As we said before our YomTov break, Ar”i and the other Kabbalists spoke at great length about just how primal mankind is to it all, and that we’d next see just what Ramchal said elsewhere about this, so here goes.
For one thing, like nearly all Jewish Sages before and subsequent to him, Ramchal differentiated between the role of the Jewish Nation and that of others. He dedicated an entire chapter to that in Derech Hashem: 2:4. He acknowledges that both share the same physiology and biology but offers that in the eyes of the Torah, though, the two groups are wholly different. He explains that difference by depicting Adam and Eve’s makeup (and their immediate prodigy’s) since they were neither Jewish or not. His point is that Adam and Eve’s misstep undid the unique connection mankind had with God and the universe, and that no one restored that until Abraham, the first Jew (and that that role was reinforced but the giving of the Torah to his descendants who accepted it upon themselves so willingly). The clear implication is that there needn’t have been a differentiation between Jewish and non-Jewish roles in the universe: that breakdown is an acknowledgement of the sanctity of all that Abraham did and allowed for in the universe. As such, the role incumbent upon the Jewish Nation now is to recover what had been lost by Adam and Eve’s sin, and to accomplish what they could have but didn’t besides [1].
Note:
[1] For more on Adam and Eve’s role and downfall see Adir Bamarom p. 29; for the difference between Abraham and Jacob’s role see Biurim al Tanach, Parshat Va’Era (Otzrot Ramchal p. 39); for more on the other nations see Adir Bamarom p. 380; and see Da’at Tevunot on Adam and Eve at 72, 78, 126, and on the role and makeup of the Jewish Nation at 36, 126, 130, 134, 158, 160.
(c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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