{"id":284,"date":"2014-12-21T06:20:31","date_gmt":"2014-12-21T14:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/derechhashem.wordpress.com\/?p=284"},"modified":"2014-12-21T06:20:31","modified_gmt":"2014-12-21T14:50:31","slug":"derech-hashem-1410","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/2014\/12\/21\/derech-hashem-1410\/","title":{"rendered":"Derech Hashem 1:4:10"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

1:4:10<\/p>\n

At bottom, though, our spiritual standing ultimately depends on G-d either \u201cshining His countenance\u201d upon us or \u201cwithholding\u201d it from us [1]. For, the more G-d shines His countenance upon us, the purer and more perfected we become, while the more it\u2019s withheld from us, the less pure and perfect we become.<\/p>\n

But the truth of the matter is that either phenomenon depends on us and our decisions, since G-d Himself doesn\u2019t withhold His countenance of His own volition but only in response to our turning away from Him [2]. Hence, it\u2019s our deciding to draw close to Him or not that determines the outcome.<\/p>\n

We manifest His shining His countenance upon us by fulfilling His mitzvahs [3] and deny ourselves it by sinning, measure for measure. It\u2019s the mitzvah system that enables that manifestation, in that each time we engage in it we expose ourselves to a greater illumination of G-d\u2019s countenance, while each time we ignore it we allow it to be withheld to a degree and we demean our beings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s to say that even though your spiritual status is largely determined by your following the mitzvah system (1:4:5), loving and fearing G-d (1:4:8), and by engaging in Torah study (1:4:9), it\u2019s ultimately determined by G-d drawing closer to or further from you, which is the mechanism that brings it about.<\/p>\n

As to the significance of G-d shining or withdrawing His \u201ccountenance\u201d from someone, that comes to this. As we all know, when someone looks intently at someone he admires, his face brightens and he senses himself growing warmer; well, that\u2019s all the more so true if he looks intently at someone he loves. Thus, G-d shining or withholding His countenance is a barometer of His feelings towards someone.<\/p>\n

As such, while there\u2019s a lot that we can do to draw close to G-d on our own, what\u2019s most effective is doing all we can to have G-d want to draw close to us<\/em>. For like all close relationships, a bond with G-d should be reciprocal. It isn\u2019t enough to try your best: you need to \u201cconvince\u201d Him to succeed as well, so to speak.<\/p>\n

See 1:2:3 above (and note 7 there for references) as well as 1:5:8, 2:8:3, 3:1:3, and 4:5:1 below for more on this idea.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That is, while G-d is always inclined towards loving us and peering upon us intimately and warmly, we oftentimes reject that love, disappoint Him, and have Him \u201clook away\u201d, if you will.<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Recall that loving and fearing G-d, and studying His Torah referred to in note 1 above are mitzvahs, too, albeit especially potent ones.<\/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. 1:4:10 At bottom, though, our spiritual standing ultimately depends on G-d either \u201cshining His countenance\u201d upon us or \u201cwithholding\u201d it from us [1]. For, the more G-d shines His countenance upon us, the purer … 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-284","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-4A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","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=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}