Da\u2019at\nTevunot 3:6 (\u00b6 118 [beginning])<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramchal reiterates here 1 <\/sup>that wrong is a created entity 2 <\/sup>that was only designed to last for as long as G-d wanted it to, and then be undone. He\u2019ll now lay out some of the details of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His first point is that G-d originally established the possibility of everything — but perfect phenomena 3<\/sup> — to be undone. That being so, he argues, the world we now know of can<\/em> be undone, since it\u2019s imperfect. But once the Ultimate Future comes about with its perfected heaven and earth 4<\/sup>, the world will ultimately not<\/em> be undone 5<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019ll now explain some of the mechanics behind this. The original emanation that brought about the sort of imperfect reality that we now know of that will be undone 6<\/sup> will not bring about the Ultimate Future. For that original emanation was only implanted with the ability to bring about imperfect things. After all, didn\u2019t it bring about the sorts of people we are, who are a combination of right and wrong, good and bad? <\/p>\n\n\n\n That emanation could only allow for the eventual separating<\/em>\nout<\/em> of wrongfulness rather than its undoing 7<\/sup> by Divine\ndecree. It doesn\u2019t actually allow for\nthings to be undone as they stand now but rather to be bound by G-d\u2019s decree\nthat they not be undone yet, but to function instead under the rules that He\nestablished for the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, that original emanation was designed to\nallow things to grow stronger in effect sometimes, and weaken at other times,\nas G-d would deem necessary. And so we have the sort of world we live in now\nwith its combination of right and wrong, but with not enough wrong to cause it\nto be undone — until it would be, given that \u201call that exists now will\neventually deteriorate\u201d 8<\/sup>, as Ramchal so ominously puts it, when G-d\ndecides that that\u2019s to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So again, when G-d brought about the original emanation, He implanted within it the ability to allow things to eventually be undone. That\u2019s why an inherently imperfect universe exists now, and why the world has within it the ability to allow for wrong as well as annihilation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s not to say that that first emanation was faulty or incapable of \u201cdoing better\u201d, so to speak, by the way. In fact, what\u2019s due to come about in the Ultimate Reality could have come about from the first under the influence of that original emanation; it\u2019s just that that emanation was specifically implanted with the ability to bring about imperfect things<\/p>\n\n\n\n But \u2013 and here\u2019s the point — a second emanation was to also come about as well which will also allow for existence, but which will forestall annihilation until the right time. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, while \u201cthe state of being undone\nitself will not yet itself have been undone\u201d, as Ramchal put it, wrong will\nhave been given boundaries and made to serve the purpose it was meant to 9<\/sup>.\nThere will nevertheless come a time when all wrong will be undone and only\nperfect and eternal things will exist 10<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t forget, though, what as we\u2019d pointed out a number of times before 11<\/sup> — that a major principle upon which the world stands is G-d\u2019s either \u201chiding His Countenance\u201d which results in imperfection, wrong and injustice, or His \u201crevealing\u201d it which results in perfection and righteousness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our point here, Ramchal indicates, is that wrong is the greatest example of G-d\u2019s \u201chiding His Countenance\u201d. For, given that G-d wanted to create man to be a combination of body and soul, He utilizes these two principles to enable man to eventually achieve perfection, even though man can sometimes be weak and other times strong, exalted or lowly and the like, since that is all in keeping with G-d\u2019s ultimate plans, despite appearances.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Footnotes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup> Also see 3:1 above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2<\/sup> And so it\u2019s neither eternal nor is it\nas powerful as G-d, as some erroneously think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3<\/sup> Like souls, Divine emanations, the\nworld of the Ultimate Future (which ia spoken of below) and the like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4<\/sup> See Isaiah 65:17 where it\u2019s written \u201cI\nwill create new heavens and a new earth\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is subtly alluding to the esoteric idea of the imperfect body and perfect soul conjoining in the World to Come when both will exist forever (see 2:1 above and our note 6 there).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also see 3:19 about everything eventually being pure goodness, and Adir<\/em> Bamarom<\/em> p. 397 about the fact that wrong as it is now will prove to be not actually wrong but rather only apparently<\/em> (not genuinely) so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6<\/sup> See 3:2 above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7<\/sup> See 3:22 below for an explanation of\nthis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8<\/sup> With the exception of perfect things\nas indicated above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9<\/sup> I. e., to allow for free will. See\n1:11 above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10<\/sup> Let\u2019s continue to follow the \u201cbouncing\nball\u201d here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As we said in our first footnote to 3:4, Ramchal\u2019s aim is to present the whys and wherefores of wrong and injustice, which he did by first discussing the emanation that lead to the creation and maintenance of the world (3:2). From there he went on to speak of the place of G-d\u2019s will within that emanation (i.e., of the fact that G-d is always allowing for whatever is going on \u2013 even instances of wrong and injustice) (3:3). Then see note 3 to 3:5 about a discussion of the potential for wrong and injustice in the world, as well as 3:4 which addressed the interface between the potential for wrong and the Divine Will worked through that emanation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point Ramchal explains the existence of wrong as being dependent on the fact that that original emanation would only allow for the world\u2019s temporary existence with a potential for imperfection and thus wrong but that a second emanation will eventually undo that reality and bring on perfection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a profound discussion of the makeup and implications of these two systems of emanation in Clallim<\/em> Rishonim<\/em> 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ramchal will now reintroduce another major factor in the playing out of right and wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11<\/sup> See 2:5 as well as the end of 3:5\nabove, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (c) 2019 Rabbi Yaakov\nFeldman<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feel free to contact me\nat feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ———————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rabbi\nFeldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag\u2019s \u201cIntroduction to\nthe Zohar\u201d is available as \u201cThe Kabbalah of Self\u201d on Kindle here<\/a>. His annotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight\nChapters” is available here<\/a> and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah\u2019s\n“The Gates of Repentance” is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\nhas also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and\n“The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rabbi\nFeldman also offers two free e-mail classes torah.org<\/a> entitled \u201cSpiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d that can be subscribed to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Da\u2019at Tevunot 3:6 (\u00b6 118 [beginning]) 1. Ramchal reiterates here 1 that wrong is a created entity 2 that was only designed to last for as long as G-d wanted it to, and then be undone. He\u2019ll now lay out … Continue reading