{"id":290,"date":"2015-01-05T05:33:26","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T14:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/derechhashem.wordpress.com\/?p=290"},"modified":"2015-01-05T05:33:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T14:03:26","slug":"derech-hashem-1411","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/2015\/01\/05\/derech-hashem-1411\/","title":{"rendered":"Derech Hashem 1:4:11"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

1:4:11<\/p>\n

So at bottom the ultimate intention behind all of the mitzvot is to draw close to G-d and to bask in His light.\u00a0 And the whole point of refraining from sins is to avoid drawing away from Him [1].<\/p>\n

While these are the overarching reasons for the mitzvot in general, their specific roles are rooted in deep mysteries that are dependent on man’s own and the world’s makeup, as we indicated [2]. But we’ll address some of that at a later point [3].<\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ramchal concludes this chapter by underscoring the fact that mitzvot serve a deeper, far more compelling role in the world than we imagine. For they\u2019re not just “good deeds” or lovely expressions of cultural pride; they\u2019re agents of sweeping change and consequence.<\/p>\n

See a reiteration of these points in Messilat<\/em> Yesharim<\/em> Ch. 1 where Ramchal says that “our sages … taught us that we were created to delight in G-d and enjoy the radiance of His Divine presence <\/em>….\u201d and that “the means to bring you to this goal are the mitzvot”; and where he also said that “it\u2019s only fitting … that there be no goal in any of your actions, large or small, other than to get close to G-d and to eradicate the barriers that separate you from Him<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Let it also be said that we see from here that G-d is both the originator of the mitzvah system and its objective, nothing or no one else. That\u2019s to say that it and the Torah itself derive from Him and lead us back to Him as well, thus forming a perfect circle. And that is its most important point.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See 1:4:5. Also see 4:1:5 and 4:4:10 below as well as \u201cDa\u2019at<\/em> Tevunot<\/em> 2\u201d (6).<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Section 4 below.<\/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. 1:4:11 So at bottom the ultimate intention behind all of the mitzvot is to draw close to G-d and to bask in His light.\u00a0 And the whole point of refraining from sins is to … 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-290","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-4G","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290","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=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}