Ramchal repeats some of the details depicted above in Klallim Rishonim about the World of Nikkudim but he adds a number of other details that we’ll come upon later in this section.
He speaks of this realm as being the one in which “God hid His presence”, which is the underlying theme of “the death of the (seven) primordial kings (of Edom), when their light was removed and all that was left were their vessels”, and he adds that that proved to be “the root of all defects” and wrong in the world (11), which we’ll spend a considerable amount of time on later in this section. He adds that wrong “was (deemed by God to be) necessary … for what was to be” (12) which we’ll also explore.
Ramchal alludes to the idea of God hiding His presence once again there when he points out that it was in the World of Nikkudim that God “first hid away the truth that He was to reveal in the end” (10), which refers to the revelation of His Yichud which we cited earlier on and will refer to again in this section. And along those lines he adds that the World of Nikkudim contains all of the elements involved in “the complete perfection that will come about in the World to Come, when all of the defects that came about in the Breaking” of the Vessels (11) will be undone; and he states that it contains the “source of the other side” (11), as we indicated.
(c) 2012 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”.
Pingback: The Other Worlds (1) « Ramchal