{"id":240,"date":"2014-07-06T05:34:34","date_gmt":"2014-07-06T14:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/derechhashem.wordpress.com\/?p=240"},"modified":"2014-07-06T05:34:34","modified_gmt":"2014-07-06T14:04:34","slug":"derech-hashem-141","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/2014\/07\/06\/derech-hashem-141\/","title":{"rendered":"Derech Hashem 1:4:1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The class can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1:4:1<\/p>\n

Ramchal termed this chapter \u201cMan\u2019s Standing in This World, and The Specific Ways Available to Him\u201d [1]. It begins with the point that at bottom, man\u2019s standing in this world is dependent on two things: his own makeup, and his surroundings and circumstances [2].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026 to achieve his ultimate goal, which will be focused on in 1:4:6 and 1:4:11.<\/p>\n

It could be said that we\u2019re now approaching the more practical core of Derech<\/em> Hashem<\/em> since rather than dwelling on abstract notions of G-d\u2019s makeup, the purpose of creation, and our future life, we\u2019ll now be concentrating on the means we have to live out and fulfill our life\u2019s purpose and how some of the above touches on that.<\/p>\n

As to our standing being dependant on our makeup and circumstances, it\u2019s important to underscore the fact that G-d\u2019s own will and plans obviously play a role in our station as well, oftentimes despite our makeup and situation. But that is a vast and numinous subject that\u2019s far beyond the scope of this discussion.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See 1:4:2 specifically for a discussion of man\u2019s makeup and 1:4:3 for his surroundings, though both will be discussed throughout the chapter.<\/p>\n

Our makeup touches upon our inner life while our circumstances, of course, touch upon our outer lives. The two are often in conflict, as we\u2019ll discuss below, but they needn\u2019t be. In fact, the greatest among us are characterized by the harmonious interplay of the two.<\/p>\n

The greatest classical paradigm of one\u2019s makeup and surroundings affecting his standing would be the situation that Adam and Eve found themselves to be in before their sin, while they were of the greatest caliber and lived in the Garden of Eden, as opposed to their lesser stature subsequent to that when they were no longer in the Garden.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————-<\/p>\n

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here<\/a> at a discount.<\/p>\n

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here<\/a> at a discount as well.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman 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 on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The class can be found here. 1:4:1 Ramchal termed this chapter \u201cMan\u2019s Standing in This World, and The Specific Ways Available to Him\u201d [1]. It begins with the point that at bottom, man\u2019s standing in this world is dependent on … 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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jewish-thought","category-kabbalah","category-ramchal","category-torah"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iqof-3S","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}