Da\u2019at Tevunot 2:10 (# 87 \u2013 88 [beg.])<\/p>\n
1.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d need to retrace our steps up to now in this second section of Da\u2019at Tevunot to understand where we\u2019re heading here. <\/p>\n
Ramchal set out to discuss the fact that we\u2019re comprised of two utterly antithetical elements: physicality and spirituality, and to explore how they nonetheless collaborate. He then investigated the relationship between G-d\u2019s hiddeness and His revelation and our body and soul (then he side-tracked to discuss the realm in which body and soul interact, the complexion). And he then offered that there\u2019ll be various epochs of time which the body and soul will experience together that will go on to explain things about G-d\u2019s hiddenness or manifest presence. We\u2019ll be delving into that last point here.<\/p>\n
The first thing to know is that we\u2019ll be concentrating on great stretches of time — ten millennia and more — and upon great and mysterious, mystical machinations involving our bodies and souls, G-d\u2019s ever more manifest presence, and the makeup of the universe at large 1. \t<\/p>\n
There\u2019ll prove to be five such epochs of time, and Ramchal will depict the ultimate one first 2. <\/p>\n
2. <\/p>\n
This final epoch will be the one in which the aimed-for human perfection will have been achieved. And we\u2019ll start with it, rather than with the first epoch, because it\u2019s the one that was actually formed first but then held in abeyance until it could be achieved by our own efforts which was the plan from the first 3. <\/p>\n
The soul will utterly reign at this juncture and the body will have no say whatsoever, and will not even seem to be there for all intents and purposes, given that it will be totally subservient to the soul. In fact, the body couldn\u2019t even be said to be a \u201cbody\u201d there and then as we know it: it will simply exist somehow but serve no practical function 4.<\/p>\n
It makes sense that the body would be so nearly null and void then, given that it\u2019s so material, dense and dark, and rooted in the holding back of light. If it actually functioned there, that would somehow smother and diminish the light of the soul. So the soul is allowed to be in full bloom there and then, and enabled to achieve full perfection, while the body is powerless.<\/p>\n
Again, though, that\u2019s not to say that the body won\u2019t exist there and then — didn\u2019t we point out that both body and soul are to be rewarded 5 which would dictate that the body would need to exist? It\u2019s just to say that the body won\u2019t function then and it will be totally subsumed to the soul to which it will be attached and with which it will be in synch. In fact, the two wouldn\u2019t be able to be differentiated from each other for the body would be \u201cswallowed up\u201d by the soul\u2019s pure being 6.\t<\/p>\n
Footnotes:<\/p>\n
1\tWe\u2019re taught that reality as we know it will only last for six millennia, after which all will be undone then redone by G-d in the course of the seventh millennium (Sanhedrin 97b). But Ramchal draws here upon the concept of ten millennia that was introduced in the 14th century Kabbalistic work Sefer Brit Menucha, by Rabbi Avraham ben Yitzchak of Granada.<\/p>\n
Understand of course that the term \u201cmillennium\u201d here isn\u2019t to be taken literally, as time will no longer factor in once the world approaches the tenth \u201cmillennium\u201d and beyond. <\/p>\n
In short the chronology will be as follows: the seventh millennium will encompass the Messianic Era; the eighth and ninth millennia, which would best be termed the post Messianic era, will include the resurrection of the dead, the Day of Judgment; and the tenth millennium will comprise the World to Come. <\/p>\n
2\tThis will prove to be the World to Come.<\/p>\n
3\tThat\u2019s to say that the World to Come — the epoch of perfection — was there from the first and will be there in the end.<\/p>\n
This is a very esoteric theme that Ramchal often returned to again and again. See his Ma\u2019amar Sod HaYichud and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
4\tSee Klallim Rishonim 9.<\/p>\n
5\tSee 2:1:2 above.<\/p>\n
6\tThat\u2019s to say that while the body will certainly be there in the mix, it will \u201cbe almost non-existent, and will be utterly and wholly subservient to the soul\u201d then, as Ramchal words it. In fact, Ramchal states that \u201cit couldn\u2019t even be referred to by a name\u201d since it would have so faint a presence, and it could \u201conly be said to exist\u201d but to \u201chave no (other) effect\u201d than that.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s simply that the body will no longer have consequence, no effect, will exercise no push and pull, and it will enjoy no significance; instead, it will be utterly deferential to the soul to which it will cling for dear life and purpose, and to which it will be wholly subsumed<\/p>\n
As we indicated in note 5 to 2:2 above, the \u201cbody\u201d in this context includes one’s mind, personality, memories, and the like. The implication then is that there\u2019ll come a time when one\u2019s whole sense of self -will be in a state of semi-sleep and near extinction, for all intents and purposes. There\u2019d likely be a sense of self-consciousness then but that it would seemingly be so still and passive as to hardly matter. <\/p>\n
Perhaps — and this is all conjecture — it would be analogous to the feeling one has when reacting rapturously to music or lofty thought — when the sounds or ideas overtake one\u2019s being and sense of self, and when the body certainly goes on its physiological way, the senses still work, and the brain still accepts signals, but the person wouldn\u2019t respond if his or her name was being called, and would only return to normal consciousness after some prodding. The point to remember, though, is that the immortal soul, which far transcends all this, will go on as always, and will be unaffected by any of it.<\/p>\n
c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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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. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah\u2019s “The Gates of Repentance” is available here.<\/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\u201d and \u201cRamchal\u201d that can be subscribed to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Da\u2019at Tevunot 2:10 (# 87 \u2013 88 [beg.]) 1. We\u2019d need to retrace our steps up to now in this second section of Da\u2019at Tevunot to understand where we\u2019re heading here. Ramchal set out to discuss the fact that we\u2019re … Continue reading