{"id":391,"date":"2020-02-17T20:57:51","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T20:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/?p=391"},"modified":"2020-02-17T20:57:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T20:57:51","slug":"daat-tevunot-37-%c2%b6-118-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/2020\/02\/17\/daat-tevunot-37-%c2%b6-118-middle\/","title":{"rendered":"Da\u2019at Tevunot 3:7 (\u00b6 118 [middle])"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Da\u2019at<\/em> Tevunot<\/em> 3:7 (\u00b6 118 [middle])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               We\u2019d\ndo well to take something into consideration,\nRamchal adds\nhere. It\u2019s that just because something or someone is imperfect<\/em> doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s utterly wrongful or bad; for\n\u201csomething could be lacking (in one positive factor or another) and thus be\nimperfect and not categorically good, yet\nnot be bad<\/em>\u201d 1<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.              After all, even angels are imperfect beings, as lofty as\nthey are 2<\/sup>, since by definition no one other than G-d Almighty\nHimself is perfect 3<\/sup>. Angels differ from each, with some loftier\nthan others to a kind of subtle and uncanny degree we can\u2019t fathom. Yet none of\nthem are out-and-out wrongful or bad. As they never experience jealousy or hatred\nfor example, they haven\u2019t a yetzer harah<\/em>,\nand they never become ill or die. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               But\nthen consider humankind. We\u2019re certainly less perfect than angels and more\ndisposed to moral and physical weakness. Some of us are indeed wrongful and\neven thoroughly wicked, since we do<\/em>\nhave a yetzer<\/em> harah<\/em>; and we\u2019re subject to illness and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there\nare lesser beings than us like beasts and animals that certainly have their\nblemishes, vulnerabilities, and repulsive sides, let alone their intellectual\nand spiritual restrictions. Yet they don\u2019t consciously and willfully do harm.\nAnd there are certain purely toxic non-material entities like angels of destruction,\nspirits of impurity and the like, spirits of \u201cthe other side\u201d 4<\/sup> etc.\nthat are exemplars of pure  albeit\ninstinctive rather than intentional evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               The\nimportant thing to realize, though, for our purposes is that actual wrong and\nevil are products of a long downward spiral of imperfections, one after the\nother in succession, which end in pure wrongfulness. That\u2019s to say that the\nmore imperfection that\u2019s allowed to spiral downward step by step, the more\nwrong and evil there will be in the world 5<\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Understand\nthat there were no such things as imperfections or wrongfulness before G-d\nfashioned the system of cause-and-effect and the like that defines reality as\nwe know it 6<\/sup>. After all, G-d\u2019s realm is utterly and gloriously\nbeyond all of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               But\nonce G-d consciously and purposefully set the system of gradations in place,\nthough 7<\/sup>, which He decided should function to whatever degree He\nwanted it to, it became possible for wrong and evil to exist 8<\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footnotes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1                  <\/sup>Ramchal is\nsweetening the frightening tone of the last chapter (and others, too) that\nspeaks of imperfection leading to destruction, and the like. He\u2019ll make another\npoint about this truism below, but many a student of Mussar<\/em> and very many sincere souls who are driven to drawing close\nto G-d would do well to take this to heart. That is, just because an individual\nis somehow flawed doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s tainted throughout. Each and every one of\nus is multifarious and incongruous; and most of us are simultaneously shameful\nand laudable depending on the angle from which we\u2019re looked at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2                  <\/sup>Ramchal\ndiscusses the topic of angels (both the benevolent sort spoken of here, and the\nmalevolent ones cited below) in a number of his works: see Ginzei Ramchal <\/em>pp. 27, 33, 35, 41, 131-132, 153, 277; Messilat Yesharim<\/em> Ch. 6; Adir Bamarom<\/em> pp. 111, 195, 260; and Derech Hashem<\/em> 1:5:2,9, 3:1:6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3                  <\/sup>See 3:13\nbelow for a comparison and contrast between humankind and angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4                  <\/sup>Something\nwrongful that\u2019s said to emanate from \u201cthe other side\u201d emanates from the \u201cside\u201d\nof reality that is \u201cother\u201d than G-dly and holy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5                  <\/sup>That is,\nonce the \u201cPandora\u2019s Box\u201d which is chock full of all sorts of imperfections in a\nlong row is opened, pure wrongfulness and evil will certainly manifest\neventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6                  <\/sup>See 1:15,\n1:18: and 2:3 for discussions about the specific systems that G-d put into\nplace in the world as it stands now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7                  <\/sup>See Klach<\/em> Pitchei<\/em> Chochma<\/em> 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8                  <\/sup>The point is\nthat G-d set up a system of cause and effect that can spiral downward, which\ncan then end in sheer evil, though it doesn\u2019t necessarily have to (which\nexplains the existence of imperfect people who are still and all not evil as discussed\nat the beginning of the chapter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See Clallim<\/em> Rishonim<\/em> 5, 3:22 below, and Klach<\/em>\nPitchei Chochma <\/em>47.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(c) 2020 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 3:7 (\u00b6 118 [middle]) 1.                We\u2019d do well to take something into consideration, Ramchal adds here. It\u2019s that just because something or someone is imperfect doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s utterly wrongful or bad; for \u201csomething could be … 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-391","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\/p7iqo7-6j","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391","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=391"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/daattevunot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}