It’s unclear, though, whether Ramchal edited out the extra text or added it in later.)

Moving the text in question to these notes and explaining it with bracketed comments would have helped clarify things and made the text itself easier to read, but we decided against that simply because all of the existing versions of Da’at Tevunot include the text in question.

⁶                     This is an instance of our body and soul modeling G-d’s hiddenness or presence.

⁷                     I.e., all of its inchoate elements, functions, and gradations of holiness.

⁸                     This is another instance of our body and soul model G-d’s hiddenness or presence.

⁹                     … which is also a product of G-d’s presence just as the soul is…

¹⁰                  I.e., in a single, sheer cohesive entity without differentiations.

¹¹                See Clallim Rishonim 6.

Interestingly, Ramchal is thus defining “perfection” here as an instance of amalgamation and of flawless proportion. A “perfect person” would thus be someone who’s consistent in his or her righteousness and would be an example of Rambam’s temperate, righteous personality (see Ch. 4 of Sh’mone Perakim).

¹²               For the sake of free choice in an imperfect world.

The other point is that since there’d only be goodness and reward if G-d’s presence were to be manifest; instances of reward or punishment thus only come about when His presence is hidden.

¹³              … which are instances of plurality and imperfection …

¹⁴                This is an instance of G-d’s hiddenness or presence manifesting itself in the world.

¹⁵                                See the second introduction to Tikkunei Zohar, Zohar 1:109b.

¹⁶                Thus is an instance of our body being a model of G-d’s hiddenness or presence.

¹⁷                  This is another instance of G-d’s hiddenness or presence manifesting itself in our body and souls.

¹⁸                  And this all is a vision of our overcoming G-d’s hiddenness and having Him

manifest His presence in the world, which is our life’s purpose.

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.

He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.

Da’at Tevunot 2:5 (# 76 – 79)

1.

Having spoken about the interplay of body and soul in various realms ¹ we’ll now concentrate on them in conjunction with G-d’s ways in the world.

Now, all-in-all, there are physical phenomena and spiritual ones, Ramchal reminds us. The spiritual ones are far superior to the physical, in that while the physical subsist on a minimum amount of Divine illumination and in over-all scarcity, the spiritual are showered in a great deal of Divine illumination and in abundance ². Also, whereas the spiritual with all of their Divine illumination and abundance are rooted in G-d’s manifest benevolence, the physical with their minimum amount of Divine illumination and their scarcity are rooted in G-d’s more covert benevolence ³. And while spiritual phenomena are rooted in holiness, physical ones are rooted in the mundane and in crassness ⁴. That explains why, given that we’re physical beings, most of our concerns are enmeshed in the physical and are frankly nonsensical and beneath us.

The reality behind this lies in the fact that hazy, dark physicality is a consequence of G-d hiding His countenance rather than manifesting it outright, while spirituality is a consequence of G-d shining His countenance, luminance, and holiness. For, at bottom G-d interacts with us by either concealing or manifesting His countenance ⁵.

But that pattern isn’t only true of how G-d interacts with the body and soul; it also serves as the model for the way material, body-related phenomena and spiritual, soul-related ones came about. For the crasser, turbid physical phenomena came about as a result of G-d having hidden His countenance from the first, while the more laudable spiritual ones came about in the light of His countenance ⁶.

2.

Now, we can either rectify the world or can ourselves be rectified within it through our Divine service ⁷. But the truth is that we can either have our physicality and its consequences hold sway over us, or allow our spirituality and its consequences to. If we follow our bodily inclinations rather than the dictates of the soul we’ll suffer all sorts of harm, whereas if we overcome our physical inclinations and rise above all of its nonsense by following the ways of the Torah instead, then the soul will indeed rule over and purify the body. And we will have rectified the world and ourselves ⁸.

We’ve all, in fact, seen how things are in this world, and we know only too well how quickly things come and go, and how preoccupied we all are with this and that. What’s apparently driving so much of what we do? Things like the desire to eat and drink, and all sorts of ephemera, at bottom. Can it be that we were created for that alone? No indeed: we were created to grasp G-d’s being ⁹, and to attain knowledge and wisdom rather than to be preoccupied with more and more material and baseless things.

Humanity has indeed debased itself and brought a lot of its own harm upon itself, and it has become more and more sullied through the ages. For while our ancestors were far wiser than we and more sharp witted, we’ve become fixated on physicality and materiality. How tragic is that, given that G-d has only created such things by turning His countenance away from them, as we’d said.

Is it surprising, then, how so roiled in darkness physical things are as opposed to things related to the soul, which derive their being from G-d’s full countenance and abundance? Indeed, if one allows his body to reign, G-d will correspondingly hide His countenance from him, and that person will be very far from G-d Himself, from wisdom and knowledge, and he’ll find himself engulfed in sheer physicality and the ephemeral ¹⁰.

3.

None of this is new, to say the least: Adam and Eve experienced a degree of this struggle themselves. As soon as they allowed their eyes and its blandishments to rule over them they experienced G-d’s hiddenness and were forced to depend on their own devices. As it’s written, “You’ll eat bread by the sweat of your brow” (Genesis 3:9) ¹¹, and it’s said of us, “All of a person’s toil is for his mouth, and yet his soul is not satisfied” (Ecclesiastes 6:7) ¹². Indeed, we grow more and more foolish as time passes.

There’s a rule of thumb that touches upon this that would serve us well to know. It’s that the narrower your purview is, the crasser are your thoughts and desires. After all, isn’t it true that children ¹³ have no concern or longing for the pursuit of wisdom. Indeed, they fly out of school as soon as the day’s over without giving a thought to important things. But it’s also true that as a person’s mind grows and his purview expands he longs for finer and more spiritual things. And that goes far to explain our circumstances.

Indeed, this truism is rooted in Adam and Eve’s sin, as a consequence of which we’ve all become preoccupied with nonsense. That was rectified for a while when we received the Torah ¹⁴, but humanity’s low status was reinstated when our people worshipped the Golden Calf and committed other sins. As a consequence, the world has been thrust into darkness.

Things would be otherwise if we’d only allow our souls to rule over our bodies. G-d would shine His countenance upon us then and we could reach the heights that the Holy Seraphim angels are on, as we’ll come to when G-d will pour His “spirit upon all flesh” (Joel 3:1).

All that has varied in the course of history, of course, with people being on a higher or lower levels than others and vice versa. But at bottom the point is that when there were people of higher caliber G-d’s countenance shone upon them and the world itself.

In any event, once we understand the makeup of the body and the soul and their roots in G-d’s either manifesting His countenance or hiding it which affects all of this, we’ll come to recognize how G-d interacts with the world both benevolently and otherwise. We’ll acknowledge the great wisdom involved in this, and come to understand how fundamental this is both to the human condition and to the functioning of the universe.

Footnotes:

¹                See 2:1-4 in connection with this world, the afterlife, the resurrection of the dead, and the world to come.

²                See note 7 to 1:14 above about the mechanism behind G-d’s emanation of light.

³                I.e., in His hiding His countenance, as we’ll see below.

One thing to be derived from this, though, is that while there’s little Divine illumination and scarce signs of Divine benevolence in physicality, there’s some and sometimes even more than just some, otherwise it couldn’t exist because G-d wouldn’t want it to.

⁴                See Derech Hashem 1:3:2 about the contrasts between body and soul.

⁵                G-d actually interacts with us by both concealing and revealing His countenance by degrees, instant by instant.

See 1:8:2 above as well as note 3 there, and 1:14:3 for reference to G-d’s hiding and revealing His countenance. Also see Clallim Rishonim 16.

⁶                That’s to say that G-d created the spiritual realm full-facedly and lovingly while He allowed the physical to exist, to be sure, but “back-handedly”, if you will. For, while physicality certainly serves His purposes it also seems to countervail them.

⁷                Or neither may come about, as we’ll soon see. Ramchal’s point is that we’re both major actors in the course of G-d’s plans as well as beneficiaries of it, or neither, depending on our moral decisions and actions.

⁸                Much of what’s said above about the relative worth of body and soul, human and universal rectification, and the affects our actions have upon the world is reiterated elegantly in the first chapter of Messilat Yesharim.

⁹                So little is said about this point that this stark citation of it is stunning and memorable.

¹⁰              We made the point in note 7 to 2:4 that a lot wasn’t being said there about the subject at hand, and that’s also very true here. For, as it’s indicated in 1:15, 17, G-d will ultimately reveal His countenance to all and forever. Ramchal’s whole aim here, then, is to move us to goodness and teshuva rather than offer an opposing metaphysical viewpoint.

¹¹              That is, you’ll have to work for your food because G-d will leave you to fend for yourselves by turning His countenance from you because you sinned against Him.

¹²              That is, we all work hard for our food and are dissatisfied because we’ve separated ourselves from G-d in the process.

¹³              … whose purviews are narrow …

¹⁴              When we were temporarily placed once again on the high pedestal that Adam and Eve had been on before their sin.

Preview of Da’at Tevunot 2:5 (# 76 – 79)

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.

He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.

Da’at Tevunot 2:4 (# 72 [cont.] – 75)

What enable the soul to purify the body are the soul’s native power, inner incandescence, and the loftiness of its source ¹. So great is all that, in fact, that the soul could actually instantaneously elevate and perfect the body when we’re born. But we’d lose our yetzer hara and free will accordingly, and be angelic and full of light and the knowledge of G-d from the first, which are not G-d’s intentions.

Indeed there’ll come a time when “the land will be as full of the knowledge of G-d as water covers the sea-bed” (Isaiah 11:9), when “I will take away (your) heart of stone … and give you a heart of flesh (instead)” ² (Ezekiel 36:26), and when the soul will become even more exalted than the angels. But that’s not to happen yet. The soul is thus like the moon whose light was initially diminished ³ but will be restored in the future ⁴.

The soul is thus “dimmed” now, if you will; muted and diminished. Yet it also can’t be too diminished or it wouldn’t be able to do what it must do in the meanwhile, to say nothing of what it must do in the future. But that’s another matter ⁵.

2.

So, while the soul is naturally able to grow more and more splendorous with each mitzvah we do here, it’s still and all held captive while in the body and forced to face the challenges of the yetzer hara. But it will reach something of its potential in the Afterlife, thanks to those mitzvahs, which will then enable it to purify the body further in the course of the resurrection of the dead ⁶, after which the two will experience the world to come ⁷.

The soul does enjoy an elevation in our lifetime with each good thing we do but that elevation is largely imperceptible ⁸ even though it manifests itself in certain exalted individuals ⁹.

Footnotes:

¹                This chapter is surprisingly redundant in the original. R’ Yoseph Spinner attributes that to a number of (superfluous) additions which were made after the first edition; and we’d offer that some of the redundancy is due to the fact that Ramchal purposefully set out to encapsulate his points at the end. So we’ve shortened and reordered it to make for easier reading.

²                I.e., a new inclination toward goodness rather than a yetzer hara, according to Rashi there.

³                See Chullin 60b.

⁴                See Isaiah 30:26.

⁵                See 1:2:3 above about G-d muting His own abilities, if you will, for our sake; also see 1:14:3, 1:15:3. The point is that the soul must be set just-so, so as not to overwhelm or “underwhelm”.

⁶                See Derech Hashem 1:3:12.

See Clallim Rishonim 6* for discussions of the Kabbalistic implications of this chapter which touch upon G-d allowing a bit of His being (known as the Kav) to return to the cosmos after having “removed” Himself from it (i.e., after the Tzimtzum) much the way the soul is restored to its luster in the course of the resurrection of the dead after having been dimmed.

⁷             A lot isn’t being said here. For just as the “body” being spoken of here isn’t the body alone, as we’d indicated above, the “soul” depicted here is also a multi-faceted entity. See Ramchal’s discussion of the various aspects of the soul in Derech Hashem 1:3:4, and see Nephesh Hachaim 1:15 about the complex interactions of the various aspects of the soul. Also see Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Ha’akudim Ch. 5 for a discussion of the fact that what happens on one level happens on all of them. All of this underscores the complexity and fluidity of the “soul” and the “body”, and their interactions. The point of the matter is that the combination of the two is entirely too complex for a simple understanding,

⁸                This is a subtle lead-in to the discussion of G-d’s hiddeness to follow.

⁹                See 2:2:2 above.

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.

He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.

Da’at Tevunot 2:3 (# 71-72 [beg.])

1.

Purifying the body ¹ is the soul’s main objective in this world, as we’d said ². And the soul will be rewarded for that ³ because by doing that it enabled the body ⁴ to become righteous. And that allows for an enhancement of G-d’s glory and for the elevation of all of creation, given that everything was created so G-d could be glorified ⁵. After all, the soul delighted Heaven that way and will be rewarded for that ⁶.

Understand, of course, that the soul undergoes other things in the Afterlife, but that’s not our concern here ⁷.

2.

But to our great adversity, Adam and Eve’s error brought death into the equation ⁸. So the soul can’t bring on the aforementioned perfection until the body first experiences death ⁹. And the necessity of death for all helps explain why certain rare utterly righteous individuals had to die when they didn’t deserve to — because of “the advice of the serpent ¹⁰” (Bava Batra 17a).

Once the body is separated from its impurity ¹¹ and comes back to life ¹², the soul re-enters the body – along with all of the merits the body had earned beforehand in life. And the glow that the soul had earned in the Garden of Eden ¹³, because of its merits would then shine brightly upon the resurrected and purified body. And the soul will then further mend all the bad that the body had experienced beforehand ¹⁴.

3.

We’ve thus explained mankind’s obligations and its rewards for it in the course of the two time periods encompassing all of reality ¹⁵. And we’ve learned that since the body is imperfect, the soul must have its light shine upon it and purify it, and both body and soul are to be rewarded ¹⁶ once this purification process is completed.

Footnotes:

¹                By means of the mitzvah-system (see 2:2:2).

²               See 2:2:2, and Zohar 1:115a which Ramchal cites in the text.

³               See 2:4 below.

⁴                See note 5 to 2:2 above where we pointed out that the term “body” here includes one’s self, personality, etc.

⁵                See Psalms 29:2 and Isaiah 43:5:7.

⁶                The point remains, though, that the soul also blooms on its own in the here and now – albeit in very subtle but vital ways beyond our ken; but it doesn’t yet live up to its full potential.

⁷                Ramchal’s concern here is the resurrection of the dead, not the Afterlife. See a discussion of the Afterlife in Derech Hashem 1:3:11.

Let’s clarify the chronology and “geography” involved here since it can be confusing: body and soul are together in life, the body then dies and the soul experiences the Afterlife (i.e., the Garden of Eden and Gehenom), body and soul are then reunited in the course of the resurrection of the dead, and the two then experience the World to Come.

⁸                Had they not erred, the soul would have purified the body right there and then, and our mission would have been accomplished from the first. See 3:14 below as well as Derech Hashem 1:3:6.

⁹                The point is that perfection could have and in fact should have come about quickly and easily, but it was delayed by the introduction of death and the need for the body to be purified very, very slowly.

¹⁰              To Eve and then Adam to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.

¹¹              See Derech Hashem 1:3:12.

¹²              At the resurrection of the dead.

¹³              After the body had died.

¹⁴              See Zohar 1:113b, 116a which is cited by Ramchal in the text.

¹⁵              I.e., this world (including the Afterlife), and the World to Come (after the resurrection of the dead).

¹⁶              In the World to Come.

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.

He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.

Da’at Tevunot 2:2 (# 69-70)

1.

Why, we might wonder, do we have a separate body and soul rather than a combination of the two, as G-d could very well have created us to have from the first ¹?  The answer to that lies in the fact that our body and soul each plays a distinct and vital role in G-d’s ultimate intention behind the creation of the universe, which was for Him to be as benevolent to His created beings as possible ². For, our initially having a separate body and soul enables us to perfect ourselves ³.

This question also touches on the idea discussed early on about just what our imperfections are rooted in and what enables us to rectify them ⁴.

2.

Our imperfections are rooted in the makeup of our body ⁵, which is material, dense and dark, and thus unable to bask in G-d’s holiness. As, “only those fully prepared to can pass through the King’s gate and visit His palace” ⁶, as Ramchal words it. And one who’s under the sway of all sorts of untoward desires certainly couldn’t do that.

So G-d granted us another vital element, the soul, which was hewn from the inchoate “stuff” beneath G-d’s Throne of Glory, which is by its very makeup capable of purifying our body and making it holy. In fact, purifying and elevating our body is the soul’s major function on earth ⁷.

In fact there have already been instances of individuals whose soul had so perfected their body that the two joined together before the World to Come. Moses was one such person, as was made manifest by the beams of light that emitted from his face ⁸, Enoch who entered Heaven with both his body and soul intact was another ⁹, and Elijah was another ¹⁰.

But the soul can only purify the body in this world by means of the mitzvah-system and by complying with the directives of the Torah. As such, the more engaged one is in Torah study and mitzvah observance, the more easily is one able to have his soul purify his body ¹¹.

Footnotes:

¹                That is, why aren’t we already the fully conjoined combination of body and soul we’ll be after the resurrection of the dead? After all, G-d could very well have created us whole and fully perfected from the first, so why did He decide not to?

But see footnote 6 to 2:1 above which cites a source that says that body and soul were created as one at first, so which is correct? The answer is that while body and soul had been one in their ultimate root, they were soon separated for the purposes soon to be enunciated.

²             See 1:1:3.

That’s to say that our having a separate body and soul enables G-d to be more benevolent to us than if we’d been created as a combination of the two, for ….

³                In order to eventually reap the benefits of that benevolence.

                  See the third chapter of the first section of Derech Hashem for much of the above.

⁴                Ramchal raised a number of vexing questions early on in Da’at Tevunot that we weren’t yet able to answer, which we will in the course of the book. Relevant to the subject at hand, we said in 1:2:1, “we know that G-d wants us to perfect … ourselves”, but “what is human perfection in fact” and “how do we come to it”? And in 1:2:3 we asked, “given that we’re indeed imperfect, what then can we draw upon to perfect ourselves?” We’ll now begin to touch upon that.

⁵                The “body” in question includes one’s whole worldly self, including his mind, personality, memories, and the like — not just his rank physicality. It could be termed “the self” versus the soul as “the Self”.

⁶                Which is our ultimate goal (See 1:2:1-2).

⁷                Some think the soul is here to be purified itself, but that’s simply not so: it’s already pure, as we ourselves affirm every day when we recite, “My L-rd! The soul you have granted me is (inherently) pure!” (Morning Prayers).

As Ramchal underscored in the first chapter of Messilat Yesharim, “G-d … breathed into us a soul so exalted and distinguished — a soul greater than the angels themselves” that it’s manifestly out of place in this world. For what it’s meant to do, in fact, is to ready the body for the place in the World to Come, which both body and soul will then enjoy.

But it’s important to understand that body and soul are interdependent. See Sanhedrin 91b.

⁸                See Exodus 34:29-35. That is, Moses’ body was so pure that his soul’s light already shone through it on earth.

⁹                See Genesis 5:22-24.

¹⁰              See 2 Kings 2:11,

¹¹              See Ch. 1 of Messilat Yesharim.

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.

He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.

Da’at Tevunot 2:1 (# 59-68)

1.

We’ll now concentrate on humankind, whose existence is the whole point of G-d’s actions, and who are the only entities who serve G-d ¹. In fact, understanding humankind will help us to understand all that preceded this discussion, given that humankind was the target of all that was spoken of there.

And we’ll concentrate on three things when it comes to that: on man’s makeup ², his actions, and on the consequences of his actions ³. Then we’ll touch on the subject of the resurrection of the dead, which we’d cited early on ⁴.

2.

The first thing to concentrate on when it comes to that last point is that there’d have to be an eventual resurrection of the dead and a subsequent reconnoitering of body and soul because, given that G-d granted man both a body and a soul to use in his Divine service, it only follows that both would be rewarded in the end, not just the soul ⁵. After all, isn’t it said that “G-d withholds reward from no one” (Baba Kama 38A)?

And we’d also need to dwell on the astounding fact of man’s body and soul being initially joined ⁶, then separated, then fully joined in the end, since those phenomena certainly have their effects on a person ⁷.

Footnotes:

¹                That is, up to now we’d concentrated on G-d’s being and His full sovereignty; we’ll now concentrate on ourselves and the role we play as the subjects of His sovereignty in the playing out of G-d’s great designs. And also, the truth be known, because nothing whatsoever is quite as absorbing, labyrinthine, and evocative to us as humanity.

Ramchal follows this same pattern in the first three chapters of Derech Hashem in fact, going from the study of G-d to that of humankind.

²                I.e., on his being comprised of a body and soul, as well as on…

³                I.e., on the things that affect his body and soul in life, the Afterlife, and in the World to Come (in fact, Ramchal’s real object of interest will prove to be the latter, given that the resurrection of the dead  — the professed subject at hand — is “merely” a stop along the way to the World to Come).

⁴                See our discussion in “Ramchal’s Introduction”.

⁵                Others reasons for the resurrection will be discussed later on in this chapter.

Besides, if only the soul were to be rewarded, then the body would have been nothing more than an indentured servant of sorts who worked long and hard for the soul, who — while it was indeed fed, clothed, and provided for in life — would still-and-all have nothing of its own to claim in the end.

⁶                He’s ostensibly speaking about the simple fact that our bodies and souls are conjoined when we’re conceived, but on a more esoteric level he’s referring to the idea cited in Iggrot Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at 19 about the original and fundamental unity and self-sameness of body and soul.

⁷                Now, the whole idea of the dead coming alive — stepping back into their old bodies as if they were pants and shirts, dusting themselves off, and going on with life again — is stupendous, though it’s actually hardly more astonishing than the phenomenal idea of human beings being conceived and born then dying in the first place. Still and all, the idea of the resurrection of the dead is too out of our experience for us to accept outright. Yet belief in the eventual resurrection of the dead is a tenet of our faith that’s cited many times. We’re told, for example, that “your dead will be revived” (Isaiah 26:19), and that “many that sleep in the land of dust will awaken” (Daniel 12:2). The most straightforward and lengthy depiction of it, of course, is the one laid out in Ezekiel 37: 1-14.

In fact, we cite the resurrection of the dead in our daily and special prayers (E.g., Elokai Neshama Shenanatta Bi, in Shemone Esrei, as Keil Malei Rachamim, etc.).

Also see Berachot15b, Ketuvot 8b, Kiddushin 39b, Megilah 7b, Sanhedrin 90-91, Shabbat 88b, Yoma 72; Rambam’s  Commentary to Perek Chellek and Hilchot Teshuvah 3:6, 8; Tosafot, Baba Kama 16b veHu); Emunot v’De’ot 6:7; Ramban’s Torat ha-Adam (end of Sha’ar ha-Gemul); and Sefer HaIkkurim 4:30.

Also see Ramchal’s own Ma’amar HaIkkurim “B’inyan HaGemul”.

In his discussion of the combination of body and soul elsewhere Ramchal harkens to the idea that this refers to the next level of discussion in the Kabbalistic writings after the aforementioned Tzimtzum and Kav (see note 1 to 1:15 above): the creation of the arcane and largely unfathomable realm known as Adam Kadmon (“Primordial Man”). See his remarks in Clallim Rishonim 8, Klach Pitchei Chochma 30-31,35, (c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.

He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.

Da’at Tevunot 1: 19 (# 58)

1.

We’re now at the end of the first section of Da’at Tevunot in which Ramchal has set out to explain how G-d interacts with us as well as what His ultimate plans for the universe are, and he’s about to broach the recondite subject of the resurrection of the dead. His aim here, though, is to underscore the point made just before that it’s G-d’s will alone that steers everything ¹.

He’ll do that by citing the well-known statement that “G-d is the site of the universe while the universe isn’t the site of G-d” (Breishit Rabbah 68:9). But we’d need to uncover some things before we could come to understand how that statement illustrates the point that it’s G-d’s willingness alone that upholds the universe’s very moorings.

2.

As Ramchal made the point early on ², we know that only G-d’s existence is imperative ³. His point here is that everything else exists only because He wants it to ⁴. After all, aren’t we told that G-d’s will controls the great amorphous “upper waters” (Breishit Rabbah 4:3, Ta’anit 10A) and the colossal “support beams” that bear heaven and earth (Chagigah 12b); that it’s His “outstretched arms” which the cosmos rest and depend upon for stability (Ibid.); and that He bears everything here down below from up above (Yalkut Shimoni 1:964) ⁵? But the truth of the matter is that G-d Almighty didn’t need anything else: He single-handedly created and maintains the universe simply because He wants it to exist.

Knowing that, we can now understand the statement that “G-d is the site of the universe while the universe isn’t the site of G-d”. It means to say that while G-d Himself needs nothing in the background for Him to exist ⁶, the universe, on the other hand, simply couldn’t exist without G-d in the background wanting it to exist ⁷. For, indeed, it’s G-d’s will alone that serves as the reality behind everything since nothing could exist without it.

For, He existed before anything else could have, though certain ancient thinkers denied that, claiming instead that both He and the universe always existed. But that’s not true as the universe isn’t immortal — G-d had to want to create it, as nothing could exist without that in the background. Indeed, G-d wasn’t at all impelled by any “need” to create the universe: He created everything completely “out of the blue” and by dint of His own will.

3.

Ramchal then cites something that seems to contradict this. The psalmist wrote, “May G-d’s glory endure forever; May He always be pleased with ⁸ His handiwork” (Psalms 104:31). Doesn’t that seem to imply that it’s His handiwork — we — who please Him; that somehow we’re able to see to it that He’s glorified forever; and that He’s thus in some way better-off by our existence?

But of course that’s not so, and the explanation is as follows. Being that nothing could exist without G-d’s willingness for it to exist, the only reason why it could be implied that we have those abilities is because He wanted there to be entities that could please and glorify Him. Indeed, everything exists, is interacted with and continues to exist only because G-d wants that to be so ⁹.

Footnotes:

¹                Refer to the end of 1:18. Also see Clallim Rishonim 4.

²                See 1:5 above and note 1 there.

³                I.e., only His existence is indispensable while everything else is expendable.

⁴                As such, everything then becomes indispensable because He wants it to exist. It’s just that they’re not inherently indispensable like G-d is. There are very many deep implications to this idea, but suffice it to say it follows that whatever exists is thus purposeful, intended, and indispensable, without exception.

⁵                That’s to say that while these statements set out to explain the “mechanics” of G-d’s control, G-d doesn’t literally take hold of the upper waters or the support beams, and He doesn’t have arms to bear the cosmos, but He does will all of those things to function the way they do so the universe can exist.

⁶                Because His existence is imperative and depends on nothing else, as we said.

⁷                That is, while G-d’s willingness for the universe to exist functions as the “site”, “space” or “setting” within which everything is situated – its background, His existence requires nothing of the sort.

Understand it also as underscoring the fact that while G-d can contain the entire universe and thus all of reality, and more, in His being, His being is too large for the universe to contain.

⁸                Or, by…

⁹                Ramchal is making an important albeit erudite point here. He’s reiterating the important idea that not only is G-d’s being imperative but His will and thus His utter sovereignty (after all, what greater proof of His sovereignty is there than the fact that He need only stop willing for the universe to exist and it will!) are also utterly imperative.

See Ramchal’s own comments to Klach Pitchei Chochma 1, and see our first note to 1:5 above.

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar” is available as “The Kabbalah of Self” on Kindle here. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah’s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.

He 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 torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal” that can be subscribed to.