{"id":211,"date":"2017-09-10T21:51:23","date_gmt":"2017-09-10T21:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/?p=211"},"modified":"2017-09-10T21:51:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-10T21:51:23","slug":"daat-tevunot-26-80-beg-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/2017\/09\/10\/daat-tevunot-26-80-beg-middle\/","title":{"rendered":"Da\u2019at Tevunot\u00a02:6 (# 80 [beg. – middle])"},"content":{"rendered":"

Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em>\u00a02:6 (# 80 [beg. – middle])<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Ramchal reveals an important insight here — that this principle of G-d\u2019s alternately concealing or revealing His presence explains many things about our body and soul. And conversely that our body and soul explain many things about G-d\u2019s hiddenness or revelation, too, since they\u2019re all interrelated\u00a01<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

As such we\u2019re told that not only is the body a product of G-d\u2019s hiddenness, it also serves as a\u00a0model<\/em>\u00a0of it, just as the soul serves as a model of G-d\u2019s presence. And G-d\u2019s concealing or revealing His presence also explains many things about ourselves, given that we were all created in G-d\u2019s \u201cimage and likeness\u201d (Genesis 1:26)\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0and we reflect all of His ways in our makeup.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s see how this works.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve explained before, the body is rooted in darkness\u00a03<\/sup>. In fact, even if you\u2019d purify your body as much as you possibly could it would never be a soul, since the soul is a lofty and illuminated product of G-d\u2019s presence while the body is simply not\u00a04<\/sup>. The body is rooted in G-d\u2019s hiddenness. Indeed, the body could only be purified to the point where body and soul nearly touch, but no further\u00a05<\/sup>.\u00a0For, your soul will always be a soul and a perfect entity, while your body will always be imperfect, no matter how much you purify it\u00a06<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also obviously true that your body is comprised of a large number of parts with specific functions: with eyes to see with, for example, ears to hear with, etc. But that\u2019s not true of your soul. All of your soul\u2019s \u201cparts\u201d\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0are merged together rather than separate. And that\u2019s connected to the body\u2019s being a product of G-d\u2019s hiddenness and the soul being a product of G-d\u2019s presence\u00a08<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Now, this is all rooted in a well-known principle that perfection\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup>is rooted in oneness\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0and\u00a0can\u2019t be disproportionate\u00a011<\/sup>. But there are times — when G-d\u2019s presence is hidden — that He doesn\u2019t want perfection to be in place, as when He allows for reward or punishment\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0for example. And when He sees to it that there are instances of multiplicity and disproportion\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0in the world\u00a014<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

This paradigm also manifests itself in our having been created in G-d\u2019s image, as cited above. Let\u2019s see how.<\/p>\n

Our body-parts correspond to the traits that G-d uses to interact with the world. And so our eyes correspond to the \u201ceyes\u201d that G-d observes and judges us with, our ears correspond to the \u201cears\u201d that He listens to our prayers with, and our mouths correspond to the \u201cmouth\u201d that G-d uses to converse with, etc., as all of our body-parts correspond on some level to G-d\u2019s traits in this world.<\/p>\n

The fact that we\u2019re comprised of a left and right side for our eyes, ears, hands, feet, etc. corresponds to G-d\u2019s ways of interacting with us with either His \u201cright\u201d, loving side or His \u201cleft\u201d, critical side\u00a015<\/sup>, which He displays when His presence isn\u2019t manifest\u00a016<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also true that just as our body-parts are differentiated by function, our experiences in this world are likewise all different from each other, as a consequence of G-d\u2019s hiddenness. Whereas perfection, which is rooted in oneness as we said and in G-d\u2019s presence, would undo all shortcomings, it wouldn\u2019t be comprised of various parts, and it would see to it that everything achieves perfection\u00a017<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

In any event, know that at bottom, the point is to have the soul take command of the body and purify it so that G-d might manifest His perfection here on earth and to rectify all of the world\u2019s imperfections.<\/p>\n

The body would then suffer judgment for having taken command of our souls, for having contributed to G-d\u2019s hiddenness and for leaving humankind and the world to suffer all of the vicissitudes and upheavals that define the human situation.<\/p>\n

So the body is equipped with all the parts it needs to contend with such vagaries and for the environment in which perfection is hidden away, and also to help bring perfection about. While the soul on the other hand has what it needs for perfection and in order to rectify\u00a0each imperfection, so that\u00a0it\u00a0might be encouraged to do all of that \u2013 if only we\u2019d improve our ways and allow the soul to reign\u00a018<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/p>\n

1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>See\u00a0Clallim<\/em>\u00a0Rishonim<\/em>\u00a023, \u201cV\u2019ha\u2019pen<\/em>\u00a0hasheini<\/em>\u00a0hu<\/em>\u201d; and\u00a0Klach<\/em>\u00a0Pitchei<\/em>\u00a0Chochma<\/em>\u00a04, end of\u00a0perush<\/em>, \u201cshehanivraim<\/em>\u00a0atzmam<\/em>\u201d; and 9,\u00a0perush<\/em>, \u201cach<\/em>\u00a0yesh<\/em>\u00a0metziut<\/em>\u00a0achas<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>This will be reiterated below. But refer to the following works on this vital concept:\u00a0Kuzari<\/em>\u00a04:3;\u00a0Moreh Nevuchim<\/em>\u00a01:1;\u00a0Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah<\/em>\u00a04:8,\u00a0Hilchot Teshuva<\/em>\u00a010:6; Siach Yitzchak<\/em>,\u00a0Likkutim<\/em>, p. 286;\u00a0Nephesh Hachaim<\/em>\u00a01:3;\u00a0Michtav M\u2019Eliyahu\u00a0<\/em>1, p. 32;\u00a0Derech Hachaim<\/em>\u00a03:14;\u00a0Zohar Chadash<\/em>\u00a01:28b, etc.<\/p>\n

3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/sup>I.e., in the fact that G-d\u2019s shining countenance is hidden from it. See 2:5:2 above.<\/p>\n

4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>Even though we said above in footnote 6 to 2:1 that body and soul actually derive from the same root, it\u2019s still and all true that that reality changes once the two are manifested in the world.<\/p>\n

5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>According to R\u2019 Yoseph Spinner, some older manuscripts eliminate what\u2019s said from this point in our text all the way to the beginning of section 4 below. That of course disallows for much of this chapter\u2019s insights, but it also does away with a lot of its obscurity and wordiness, which makes it so difficult to understand. (It\u2019s unclear, though, whether Ramchal edited out the extra text or added it in later.)<\/p>\n

Moving the text in question to these notes and explaining it with bracketed comments would have helped clarify things and made the text itself easier to read, but we decided against that simply because all of the existing versions of\u00a0Da\u2019at<\/em>\u00a0Tevunot<\/em>\u00a0include the text in question.<\/p>\n

6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>This is an instance of our body and soul modeling G-d\u2019s hiddenness or presence.<\/p>\n

7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>I.e., all of its inchoate\u00a0elements, functions, and gradations of holiness.<\/p>\n

8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>This is another instance of our body and soul model G-d\u2019s hiddenness or presence.<\/p>\n

9\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>… which is also a product of G-d\u2019s presence just as the soul is\u2026<\/p>\n

10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>I.e., in a single, sheer cohesive entity without differentiations.<\/p>\n

11\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>See\u00a0Clallim<\/em>\u00a0Rishonim<\/em>\u00a06.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Ramchal is thus defining \u201cperfection\u201d here as an instance of amalgamation and of flawless proportion. A \u201cperfect person\u201d would thus be someone who\u2019s consistent in his or her righteousness and would be an example of Rambam\u2019s temperate, righteous personality (see Ch. 4 of\u00a0Sh\u2019mone<\/em>\u00a0Perakim<\/em>).<\/p>\n

12\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>For the sake of free choice in an imperfect world.<\/p>\n

The other point is that since there\u2019d\u00a0only\u00a0be\u00a0goodness and reward<\/em>\u00a0if G-d\u2019s presence were to be manifest; instances of reward\u00a0or\u00a0punishment thus only come about when His presence is hidden.<\/p>\n

13\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>\u2026 which are instances of plurality and imperfection \u2026<\/p>\n

14\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>This is an instance of G-d\u2019s hiddenness or presence manifesting itself in the world.<\/p>\n

15\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>See the second introduction to\u00a0Tikkunei Zohar<\/em>, Zohar 1:109b.<\/p>\n

16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>Thus is an instance of our body being a model of G-d\u2019s hiddenness or presence.<\/p>\n

17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>This is another instance of G-d\u2019s hiddenness or presence manifesting itself in our body and souls.<\/p>\n

18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>And this all is a vision of our\u00a0overcoming<\/em>\u00a0G-d\u2019s hiddenness and having Him<\/p>\n

manifest His presence in the world, which is our life\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Feel free to contact me at\u00a0feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————-<\/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\u00a0here<\/a>. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah\u2019s “The Gates of Repentance” is available\u00a0here<\/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\u00a0torah.org<\/a>\u00a0entitled \u201cSpiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d that can be subscribed to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Da\u2019at Tevunot\u00a02:6 (# 80 [beg. – middle]) 1. Ramchal reveals an important insight here — that this principle of G-d\u2019s alternately concealing or revealing His presence explains many things about our body and soul. And conversely that our body 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-211","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\/p7iqo7-3p","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211","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=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions\/213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}