{"id":307,"date":"2015-03-01T05:14:06","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T13:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/derechhashem.wordpress.com\/?p=307"},"modified":"2015-03-01T05:14:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-01T13:44:06","slug":"derech-hashem-154","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/2015\/03\/01\/derech-hashem-154\/","title":{"rendered":"Derech Hashem 1:5:4"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

1:5:4<\/p>\n

According to what we\u2019d said, everything begins up above and streams down below. But there\u2019s one exception to that which touches on man\u2019s place in all of this. Since G-d wanted man to have free will [1] He enabled him to circumvent this pattern and to initiate actions on his own from down below so as to stream upward [2].<\/p>\n

So there are two contradictory thrusts in the universe: the natural state of things going from up above downward starting with the Transcendent Forces [3], and the free-will based one [4] going from down below upward starting with man\u2019s freely made actions [5].<\/p>\n

Now, as a rule, we can only control physical things, since we\u2019re physical beings ourselves who do physical things [6]. But given that there\u2019s a connection between the upper and lower realms [7], those upper realms are indeed affected when lower realm things are set off, and they thus affect an unexpected stream upward from down below.<\/p>\n

Still-and-all we must remember that not all of man\u2019s actions are free, since some of them are decreed upon him based on reward and punishment [8]. So, the latter sorts of actions are initiated up above as usual, while the former [9] are initiated down below [10].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See note 2 to 1:3:1 for a discussion of free will.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026 as well as downward and sideways.<\/p>\n

That is, while everything in the physical world is a passive and powerless recipient of whatever streams down upon it from up above, man alone can actively and freely affect that stream and even have it turn back upon itself so that it streams upwards.<\/p>\n

Man is thus a true and very potent anomaly in the universe — as long as he acts out of his free will. If he were to simply accept the stream from above without input, then he too would be a passive recipient of what\u2019s above and would affect nothing in the heavens.<\/p>\n

Of course there are things we simply can\u2019t do even if we freely decide to — like fly off into the distance on our own. So it\u2019s important to point out that the freedom of will we have is the freedom to make ethical and mitzvah-related choices — to do particular things that affect others and the world at large, or to refrain from doing them. Everything else is beyond our control.<\/p>\n

Understand, though, that man could very well affect things in the material<\/em> world even when he doesn\u2019t act out of free will, since the laws of physics, chemistry, and the like all come into play despite man\u2019s intentions.<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is known philosophically as the \u201cdeterministic\u201d system (because it\u2019s the one determined by G-d without man\u2019s input).<\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is termed the \u201cnon-deterministic\u201d system (since it isn\u2019t determined beforehand).<\/p>\n

[5]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re thus to see the playing-out of the universe as a great dance within which the Transcendent Forces sometimes lead and we follow; and other times when we lead and the Forces follow.<\/p>\n

[6]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See the end of note 2 above.<\/p>\n

[7]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See 1:5:2.<\/p>\n

[8]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That is, G-d Himself isn\u2019t beholden to our free will; He is above it and can affect changes despite our freely made actions.<\/p>\n

See 2:3:4.<\/p>\n

[9]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I.e., man\u2019s freely made actions.<\/p>\n

[10]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Ma\u2019amar<\/em> HaIkkurim<\/em>, \u201cb\u2019Hashgacha<\/em>\u201d and Sefer<\/em> Derech<\/em> Eitz<\/em> Chaim.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(c) 2015 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. 1:5:4 According to what we\u2019d said, everything begins up above and streams down below. But there\u2019s one exception to that which touches on man\u2019s place in all of this. Since G-d wanted man 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-307","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-4X","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307","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=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}