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Da’at Tevunot 1:18 (# 56 [cont.] – 57)

1.

This needs to be said too, before we come to the end of this first part of Da’at Tevunot. It’s that it’s vitally important to recall that G-d’s own ways are utterly and unfailingly perfect, yet He interacts with us in this imperfect world. How so? — by specifically accommodating His actions to the reality of the reward and punishment system that He established. Indeed, He tailors each of His ways here to the needs and makeup of that system ¹.

And G-d’s own perfect ways will continue to accommodate themselves to the reward and punishment system as long as it will go on ². But at bottom it is perfection that undergirds all of reality — even when the system of reward and punishment is at play, since perfection is what guides and moves everything along ³.

It’s just that as long as G-d’s utter sovereignty lies hidden away as it must for the meanwhile, things will go on the way we’ve thus depicted them for as long as G-d’s wisdom deems that they must. In any event, things will return to the original state of perfection in the end.

And so we’re presented with three components to factor into G-d’s interactions with us: the eventual revelation of His sovereignty, the day to day ethics-based system of reward and punishment, and G-d’s accommodating His perfection to that system. It follows then that we’d need to grasp all three if we’re ever to truly understand things here in the world.

Never forget, though, that it’s G-d’s will that steers all of the above and drives it; and that everything depends on His infinite abilities and will ⁴, He chose each thing’s makeup and ways, and everything is under His control.

Footnotes:

¹                Ramchal doesn’t make this point here but he’s alluding to the fact that even though we can’t really grasp that yet, that’s the reality. For, just as we humans can only perceive the universe through the filters of space, time, and our senses, we can likewise only perceive G-d’s actions through the filter of the reward and punishment system that He set up rather than on their own.

The closest analogy to it – though it’s far from perfect – is the fact that we only understand our parents’ conduct when we’re young by the ways they reward or punish us for our actions, when that really says very little about themselves and their capacities.

                  It’s also fair to say that the fact that the reward and punishment system is the stage upon which the human experience plays itself out now – and will be until G-d’s sovereignty is exhibited — might explain why we often focus more on Divine retribution than on Divine love.

See Clallim Rishonim 6, “Harashimu” which discusses the Kabbalistic notions relevant here (i.e., the rashimu versus the kav), as well as Ibid. 23 “Inyan Hamochin”.

²                That’s to say that much the way that the soul undergirds the body (by keeping it alive, etc.) yet it accommodates itself to the body’s ways (by enabling it to express its physical needs, etc.), G-d’s perfection will continue to undergird the universe yet accommodate itself to the moral needs of society and human interactions as long as it has to (see 2:6 below for a discussion about the relationship between body and soul on this level).

³                See Clallim Rishonim 6, “V’od yesh”.

⁴                After all isn’t it said that, “The heavens were made by G-d’s word; by the breath of His mouth all their host (were made)” (Psalms 33:6); that “You, G-d, You are the only one. You made the heavens, the highest heavens and all their hosts, the earth and all that is upon it, the seas and all that is in them. You (alone) grant them all life” (Nehemiah 9:6); that we’re to “Lift up (our) eyes on high and see who has created these!” (Isaiah 40:26); and that “It was I (G-d alone) who made the earth and created mankind on it; it was My hands that stretched out the heavens; I commanded all their host” (Isaiah 45:12).

(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 1:17 (# 54 – 56 [beg.])

1.

There’s something not to be denied about G-d’s interactions with us, and it’s this ¹. There are times when He acts in an open and above-board sort of way with us, as when He punishes or rewards us for our deeds, “showing us His hand” if you will and directly responding to our actions, measure for measure.

And then there are times when His actions don’t quite fit that pattern and His reactions aren’t at all straightforward, as when He functions in response to what Ramchal terms His own “profound counsel” ² — His own plan which aims to lead us all toward the ultimate rectification and sees to it that everything contributes to that end.

In fact, that only stands to reason. After all, haven’t we been taught that “everything done by Heaven is (for the) good” (Berachot 60a); and hasn’t the prophet said, “In that day we will say, ‘I will praise You, G-d; for though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You have comforted me” (Isaiah 12:1)³?

Indeed, we’ll come to understand for ourselves in the end that behind everything that happens in the world lies the fact that G-d will eventually make His ways known to us, that only goodness and blessings will come about despite our travails, that utter goodness will always rise up out of the bad, and that no one will ultimately be rejected as a consequence of his sins so much as “treated” for and cleansed of them, and that everything will be set right. It will become clear that all G-d intended from the first was to rectify things.

2.

It will also become manifest in retrospect that G-d’s ways have always been far more “awesome, and infinitely wide and deep” than we imagined, as Ramchal puts it, and staggeringly beyond our ken. And it will be understood how “even the least significant of His actions is so full of wisdom and depth that it’s impossible to plumb them”.

For, while G-d’s actions “may seem to be straightforward” at times, still-and-all “their contents are (in fact) esoteric” and a by-product of G-d’s occult plan to do good; and they’ve always been rooted in “goodness rather than harm” even if we can’t “see them or understand (them in that light) now”. For, we can only grasp a “drop from the great sea” of His deeds and intentions ⁴.

We’ll also eventually come to know that even when He chides us and has us suffer trial and tribulation, things are not what they appear to be — it’s all for the good, as G-d only means to rectify us. He isn’t set on rejecting wrongdoers as the notion of “retribution” would seem to indicate. For, as He Himself said, “Have I any pleasure at all when a wrongdoer dies? …; (I’d rather) he repent of his ways and live!” (Ezekiel 18:23).

That’s to say that we’ll sooner or later see through the apparent and peer onto the meant. For, “as soon as G-d enlightens our eyes with insight”, Ramchal says, “we’ll come to understand (in retrospect) through the very things that happened” to us themselves before we became aware all contributed to His goal ⁵.

So let it be reiterated that whatever happens to us now as a consequence of our bad or good actions is still-and-all rooted in our ultimate perfected state, when “the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped” (Isaiah 35:5), For we’ll come to see and to understand the truth of G-d’s ways then as we never could before, and we’ll catch sight of the wisdom that runs through them like a rivulet of quicksilver ⁶.

Footnotes:

¹             This chapter returns to 1:15 and reiterates the important idea expressed there that G-d is always tilting the cosmos in the direction of perfection, and that nothing could ever thwart that. But it does underscore another point, which we’ll address below.

The truth be told, there are several instances in Da’at Tevunot, here and there, where Ramchal seems to be redundant. But it’s our contention that he purposefully repeats himself in order to underscore just how vitally important it is for us to grasp the things being said.

But see Klallim Rishonim 7 for other shades of meaning suggested here. They touch on the mystery of the “immanent” versus the “transcendent” lights spoken of by the Kabbalists. Ramchal contends that the imminent lights represent the way things seem to be while the transcendent ones represent things beyond our ken.

²             See 6:1:2 below, Clallei Milchamot Moshe 7, and Breishit Rabbah (Eikev) for use of this unusual and captivating turn of phrase.

³                That is, “In that day”, i.e., in the end, “we will say, ‘I will praise You, G-d; for though You were once angry with me,” I have come to understand that “Your anger is now turned away and You have comforted me instead”.

⁴                This is Ramchal’s additional stance here, referred to in note 1 above: that not only can’t we understand G-d Himself but that even His actions are frequently unfathomable.

⁵                That’s to say, we’ll eventually sit stunned assessing it all and say, “Now I understand why this and that (seemingly bad thing) happened to me – it was so that thus and such (good thing) could come about”.

⁶             Ramchal is careful to point out here in the text, though, that the overwhelming benevolence that we’re to experience will only come our way to the degree that we can handle it — it will not be to the degree that G-d’s own inherent essential benevolence could express itself. That’s to say that even though there’s much more to remark about the stupendous things we’re to experience than we’ve indicated, the point remains that there’s an even more stunning level that can’t even be cited.

Ramchal sets out to encapsulate this chapter at the end which we’ll offer here rather than above to avoid redundancy.

As he puts it, “G-d’s own inherent perfection is utterly unfathomable. But since He wanted to express His benevolence through acts that are in our ambit and not beyond it, He brought about various things that would eventually have us achieve perfection and a state of rectification. This factor underlies all His actions (here) and is their common denominator. Some and only some of this hidden factor can be caught sight of in G-d’s actions themselves when G-d wants us to open our eyes (to the truth of things), but G-d’s awesome and profound wisdom keeps the vast majority of it hidden away and unfathomable.”

(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 1:16 (# 51 – 53)

1.

We need to make an important point, though. Are we saying that G-d’s very Self will be revealed? Didn’t we say that His Self is simply unknowable and can’t be experienced ¹? No, His very Self won’t be.

For, even the sort of utter rule and control over everything that His sovereignty entails which will be revealed in the end is distinct from G-d’s very Self. Since G-d’s sovereignty has to do with His relationship with the cosmos and His very Self is utterly apart from creation and utterly beyond our experience and ken ².

It’s just that G-d decided to function to a degree within the dimensions and paradigms that we function in when He created the universe rather than within His own unfathomable reality. So while His own full Self lies in the background and won’t ever be revealed ³ we experience something of His presence here and now, and will know a far fuller flowering of that in the end, as we’d said.

2.

In fact, G-d could be said to have “held Himself back”, if you will, by two enormous degrees ⁴. Firstly, He only does things here that we can endure rather than what He’s fully capable of manifesting, and thus holds Himself back from displaying His natively full, blindingly rich benevolence simply because we couldn’t bear it.

And secondly, He also hasn’t even manifested the degree of benevolence that we could and will bear in the end— for now. As while He could have created us from the beginning as perfect and as capable of basking in the light of His sovereignty as we could, He didn’t, for His own good reasons ⁵.

.3.

The point remains, though, that G-d didn’t want our state of imperfection to go on forever — for there to always be the sort of Sturm und Drang, blessings and curses, and moral contentions that characterize our world now. Rather, He wanted perfection to flower forth from the midst of it all.

But let it never be forgotten or mistaken: our destined, relevant perfection cannot compare to G-d’s own inherent perfection whatsoever. As His perfection, “His utter simplicity” as Ramchal words it, “is utterly irrelevant to our experience” no matter how exalted that experience will be.

Footnotes:

¹                See 1:3:2 above and note 4 there as well as 1:12:2 and note 3 there.

²                For G-d Himself exists in a space-less, time-less “space” and “time” that’s utterly devoid of definition and beyond conjecture, and is chockfull of utter G-d and nothing else. Were we to dare try to portray that realm in the context of anything in our experience we’d gingerly liken it to something as abstract and subtle as the notion of having the idea for an idea, or to a memory we might have had once of having had a memory long ago. But that too is inadequate for our understanding of the utterly subtle and nonrepresentational nature of G-d’s context.

³                Other than to Himself.

⁴                See 1:2:3 above as well as Clallim Rishonim 2 and 6 (further on than what’s cited in the previous chapter) and Klach Pitchei Chochma 28.

⁵                So G-d Himself lies far, far in the background and is removed from our experience. And not only is that so but the single facet of His Being that we will experience — the revelation of His sovereignty — has purposely been denied us up to now. Perhaps that explains the sense of terrible and chill distance from Him that we often feel, although maybe the promise and expectation of the revelation of His sovereignty explains the sense we have of His otherwise very real presence. Recall, though, that we’re still and all able to attach unto His presence indeed, as Ramchal assures us in several places here and elsewhere (See notes 2 and 3 to 1:2 for reference to this).

(c) 2017 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”.

Preview of Da’at Tevunot 1:15 (# 48 middle – 50)

1.

Despite the daunting reality of G-d’s seeming absence in this world, bear in mind that His ultimate aim is to disclose His presence and sovereignty, and to make it clear that His having concealed it in the first place was a means to reveal it in the end ¹. For, though His hiddenness allowed for the system of right and wrong ², G-d will ultimately bring everything to a state of perfection ³ and shower all with His beneficence ⁴.

And so eventually the whole murky system of right and wrong that G-d established here for the meanwhile will be undone, and all will be set right; for the 6,000 year-long period of spiritual trial and error will have played itself out, and G-d’s presence will be manifest along with all the perfection that will follow in its wake. In fact, G-d is consequently always affecting, shifting, and arranging things and circumstances here and now to bring that day about, and every single day brings us closer to it ⁵.

As the prophets affirmed, “You have (always) done great things … O L-rd my G-d. For Your wonders and Your thoughts are for (i.e., directed toward) us” (Psalms 40:6), “You (G-d) have dealt wondrously; (You have conjured) devices (for the revelation of Your Yichud) from long ago” (Isaiah 25:1), and “G-d … devises means so that anyone who is banished (as a consequence of his sins) will not be cast from Him (in the end)” (2 Samuel 14:14).

Understand though that the whole process — G-d’s hiddenness and His eventual revelation — had to follow a measured course of action. For as Ramchal puts it, “G-d certainly didn’t want to adopt a system of right and wrong for a certain amount of time, then abandon it and set up another one in which His sovereignty would reign in one fell swoop, like someone who regretted what he’d done (and seemed to have changed his mind)”.

Instead, G-d wanted to bring the change about from “within” in such a way that His sovereignty would simply evolve out of the system of right and wrong we experience now. And then the experience of perfection and G-d’s Yichud would be revealed, and the two eras ⁶ will stand in clear contradistinction to each other, as we’ll see later on.

3.

The truth is that G-d interacts with us even now both ways at the same time. As we all know, He now allows for reward and punishment ⁷, and thus judges and rules accordingly; yet at the same time He unobtrusively and covertly allows His inherent benevolence that will eventually lead to perfection to permeate the world as well ⁸.

Interestingly enough, G-d seems to allow Himself to be swayed by, or to even be subservient to our actions and ethics in the here and now, and to thus reward or punish in reaction to us rather than His own penchants ⁹.

But know that while G-d certainly judges our actions and responds to them measure for measure, and He has innumerable ways and agents to administer justice¹⁰, nevertheless He is still in actual fact bringing everything to the state of perfection ¹¹.

That’s not to deny the fact that He still-and-all has purposely held back His sovereignty from the world, created us imperfect, and has us endure more darkness than light in a world of wrong and injustice. It’s just that the fact remains that He will manifest His full benevolence and sovereignty in due course and will bring us to the state of perfection that is our destiny.  For, the revelation of G-d’s Yichud is the truth that simmers beneath the surface of things that roils more and more resoundingly and comes closer and closer to the top ¹².

Footnotes:

¹                That is, G-d purposely hid His presence, which then has us yearn for it, which makes its appearance the greatest favor He in His beneficence can grant us. As there’s no greater gift than a need fulfilled; and there’s no greater need than the one for G-d’s manifest presence.

See Clallim Rishonim 6 for a discussion of the Kabbalistic themes underlying this chapter. In short, after G-d hid His presence as a consequence of the Tzimtzum (see note 7 to 1:1, note 6 to 1:3) He left a mere “Trace” of His presence behind (see note 7 to 1:14). At a certain point He reintroduced a fuller stream of His presence termed the Kav (or “Line”) which enables more and more of His presence to appear, so as to affect the perfection referred to in this chapter. The interplaying of the Kav and Reshimu is what’s depicted here, and it’s a central theme in Ramchal’s thoughts. See his Assarah Orot 7.

²                Within which some enjoy and deserve G-d’s favor and others don’t.

³                See 6:6 below for discussion of the state of perfection.

₄                Let’s clarify this. We all see the need for reward and punishment in this world, given that there’s right and wrong which should be reacted to appropriately. But there simply won’t be a role for any of that once everyone is dazed and stunned by the stark reality of G-d’s presence and sovereignty: that reality will simply undo wrongdoing (and thus punishment). And that is what we’re heading toward .

⁵                That’s to say that every seeming impediment, every “sideswipe” and “curve ball”, will prove to have been perfectly timed, fully appropriate, on-target, and imperative. For it will be found that absolutely nothing was independent of the process of revelation, nothing irrelevant to it; everything said, thought, done, and planned was a part of it all, along with each nuance and shade-of-a-nuance. The underlying point is that the great redemption and revelation of G-d’s sovereignty is indeed on its way, whether we know it or not. Have faith, for the great mystery will be solved, and the knottiest of puzzles will be unraveled right before your eyes.

⁶                I.e., “before” and “after” the revelation of G-d’s sovereignty.

⁷                Ramchal terms this His “values-based rule” (G-d’s other means of interaction is termed His “Yichud– and perfection-based rule” as we’ll see in the note 12 below).

⁸                We could perhaps liken G-d’s Yichud-mode to our autonomic nervous system and His values-based mode to our voluntary movements. The autonomic nervous system controls various vital bodily functions on its own and without our input, and sees to it that we thrive (sometimes even despite ourselves). Our voluntary movements, on the other hand, follow our dictates, right or wrong, and can either better or even undo us. In much the same way, it’s G-d’s Yichud-mode that always sees to it that we thrive — more so, that we perfect ourselves; while His values-based mode allows us the freedom to better or harm ourselves.

⁹                Ramchal remarks in the text here that this in fact explains statements that seem to deny G-d’s sovereignty such as Psalms 68:35, Deuteronomy 32:18, (see Eicha Rabbah 1:33 about these two verses), Zachariah 3:9, and Jeremiah 50:20.

His point seems to be that it’s as if G-d wasn’t G-d at all so much as a servant to a higher force than Himself whom He’s to answer to, if you will — right and wrong. But the truth is that G-d does indeed work on two levels at the same time: He allows Himself to “acquiesce” to His own creation’s demands on the one hand, but He also sees to it that His own will is the last word, as the mode of acquiescence will eventually be undone and G-d’s sovereignty will indeed manifest itself — as soon as G-d decides it should.

¹⁰              In fact, that goes far to explain the odd and surprising roles we find ourselves in from time to time as we act as G-d’s agents for others, unbeknownst even to ourselves; and it also accounts for the utterly unexpected appearance of so many things in our life.

¹¹              Ramchal also remarks in the text that all of this explains the statements, “I, G-d, do not change” (Malachi 3:6) and “I have never changed” (Zohar 3:281a), which mean to say that even though G-d may seem to acquiesce to others’ wishes now, nonetheless His native sovereignty will be apparent in the process of time.

¹²              The Neshama asks the Sechel at this point in the text to encapsulate his main points here. We’ll present his words in this note rather than above to avoid redundancy.

“G-d manifests two traits in this world: a values-based rule and a Yichud-and-perfection-based one. The values-based rule necessitates (the existence of both) right and wrong which all good and bad phenomena depend on, and it’s rooted in G-d’s hiddenness and (innate) benevolence, and in His concealed perfection.

“The Yichud-and-perfection-based rule (on the other hand) is the trait that will (eventually) bring on the perfection of all created things (even when they don’t deserve it) and is rooted in G-d’s inherent benevolence. (The latter) functions regularly though clandestinely in the presence of the values-based rule so as to bring everything to perfection (in the end), and it’s rooted in G-d’s inherent pure benevolence. Despite its hiddenness it never fails to shine goodness upon us. (In short,) while His values-based rule is (now) manifest and outright, (G-d’s full and perfect) sovereignty is hidden and concealed (though certainly with us all along).”

(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 1:14 (# 48 beg.)

1.

Knowing now what we do of His omnipotence and benevolence, we’d have expected G-d Almighty to have produced a perfect, utterly and unimaginably effulgent, fecund, boundless, wholly good, G-dly world ¹. But He clearly didn’t.

Instead, simply because He wanted to interact with us in a particular way before He revealed His Yichud, He uncharacteristically formulated an utterly and radically original other sort of reality: imperfection ². And it is that imperfection which forms the crux of our universe and the epoch of time we’re in now.

So, let’s characterize this epoch of time in which our own ethical and spiritual input plays so active a role and where G-d hides His presence ³.

2.

The current epoch is the one in which good and bad choices are there for the taking and in which the righteous are to be rewarded and the wrongful punished; in which we’re either drawn to G-d, which is our goal, or distracted from Him; wherein the Jewish Nation — the people chosen by G-d Himself to execute His plan and make the whole of it right and just-so — can somehow be exiled and quashed for thousands of years; the one in which humankind is sometimes lofty, other times base; where all the unholy, polluted phenomena like idolatry and the like which the prophets promised would be undone in the end now function ⁴; and it’s where the principle that “everything is in the hands of Heaven but the fear of Heaven” (Berachot 32B) holds sway, by virtue of the fact that G-d who indeed controls everything nevertheless allows for  wrongfulness and injustice ⁵.

What can’t be denied is that this world of right and wrong is also the one in which the righteous are vexed and challenged, where each and every move they make is scrutinized; where we’re sometimes soiled and other times cleansed; and where destructive forces are loosed and our people are subjugated to foreign, even idolatrous values and control.

The point again is, though, that had G-d wanted to, He could certainly have created the world otherwise by revealing His Yichud from the first and disallowing for wrong and injustice. But instead He purposefully and willfully created the one we’re in now, and that He’ll undo it after His goal will have been met ⁶.

3.

Understand, though — and this is an important point — that that’s not to say that G-d has abandoned this world (G-d forbid!). For He still bestows us with existence and vigor by means of what’s termed His “emanations” ⁷. It’s just that those emanations don’t cascade down to the world as they would be inclined to so much as flow (perhaps even only trickle) down.

G-d nonetheless sees to it that the world is sustained all the time by spurring it on and granting it vigor. It’s just that the degree of vigor He allocates for it at this point is nearly nothing compared to what His own abilities would ordinarily allow for. Hence, the force pulsing throughout this universe is “like a shadow of someone, rather than he himself”, as Ramchal puts it, like “the smudge left behind after letters are erased” rather than the letters, as “more darkness than light” compared to the full vigor it could exhibit. We’re satisfied with that, not knowing any better and given that “from our perspective, that’s all of life”, in Ramchal’s words here ⁸.

The point is that G-d’s emanations have to come to us to that degree at least, though, or we’d simply be undone ⁹. Nonetheless, what remain as a consequence of this constricted level of emanation, which is a by-product of G-d hiding His Presence from us, is our world and our life — the reality and mother-substance we’ve been thrust into, depend on, trust, and have come to accept as all of reality.

Footnotes:

¹             See 1:2:3.

²             3:1 below will speak of the originality of imperfection and wrongfulness.

³             Let’s retrace our steps here in order to understand what’s being offered.

Recall that Ramchal referred to the fact that there’ll be three epochs of time in 1:11:3 (as well as 1:10:1): the one within which G-d’s presence is hidden, the one in which His presence is to be revealed, and the transition period between the two.  He then stepped aside for a while to focus on the various “tools” G-d uses to interact with us in 1:12-13, but he’s now returning to the three epochs, beginning with the one in which G-d’s presence is hidden.

⁴            Ramchal cites the following verses that depict the end of this epoch as one in which “the haughtiness of man will be bowed down, and the arrogance of men will be brought low; when G-d alone will be exalted …. and (when) He will completely abolish the idols” (Isaiah 2:17-18), when “it will come to pass … says the L-rd of Hosts, that I will cut away the names of the idols from the land, and they will no more be remembered” (Zachariah 13:2), and when G-d “will destroy death forever; … wipe the tears away from all faces; and will remove the insult of His people from all the earth; … and it will be said on that day, ‘Behold! This is our G-d for whom we have waited!’ and He will save us” (Isaiah 25:8-9).

⁵             The idea that “everything is in the hands of Heaven but the fear of Heaven” implies that G-d’s sovereignty can apparently be undone if we decide not to “fear Heaven”, i.e., not to take G-d seriously. The point is, though, that since it’s G-d Himself who has granted us that freedom as well as the wherewithal we would need to follow through on it, His sovereignty is not only not undone, it’s actually bolstered.

⁶             That’s to reiterate the point that the world of right and wrong and of exile will eventually be undone and replaced by a newer, transcendent reality that’s beyond right and wrong, reward and punishment; for, none of that will be necessary once G-d’s Yichud will be revealed. See 1:10:1 above.

⁷             His “emanation” or what’s described in the text as the “overflowing of G-d’s superabundant goodness” is termed shepha in Hebrew. See Job 22:11 and 38:34 which speak of an “abundance (shepha) of water over-covering you”; Vayikrah Rabbah 27, where G-d is depicted as providing plentifully (mashpia) when He gives; and refer to Derech Hashem 2:8:3.

There are some other Kabbalistic references here, too. Without going into great detail, the Kabbalists speak of a “Trace” of G-dliness left behind after the Tzimtzum process (spoken of in note 7 to 1:1 above and note 6 to 1:3). which is known in Hebrew as the reshimu. It’s alluded to here, given that it represents the minimum amount of G-dliness needed for the world to function spoken of here. For discussions of the reshimu in Ramchal’s works see Clallim Rishonim 5 and 6*, and Klach Pitchei Chochma 26-27,

⁸             As such, we’re like very poor people who know nothing of what life can be like with the wealth that others know of and are to be pitied for our short-sightedness.

⁹             Not as if our batteries had suddenly died and we’d be left behind to rust off the side of the road, but rather as if we’d simply vanished without a trace.

In fact, after Moses spoke to G-d about the Jewish Nation’s grave sin of having constructed the Golden Calf and pleaded with G-d to forgive them, he then asked Him quite spectacularly to just, “blot me out from Your book” (Exodus 32:32) if G-d wouldn’t forgive them. G-d clearly didn’t acquiesce to that, but we have to wonder if anyone (significant or otherwise) might have been blotted out of the Torah, in fact, without leaving a trace!

In any event, this seems to serve as the paradigm of just how things would be if G-d were to utterly remove His shepha, G-d forbid: all records would be gone about this world and it would be as if it had never existed.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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

Da’at Tevunot 1:13 (# 46 – 47)

1.

There’s another thing about G-d’s interactions with us we’d do well to explain now ¹. It’s that we’re only able to grasp the effects of G-d’s actions — not the means and processes He uses to bring them about, because they touch upon things about Him that we can’t fathom ², given that we can only comprehend things that touch upon us ³.

And so while G-d is said to “know”, “remember”, “reflect upon”, “sympathize with”, “anger”, or to “want” one thing or another ⁴, in truth He doesn’t at all experience those the way we do. All we can say is that He experiences certain ineffable thought processes that are somehow and mysteriously analogous to what we’d experience in certain circumstances, but that they’re nevertheless utterly removed from ours.

The point of the matter, in any event, is that we experience the kinds of interactions and effects He’d want us to ⁵.

2.

It’s also true that what He’s said to refrain from doing ⁶ is beyond our ken. For, He just has to “say” something for it to come about — albeit in ineffable ways — in our realm to the extent He’d wants it to ⁷. A classical example of this ineffable ability was the time He was able to say something and have it heard by Moses and concurrently not be heard by the Jewish Nation right beside him ⁸.

The fact of the matter is that G-d is omnipotent ⁹ and no “rule” ¹⁰ or “limitation” ¹¹ could ever thwart Him, for while our actions are finite and have their limitations, His are infinite and boundless.

And now that we understand just how perfect, exalted, omnipotent, and unimpeded G-d actually is we can begin to comprehend some of the otherwise unfathomable and bewildering aspects about life, history and the course of things we’re often thrown by ¹².

Footnotes:

¹                See Clallim Rishonim 6 “V’Kav” for a discussion of this.

There’s some seeming redundancy here and 1:12 since both discuss G-d’s interactions with us. Nevertheless while Ramchal discussed G-d’s use of character traits there he’ll be concentrating on His thoughts and actions here.

²             I.e., His thoughts and processes.

³             I.e., our material thoughts and processes.

⁴             Which involve thoughts and processes beyond us.

⁵             When He deploys those thoughts and processes.

⁶             Or what He does to a limited extent, as we’ll see below.

⁷             That is, He can bring two contradictory phenomena about at the same time.

⁸             Ramchal is referring to what’s said in Torat Cohanim, Parshat Vayikra 2:10 here.

⁹             And thus ineffable.

¹⁰           Of logic or of some other theoretical lawgiver.

¹¹           Which could theoretically be placed on His abilities.

¹²           Which will be discussed next.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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

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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 1:9 (# 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

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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”.