Tag Archives: spirituality

Ramchal on the Shechina in other writings

As we’d expect, Ramchal has a rather unique, poetic understanding of the Shechina in his other writings. He says at one point that “the first thing God wanted to occur in the world was universal governance, which is to say, His own interactions with the world, and His presence in it. This phenomenon is termed the ‘Shechina’”. He goes on to say there that that’s to say that “God is said to ‘dwell’ (shochein) among His created beings because He functions that way in the world” (Sefer Kinat Adonai Tzevaot). In other words, the idea of the Shechina is a representation of the process by which God comes into close and consequential contact with the world.

Elsewhere he says — somewhere along the same lines — that the term Shechina is a depiction of the “space” (or physical reality as we know it) in which the world exists, and in which He bestows upon it (Adir Bamarom p. 293). This also points to the intimacy he associated between the Shechina and God Himself, and with the world itself which the Shechina and God both envelope and interact with.

While these aren’t ways of identifying God Himself with the Shechina, they do underscore just how God and it function together, and how crucial the Shechina is to God’s plans. Let’s see next what he says about it here, in Klach.

(c) 2013 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”.

Mankind’s role in it all (1)

We’re told that the ultimate reparation of the cosmos depends on human input, for humanity is meant to strengthen the power of holiness throughout it(Petach 48). So we’ll now offer some classical views on the role of humankind in the workings of it all, some of Ramchal’s remarks elsewhere, and then his insights in this section.

(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”.