{"id":203,"date":"2017-07-31T14:46:40","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T14:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/?p=203"},"modified":"2017-07-31T14:46:40","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T14:46:40","slug":"daat-tevunot-25-76-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/2017\/07\/31\/daat-tevunot-25-76-79\/","title":{"rendered":"Da\u2019at Tevunot\u00a02:5 (# 76 – 79)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em>\u00a02:5 (# 76 – 79)<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Having spoken about the interplay of body and soul in various realms 1<\/sup> we\u2019ll now concentrate on them in conjunction with G-d\u2019s ways in the world.<\/p>\n

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<\/sup>. Also, whereas the spiritual with all of their Divine illumination and abundance are rooted in G-d\u2019s manifest benevolence, the physical with their minimum amount of Divine illumination and their scarcity are rooted in G-d\u2019s more covert benevolence\u00a03<\/sup>.\u00a0And while spiritual phenomena are rooted in holiness, physical ones are rooted in the mundane and in crassness 4<\/sup>. That explains why, given that we\u2019re physical beings, most of our concerns are enmeshed in the physical and are frankly nonsensical and beneath us.<\/p>\n

The reality behind this lies in the fact that hazy, dark physicality is a consequence of G-d\u00a0hiding<\/em>\u00a0His countenance rather than manifesting it outright, while spirituality is a consequence of G-d shining<\/em> His countenance, luminance, and holiness. For, at bottom G-d interacts with us by either concealing or manifesting His countenance\u00a05<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

But that pattern isn\u2019t 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<\/em>. 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<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Now, we can either rectify the world or can ourselves\u00a0be<\/em>\u00a0rectified within it through our Divine service\u00a07<\/sup>. 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\u2019ll 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<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve 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\u2019s 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\u2019s being 9<\/sup>, and to attain knowledge and wisdom rather than to be preoccupied with more and more material and baseless things.<\/p>\n

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\u2019ve become fixated on physicality and materiality.\u00a0How tragic is that, given that G-d has only created such things by turning His countenance away from them, as we\u2019d said.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019ll find himself engulfed in sheer physicality and the ephemeral 10<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s hiddenness and were forced to depend on their own devices. As it\u2019s written, \u201cYou\u2019ll eat bread by the sweat of your brow\u201d (Genesis 3:9) 11<\/sup>, and it\u2019s said of us, \u201cAll of a person’s toil is for his mouth, and yet his soul is not satisfied\u201d (Ecclesiastes 6:7) 12<\/sup>. Indeed, we grow more and more foolish as time passes.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a rule of thumb that touches upon this that would serve us well to know. It\u2019s that the narrower your purview is, the crasser are your thoughts and desires. After all, isn\u2019t it true that children 13 <\/sup>have no concern or longing for the pursuit of wisdom. Indeed, they fly out of school as soon as the day\u2019s over without giving a thought to important things. But it\u2019s also true that as a person\u2019s mind grows and his purview expands he longs for finer and more spiritual things. And that goes far to explain our circumstances.<\/p>\n

Indeed, this truism is rooted in Adam and Eve\u2019s sin, as a consequence of which we\u2019ve all become preoccupied with nonsense. That was rectified for a while when we received the Torah 14<\/sup>, but humanity\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Things would be otherwise if we\u2019d 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\u2019ll come to when G-d will pour His \u201cspirit upon all flesh\u201d (Joel 3:1).<\/p>\n

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\u2019s countenance shone upon them and the world itself.<\/p>\n

In any event, once we understand the makeup of the body and the soul and their roots in G-d\u2019s either manifesting His countenance or hiding it\u00a0which affects all of this, we\u2019ll come to recognize how G-d interacts with the world both benevolently and otherwise. We\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/p>\n

1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>See 2:1-4 in connection with this world, the afterlife, the resurrection of the dead, and the world to come.<\/p>\n

2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>See note 7 to 1:14 above about the mechanism behind G-d\u2019s emanation of light.<\/p>\n

3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>I.e., in His hiding His countenance, as we\u2019ll see below.<\/p>\n

One thing to be derived from this, though, is that while there\u2019s little Divine illumination and scarce signs of Divine benevolence in physicality, there\u2019s\u00a0some<\/em>\u00a0and sometimes even\u00a0more<\/em>\u00a0than just some, otherwise it couldn\u2019t exist because G-d wouldn\u2019t want it to.<\/p>\n

4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>See Derech<\/em> Hashem<\/em> 1:3:2 about the contrasts between body and soul.<\/p>\n

5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>G-d actually interacts with us by both<\/em> concealing and revealing His countenance by degrees, instant by instant.<\/p>\n

See\u00a01:8:2 above as well as note 3 there, and 1:14:3 for reference to G-d\u2019s hiding and revealing His countenance. Also see Clallim<\/em>\u00a0Rishonim<\/em>\u00a016.<\/p>\n

6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>That\u2019s to say that G-d created the spiritual realm full-facedly and lovingly while He allowed the physical to exist, to be sure, but \u201cback-handedly\u201d, if you will. For, while physicality certainly serves His purposes it also seems to countervail them.<\/p>\n

7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>Or neither may come about, as we\u2019ll soon see.\u00a0Ramchal\u2019s point is that we\u2019re both major actors in the course of G-d\u2019s plans as well as beneficiaries of it, or<\/em> neither<\/em>, depending on our moral decisions and actions.<\/p>\n

8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>Much of what\u2019s 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<\/em> Yesharim<\/em>.<\/p>\n

9\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>So little is said about this point that this stark citation of it is stunning and memorable.<\/p>\n

10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>We made the point in note 7 to 2:4 that a lot wasn\u2019t being said there about the subject at hand, and that\u2019s also very true here. For, as it\u2019s indicated in 1:15, 17, G-d will ultimately reveal His countenance to all and forever. Ramchal\u2019s whole aim here<\/em>, then, is to move us to goodness and teshuva<\/em> rather than offer an opposing metaphysical viewpoint.<\/p>\n

11\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>That is, you\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n

12\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>That is, we all work hard for our food and are dissatisfied because we\u2019ve separated ourselves from G-d in the process.<\/p>\n

13\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>\u2026 whose purviews are narrow \u2026<\/p>\n

14\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>When we were temporarily placed once again on the high pedestal that Adam and Eve had been on before their sin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Preview of Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em>\u00a02:5 (# 76 – 79)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————-<\/p>\n

Rabbi Feldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag\u2019s \u201cIntroduction to the Zohar\u201d is available as \u201cThe Kabbalah of Self\u201d on Kindle here<\/a>. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here<\/a> and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah\u2019s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes torah.org entitled \u201cSpiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d that can be subscribed to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Da\u2019at Tevunot\u00a02:5 (# 76 – 79) 1. Having spoken about the interplay of body and soul in various realms 1 we\u2019ll now concentrate on them in conjunction with G-d\u2019s ways in the world. Now, all-in-all, there are physical phenomena and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3,4,5,6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hashkapha","category-jewish-thought","category-kabbalah","category-luzzatto","category-ramchal","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iqo7-3h","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions\/205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}