{"id":484,"date":"2017-01-30T22:21:09","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T22:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/?p=484"},"modified":"2017-01-30T22:21:09","modified_gmt":"2017-01-30T22:21:09","slug":"derech-hashem-2311","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/2017\/01\/30\/derech-hashem-2311\/","title":{"rendered":"Derech Hashem 2:3:11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Derech<\/em> <em>Hashem<\/em> &#8211; The Way of G-d 2:3:11<\/p>\n<p>Thus we find that all sorts of things contribute to our standing in the world, be they beneficial or harmful. The point isn\u2019t that everything that happens is a direct result of one or another of the causes we\u2019d cited throughout this chapter, but rather that <em>each<\/em> contributes in one way or another. And that G-d wisely evaluates absolutely everything <sup>1 <\/sup>to bring on the great rectification <sup>2<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s actually impossible for each specific cause to bring on the exact same effect as there are times when they cancel each other out. As when you may deserve to be wealthy thanks to your ancestors\u2019 merits while your own deeds would have you be poor and the overarching agenda would suggest either one or the other <sup>3<\/sup>. And the same can be true when it comes to your own actions, as one thing you did could have earned you a reward while another could cancel it out.<\/p>\n<p>The point is that G-d\u2019s wisdom weighs and balances everything to bring on what\u2019s best and sees to it that one factor results in one thing and another in another, and that everything that happens is in some way or another a consequence of one or another of these factors. We have no way of knowing the specific details involved of course, but our knowing the general principles <sup>4 <\/sup>is nonetheless a great advantage <sup>5<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>Footnotes:<\/p>\n<p><sup>1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>That is, each cause and effect, and <em>everything<\/em> else.<\/p>\n<p><sup>2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>&#8230; as that is His ultimate goal; our particular lives are secondary to that. See 2:3:1 for an allusion to that.<\/p>\n<p><sup>3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>Here we have a conflict between one determinant in your life versus another, and the overarching universal aim. Only G-d Almighty could balance all that and determine which will play itself out in your own life.<\/p>\n<p><sup>4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>That we\u2019d cited.<\/p>\n<p><sup>5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup>See the second section of Ramchal\u2019s Introduction above and our note 2 there for more on general principles. And wee <em>Da\u2019at<\/em> <em>Tevunot<\/em> 164 and <em>Clallim<\/em> <em>Rishonim<\/em> 34 for other insights.<\/p>\n<p>(c) 2017 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n<p>Feel free to contact me at <a href=\"mailto:feldman@torah.org\">feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Feldman&#8217;s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag\u2019s \u201cIntroduction to the Zohar\u201d is available as \u201cThe Kabbalah of Self\u201d on Kindle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Kabbalah-Self-Translation-Yehudah-Introduction-ebook\/dp\/B01NAVBQ5C\/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1485208265&amp;sr=8-4&amp;keywords=Yaakov+Feldman\">here<\/a>. His annotated translation of Maimonides&#8217; &#8220;Eight Chapters&#8221; is available <a href=\"http:\/\/www.menuchapublishers.com\/the-8-chapters-of-the-rambam-shemonah-perakim-494.html\">here<\/a> and his annotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah\u2019s &#8220;The Gates of Repentance&#8221; is available <a href=\"https:\/\/rowman.com\/ISBN\/9780765760852\/The-Gates-of-Repentance\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He has also translated and commented upon &#8220;The Path of the Just&#8221; and &#8220;The Duties of the Heart&#8221; (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes torah.org entitled \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/torah.org\/series\/spiritual-excellence\/\">Spiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/torah.org\/series\/ramchal\/\">Ramchal<\/a>\u201d that can be subscribed to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Derech Hashem &#8211; The Way of G-d 2:3:11 Thus we find that all sorts of things contribute to our standing in the world, be they beneficial or harmful. The point isn\u2019t that everything that happens is a direct result of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/2017\/01\/30\/derech-hashem-2311\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,2,3,4,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hashkapha","category-jewish-thought","category-kabbalah","category-ramchal","category-torah","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iqof-7O","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484","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=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}