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2:3:1

As we’d said, our role in life depends on the existence of right and wrong, and on our choosing right over wrong [1]. Yet there are a lot of factors in all of this, and it’s also important to know that it’s not only our actions that can be right or wrong but our personal qualities, too [2].

Being egocentric, for example, is wrongful [3] while being humble is a good thing [4]; being compassionate is good while being cruel is bad; being satisfied and happy with your lot in life is good [5], while its opposite is bad; etc.

But know that it was G-d who determined what would go into human nature in light of our ultimate tasks in life and brought about all of these qualities — along with their causes and effects, and everything else connected to them — and it was He who allowed them to exist in the human heart [6].

There’s yet another factor in all of this. People would have to exist in various circumstances in order for these qualities to be played out, which would then become a “testing-ground” for each one of us, in that we’d each be forced to contend with bad traits and yet given the opportunity to transcend them and chose good ones instead [7].

And so if wealth and poverty didn’t both exist, for example, there wouldn’t be an opportunity to express compassion or cruelty. As such, wealth exists so the wealthy can be tested to see if they’d be compassionate or cruel to the poor. And the poor are tested to see whether or not they’ll be satisfied with and grateful for what little they have or not [8].

The wealthy are tested other ways besides. To see if they might become haughty because of their wealth, or overly-worldly and then abandon their Divine service. Or to see if they might be humble and subservient despite their good fortune and reject worldliness, and strive for Divine service and a Torah-based life. There are many other such examples of these sorts of challenges.

The point of the matter is that G-d distributed these challenges among us all as a part of His plans for us [9]. As such, each one of us thus has his or her own challenges in our battles with the yetzer hara [10]. Our task is to meet those challenges as best as we can, and our success will be judged precisely in light of our assigned circumstances [11].

The whole of this can be compared to the successful functioning of a government, with subordinates and superiors [12]. Each subordinate is to fulfill his assignment as best as possible under his circumstances, each superior is to assign them according to the needs of the state, and each subordinate’s success is to be judged according to his actions under his circumstances [13].

Now, while we aren’t privy to know just how all of this is to be carried out as a whole, we’re nonetheless to realize that in the end everything will function as it must [14].

Footnotes:

[1]         See 1:3:1.

[2]         See 1:2:5 and 2:2:5 above and Messilat Yesharim Ch. 4.

As was pointed out in 2:2:2 (see note 3 there), there’s a fundamental difference between one’s own personal spiritual strivings and that of all of humankind’s. While the previous chapter addressed humankind’s efforts, this chapter will address the individual’s. It’s also true that while the previous chapter is based on the dynamics of reward and punishment, this one will take other phenomena into account.

[3]         See Messilat Yesharim Ch.11.

[4]         See Messilat Yesharim Ch. 22.

[5]         See Messilat Yesharim Ch. 11.

[6]         See 1:2:4. Also see Klach Pitchei Chochma 81-82 about G-d hiding the factors that go into all of this from humankind.

The point is that none of our circumstances are just par for the course or merely a natural part of the human condition: they were all implemented on purpose by G-d for the reasons soon to be explained. After all, G-d could have created us and the universe any way He cared to — its being what it is now was all part of a purposeful decision on His part.

So while each and every person is born into a vast and cacophonous array of circumstances and phenomena that seem to defy order or purpose, and appear random at best or deliberately and cruelly confounding at worst, yet as every person of faith knows, there’s certainly a plan in place.

[7]         See Shemot Rabbah 31:3; Tanchuma, Mishpatim 8; Petachim 65a, Kiddushin 82b Bava Batra 10a, 16a, and Sanhedrin 100b.

[8]         See Messilat Yesharim Ch’s. 1 and 8.

[9]         This alludes to a more transcendent scale of Divine governance which is largely beyond our ken.

See Moed Katan 28a and 2:7:2 below regarding mazal. Also see Da’at Tevunot 160-164,170 and Clallim Rishonim 34.

[10]      I.e., in the battle of opting for goodness over wrongfulness. See Messilat Yesharim Ch. 1 about life’s many moral trials.

[11]      As such, G-d allowed for situations to exist in our lives that would either vex us and thus challenge us to overcome, or that would tantalize us and thus challenge us to transcend — all so that we’d fulfill His wish that we better ourselves spiritually and ethically. So in a very real sense, everything we see and experience is meant to test our mettle; to act as fodder for our ever-churning self to advance.

The other point is that the fact that we’re each to be judged by our circumstances implies that what would be sinful for someone in his station would not be in another’s, and vice versa; and that G-d factors all of that into His assessments.

[12]      Ramchal actually uses the analogy of a citizenship being subordinate to its king, but we’ve tried to bring the analogy up to date.

[13]      See Messilat Yesharim Ch. 22.

[14]      Since G-d isn’t simply a superior — to hearken back to the analogy cited in the previous paragraph — but an omniscient one at that with a plan.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Somehow this one never made it here, so things are out of order. Sorry.

2:2:7

There’s one other important point, though. The community of perfected beings we’d spoken of [1] will be comprised of people on various levels; not everyone will be equal there [2]. There’ll be the lowest level, consisting of those just minimally capable of attaching onto G-d’s presence and enjoying it, and other, higher levels.

Anyone who can achieve that lowest level at least will be a member of the community and will remain there forever. Somebody who hasn’t attained that level, though, will be turned away  from the community entirely and be undone, while someone who has reached a higher level will be in a loftier community [3].

Now, since G-d has determined that we’re to be the masters of our own destiny by our own actions [4], both in general and specifically, we’re to be on the level that we ourselves strove for. As such there’ll be especially exalted individuals and less exalted ones, giants of the spirit and more pedestrian ones there — all depending on that individual’s own efforts [5] and without any ill-feeling on anyone else’s part.

Footnotes:

[1]         See 2:2:4.

[2]         See Baba Batra 75a, Da’at Tevunot 88-94, Clallim Rishonim 9, Adir Bamarom pp. 188 and 398, as well as 1:3:13 above and 2:3:9 below.

That is, while we might think that just as all of the wholly evil will be undone point blank in one fell swoop, then all in the World to Come should enjoy one sort of experience as well. But apparently that’s not so. The point seems to be that the righteous will retain their distinctiveness, while the wicked will be undone and discarded en mass. But as we’ll see in the following note that that’s not how Ramchal sees it elsewhere in his writings.

[3]         Ramchal explained the makeup of the World to Come in quite a number of his works.  He described it as the environment in which “the human edifice will come to completion” (2:8:4 below); in which “all wrongfulness will be turned around to righteousness” (Klach Pitchei Chochma 42); where “peace and tranquility will reign” and “fear and sorrow will disappear” (Mishkanei Elyon); and where the “final redemption … the ultimate (state of ) perfection” will come about, in the course of which “all damages will be repaired”, i.e., all wrongs will be made right (Klach Pitchei Chochma 30).

But this seems to be a human, this-worldly perspective of things rather than the supreme viewpoint that those who’d dwell there would ultimately achieve. Elsewhere, though, Ramchal points out that we know absolutely nothing about the ultimate level of the World to Come — which will be come about in the course of the Tenth Millennium and onward (see the discussion in Klach Pitchei Chochma 97-98). “G-d’s sovereignty will be revealed … to all of creation” then  (4:4:1 below), all there will “be eternally attached onto G-d’s presence” (2:2:4 above); and “everything will return to the state of supreme oneness” (Pinot HaMerkava).

And he also offers this: “everything will once again be as it had been at the (very) beginning” before the creation of  this world in the presence of G-d then, “with no distinctions between things” (Kitzur Kavanot p. 196). Thus, the depiction of distinctions between the righteous individuals in note 2 above isn’t always true, as there’ll apparently be no such rankings ultimately.

At bottom the point seems to be that while the initial stages of the World to Come will be those in which this world will be perfected and made right and where some of the makeup of this world, like its multiplicity, will be retained for the meanwhile. The latter stages on the other hand will be like nothing we know of, and all will be as one on all levels.

[4]         See 1:2:2.

[5]         See Da’at Tevunot 70.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

2:2:8

There’s another important thing about determining how something affects your being in the community of the righteous in the World to Come and your status there [1].

It’s that there are certain good deeds that are adjudged not to earn you a place in the World to Come but to be rewarded for in this world instead. The situation of those in this category are a lot like that of the mostly wrongful [2] — with one important distinction.

Those we just discussed do make it to the World to Come thanks to their good deeds, albeit only after having been cleansed in the Afterlife for their sins. But because of the nature of their good deeds they’d only achieve the lowest degree of the World to Come, and the majority of their good deeds will be rewarded while they’re alive.

What’s tragic, though, is the fact that if those good deeds would have earned them a place in the World to Come, they’d have achieved a lofty one there [3].

Footnotes:

[1]         Ramchal said in 2:2:5 that we can’t fathom the very many calculations that go into reward and punishment, and he remarked in 2:2:7 that the community of perfected beings will be comprised of people on various levels. He’ll now delve into both ideas.

[2]         Who’ll be rewarded in this world for their few good deeds but never experience the World to Come. See 2:2:6.

[3]         To understand the significance of this let’s explore the following. Ramchal broke people down into three types in the fourth chapter of Messilat Yesharim: “those who fully understand” (what matters most and what’s expected of us by G-d), “those of lesser understanding” (than they), and “the great majority of people”.

The best of them, “those who fully understand”, would yearn for nothing else but to grow in their beings, while the basest of them, “the great majority of people”, would only want to stay out of trouble, if you will. Their positions are straightforward enough. It’s the situation of “those of lesser understanding” (than the first group but who are still and all more promising than the third group) though, that speaks to the subject above.

As Ramchal explains there in Messilat Yesharim “It’s obvious to all thinking people that the division of spiritual levels in the world of truth, that is, the World to Come, is based upon the performance of righteous deeds. And that one who is greater in such things than his friend will be exalted above him, while one who is lacking in them will be lower”.

Yet, Ramchal continues, “there are fools who only care to have it easy. They say: ‘Why  should we burden ourselves with all this saintliness and abstention? Isn’t it enough that we’re not bad and doomed to Gehenom? We’re not about to exert ourselves when it comes to getting into the Garden of Eden (or the World to Come, the subject at hand). If we don’t get a big portion (there), we’ll settle for a small one, and that will be just fine for us. We don’t plan to overburden ourselves with all this’.”

Ramchal is thus making the point here, in Derech Hashem, that that position is heartbreaking. For had such people gone to the trouble to be more exacting in their expectations of themselves, they’d in fact have achieved a high level in the World to Come. After all, they’re not like “the great majority of people”: they have what it takes to be lofty. It’s just that they’re too lazy perhaps, or not inspired enough to strive for the excellence they can achieve. And they — and those of us on that level — are to be pitied for that.

(c) 2016 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

2:1:3

We humans are unique because of our free will and our inherent ability to achieve perfection or not to, and because we’re active, vital agents in this universe rather than passive ones [1]. So the sort of Divine supervision touching on us is necessarily unique, too.

All of our activities are overseen and all of their consequences — everything we do and everything that comes about as a result is scrutinized, and G-d reacts to each one of us in light of all that [2], measure for measure [3].

That’s not true of other beings. They’re reactive rather than active agents and merely exist to maintain their species in ways set out by their roots [4]. So they’re supervised in ways appropriate to that.

But since we humans are indeed active and we affect things on our own, we’re each explicitly overseen [5] in light of our actions. But we’ll expand on this later [6].

Footnotes:

[1]         We discussed free will at length above. See note 2 to 1:3:1 for references.

[2]         Indeed G-d interacts with us, rather than just oversees or supervises us as He does other species as we’ll see. Because we are His “partners” in the universe (see Breishit Rabbah 11:6).

See Ch. 3 of this section below for more on this as well 4:9:3, and Ma’amar HaIkkurim, “B’Hashgacha” and “B’Torah uMitzvot“.

[3]         See 4:8:4 below as well as Da’at Tevunot 48, Klach Pitchei Chochma 94, and Messilat Yesharim Ch. 4.

That’s generally understood to mean parallel and equivalent recompense, with an arithmetically equal reaction to each action, tit for tat. But it may simply refer to a generally fitting and appropriate though not exact reaction to goodness or wrongfulness.

See 2:2:3-4 and 4:8:4 below on reward and punishment. Also see Shabbat 105b, Nedarim 32a, and Sanhedrin 90a as well as Sefer HaIkkurim 4:9 and Moreh Nevuchim 3:17.

[4]         That’s to say that G-d merely oversees the actions and experiences of other species and the consequences of them on a broad, more all-encompassing scope.

They often-enough play more vital — albeit passive — roles in the course of things, but that’s only so as to move things along according to G-d’s plans aside from keeping their species going. See Ma’amar HaIkkurim, “B’Torah uMitzvot“.

[5]         And judged.

[6]         The difference between G-d’s supervision of humans as opposed to other entities can be likened to how a teacher relates to an outstanding student as opposed to how he acts toward more pedestrian students.

The outstanding student (i.e., humankind) enjoys the teacher’s special attention and he’s allotted certain special privileges. The teacher watches over him and reacts to him proudly, almost dotingly; he duly notes and rewards the student’s contributions to the class, and the teacher may even parry from time to time with the good student. Should the bright student somehow test his teacher’s mettle and go too far, that would be noted too, and the “star” student would then suffer the consequences of that.

The pedestrian students (i.e., other species) are certainly observed in class and encouraged to do what they do best, but because they neither shine nor significantly contribute to the quality of the class, they’re observed only enough to see to it that they get what they can from the class, in order to maintain order and progress. But they’re still-and-all not doted over.

[5]         See Ch. 3 below.

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Though G-d certainly manifests and allows for goodness by turning His “face” toward one thing or another [1] He also manifests and allows for evil [2] by hiding His “face” and by simply disallowing for goodness to occur in that instance. It’s just that He’s not the perpetrator of evil [3].

In fact, G-d created a specific system for evil to exist and function [4], and He did that with the specific intention of having evil — as well as goodness — carry out His ultimate designs for humankind and the universe [5].

This system, which we’ll expand upon later [6], is comprised of a different order of phenomena than that of the Transcendent Forces, and all manifestations of evil and imperfection derive from this system. Ultimately, though, all of the phenomena within this system derive from G-d’s concealing His “face”, with greater instances of concealment allowing for greater instances of evil [7].

At bottom, then, goodness is withheld and the Transcendent Forces are weakened when the system of evil rules, while goodness is strengthened and the Transcendent Forces are themselves rectified and made secure when the system of evil is subjugated.

As such, everything we’ve said about the existence of goodness and evil [8], about the battle between reason and physicality [9], and about things being rectified and defective [10] is rooted in these two systems [11]. For when one is either fortified or overpowered its qualities and effects influence creation one way, while when the other is fortified or overpowered its qualities and effects influence creation the other way.

Footnotes

[1]       See 1:5:7.

[2]       …given that He’s the Creator of everything.

This is meant to deny the claims of those in antiquity who held that evil was created by another being. See Da’at Tevunot 36 for a discussion of this misreading of G-d’s abilities and intentions. But in fact we should be flummoxed by the fact that G-d would have created evil given that He’s over-achingly benevolent, as was pointed out in 1:2:1. This dilemma is discussed in Da’at Tevunot 30, 36 and in Klach Pitchei Chochma 47, and is the subject of the discussion below.

[3]       That’s to say that while He allows for it to occur by turning His “face” away, He Himself doesn’t commit evil.

That apparently indicates that goodness is the “default mode” of the universe. It’s just that there are times when evil must manifest itself because it too serves an important purpose (see below). G-d then “suppresses” His goodness which itself allows for evil.

Again the point is that while G-d doesn’t commit evil, He sometimes allows for it passively. See arcane discussions of the issues raised here in Adir Bamarom p. 344 and in Otzrot Ramchal p. 203, and see Da’at Tevunot 100-114, 130.

[4]        This system is the mirror image of the system within which the Transcendent Forces operate, in keeping with the principle known as “G-d has made one to correspond to the other” (Ecclesiastes 7:14), which is roughly analogous to Newton’s rule  that for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction.

[5]       That is, contrary to the common notion, evil serves God, too; it also has a role in the playing out of G-d’s intentions for the universe. For, nothing can countervail G-d’s intentions or thwart His designs; everything is beholden to Him.

[6]       See 2:8:2 and 3:2:8 as well as Klallei Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at 8.

[7]       That is, while this phenomenon is the overarching basis for the existence of evil it nonetheless plays itself out through the alternative system spoken of above that evil functions under.

[8]       See 1:5:7.

[9]       See 1:3:2.

[10]     See 1:5:7.

[11]     That is, they’re rooted in the conflicting roles of these systems.

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

And the whole system of goodness and evil that G-d decreed for the world [1] is also rooted in the Transcendent Forces, from where it flows downward [2]. G-d set up the Transcendent Forces in the particular order and with the specific qualities they’d need to bring about the various “damages” and “repairs” [3] necessary for goodness and non-goodness to exist [4].

In order for true goodness to exist G-d’s “face” must be allowed to shine upon a Transcendent Force, and in order for true evil to exist G-d’s face must be withheld from it [5]. In fact, goodness is a product of the “repairing” of the Forces while evil is a product of their being “damaged”.

Footnotes:

[1]       See 1:2:2,4.

[2]         Since, as we’ve been saying, the Transcendent Forces are the backdrop behind everything that happens here on earth, it follows then that they’re also the backdrop behind both goodness (which is understandable, given that G-d is loving and benevolent and that He manifests that through the Transcendent Forces) and evil (which seems counterintuitive, given that evil seems to be so far beneath G-d and the Transcendent Forces, but see note 4 below). In any event, since goodness and evil play out in the theater within which we humans act out our lives, it stands to reason that both our moral and immoral actions would all be so intensely rooted in the Transcendent Forces.

But in order to understand that we’d also need to know that …..

[3]      G-d purposely created an imperfect world in which adjustments to the status quo would necessarily need to be made from time to time. That’s to say that there are times when certain “damaged” (or, off-the-mark) phenomena need to be “repaired” (or, set back on course) in order to keep the entire system intact.

[4]       Ramchal speaks of “non-goodness” here rather than out-and-out evil because actual evil doesn’t exist in the upper realms: they only allow for the possibility of evil to exist in the world and don’t actually manifest it. See Da’at Tevunot 100-106, 114 and Klach Pitchei Chochma 80 for the Kabbalistic explanation of this theological conundrum.

[5]       The idea is that G-d turns His “face” toward something (i.e., He gives it His full and loving attention) when He favors it and turns away from it when He disapproves of it. It’s based on the phrase “May G-d bless you and keep you; may God shine His face upon you and be gracious to you; may G-d turn His face toward you and grant you peace. (Numbers 6:24-36).

This isn’t merely a poetic rendering of G-d’s “feelings” — it entails a lot of Kabbalistic fine points. See 4:6:10 below as well as Da’at Tevunot 158 and Klallim Rishonim 28 for more on it.

The point of the matter is that goodness is a natural product of a healthy and full connection with G-d while evil is a product of its opposite.

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.