{"id":338,"date":"2018-12-31T21:35:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T21:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/?p=338"},"modified":"2018-12-31T21:35:22","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T21:35:22","slug":"daattevunot-32-98-102","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/2018\/12\/31\/daattevunot-32-98-102\/","title":{"rendered":"Da\u2019atTevunot 3:2 (# 98 – 102)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Da\u2019atTevunot<\/em> 3:2 (# 98 – 102)\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Ramchal starts to explain the role of wrong and injustice in the world with a proposition derived from Rambam1<\/sup>. It\u2019s that when G-d creates or sustains something He does so with wafts of life-energy radiating toward it known as Divine \u201cemanations\u201d2<\/sup>. And that emanation defines that person, place, or thing\u2019s makeup 3<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

An analogous phenomenon in our experience, he offers, is the way the constellations emanate upon 4<\/sup> things in the world, Ramchal offers 5<\/sup>. Indeed, they affect and color everything that happens in our world. For as our sages put it, \u201ceach and every blade of grass down here has a \u2018constellation\u2019 up above that strikes it and says to it, \u2018Grow!\u2019\u201d(BreishitRabbah<\/em> 10:6).<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

But know that those constellations only bestow upon and control things that they\u2019d been told to by G-d, as G-d alone is the source and impetus behind each and every act of emanation6<\/sup>. For as Rambam put it 7<\/sup>, it\u2019s G-d alone who is the ultimate source of the existence of everything.<\/p>\n

Yet recall that His ways are not our ways8<\/sup>. And nothing He does as He interacts with this universe emanates from His own pure Being itself which transcends everything.<\/p>\n

Everything that He has occur here 9<\/sup>has been bestowed upon according to His will by an agent10<\/sup>. And everything is to be bestowed upon exactly the way He decreed it should be, and is to fit into the makeup and needs of this world specifically.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

It turns out then that both <\/em>the agents that generate this world that G-d created as well as the persons, places, and things they helped to generate are created phenomena — not just the latter. It\u2019s also true that G-d created different manners and degrees of emanationaccording to the things He wanted to be created. \u00a0And each agent of emanationis to affect a specific thing. Isn\u2019t it true, after all, that the emanationof wisdom is one sort, that of strength is another, and that of wealth is yet another, etc.<\/p>\n

But why would G-d have done it that way when He could have had everything bestowed upon by a single<\/em> agent rather than by a number of them?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because what emanationis at bottom is what G-d provides to His created beings so as to accomplish one thing or another. It\u2019s not up to us to consider the makeup of that emanationfrom G-d\u2019s perspective, since we can\u2019t fathom what He Himself does, but rather from our own perspective. So when G-d bestows might, for example, to something or another He does through the agent that bestows might since G-d wanted that thing to be powerful. And when He wants something to experience wisdom He has it bestowed upon by the agent of wisdom, etc. 11<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider goodness and wrongfulness12<\/sup>. How are they bestowed upon?<\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/p>\n

1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>While this doesn\u2019t seem to touch on the subject at first blush it will be explained on later.<\/p>\n

2<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See 1:14 note 7 above for an explanation. Also see Ramchal\u2019s statement below that \u201cwhat emanation is at bottom is what G-d provides to His created beings so as to accomplish one thing or another\u201d.<\/p>\n

The point here is that G-d has to effulgently grant either life itself or the ability to continue to live and exist upon a person, place or thing in order for it to do that.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s because of this mechanism in fact that G-d is termed \u201cthe fountain of living waters\u201d (Jeremiah 17:13) and \u201cthe source of life\u201d (Psalms 36:10).<\/p>\n

3<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That is, the strength, character, and configuration of G-d\u2019s emanation shapes and \u201ccolors\u201d the person, place, or thing it\u2019s bestowed upon (much the way the degree and quality of love or the lack of it that a parent bestows upon a child defines and shapes his or her being).<\/p>\n

Ramchal cites MorehNevuchim<\/em>2:10, but see 2:11 there, too, as well as Ramchal\u2019s discussion of much this idea in Derech Hashem <\/em>1:5:2.<\/p>\n

4<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Or, control and fuel.<\/p>\n

5<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cConstellations\u201d in this context can also refer to any higher celestial phenomena that have control of lower ones, and so on downward, snf need not refer to the physical constellations we know of (since the Hebrew term is mazal<\/em>, which has both implications).<\/p>\n

6<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That is, G-d Himself is the source of every emanation, whether it\u2019s His very own or one of His dutiful agents.<\/p>\n

7<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See 2:12 there.<\/p>\n

8<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As we\u2019re told, \u201c\u2018For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways\u2019, declares the L-rd.\u201d (Isaiah 55:8).<\/p>\n

9<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both the processes G-d uses to create and maintain things, and the makeup of things themselves.<\/p>\n

10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>That is, though G-d indeed fuels the emanations that would be necessary for all the instances of wrong and injustice in the universe, nevertheless that emanation isn\u2019t directly from G-d or a part of His Being — it only serve a specific purpose.<\/p>\n

This underscores the point that while G-d certainly allows for wrong and injustice since things only exist and go on with His awareness and approval, still the point is that it\u2019s separate from His essence and only serves a temporary end which will be undone in the end.<\/p>\n

11<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That is, G-d does indeed emit what we might term a \u201ccomposite\u201d emanation — one single amorphous extension of His will, but we don\u2019t experience it that way. It\u2019s just that when it touches upon our own situation it takes on as particular hue and tone specific to the task at hand, whether it\u2019s to allow for intelligence, strength or the like.<\/p>\n

12<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In light of all this now, rather than traits as we have been.<\/p>\n

(c) 2018 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n

Feel free to contact me at\u00a0feldman@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\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\u2019atTevunot 3:2 (# 98 – 102)\u00a0 1. Ramchal starts to explain the role of wrong and injustice in the world with a proposition derived from Rambam1. It\u2019s that when G-d creates or sustains something He does so with wafts of … 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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iqo7-5s","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","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=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions\/341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}