The Way of G-d 2:6:3<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given the above, the fact is that G-d doesn\u2019t judge the world\naccording to His foreknowledge but rather according to the way He wants things\nto function in the world 1<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another point to be made is that no Heavenly Tribunal renders a\ndecision until the angels involved in the case are brought in. After all, G-d\ncreated angels to supervise what goes on in the world 2<\/sup>, so they\u2019re\nto appear before the Heavenly Court and to attest to what they perceive to be\ntrue before the case is judged 3<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as we\u2019ve indicated a number\nof times, G-d doesn\u2019t need any of this information, given His foreknowledge 4<\/sup>.\nThis is simply the system that He instituted in His unfathomable wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, various turns of phrase are\nused for this all in the Torah. Thus we\u2019re told that \u201cG-d came down to see the\ncity and the tower\u201d (Genesis 11:5) 5<\/sup>, \u201cThe day came when the sons of\nG-d 6 <\/sup>arrived to present themselves before G-d\u201d (Job 1:6) 7<\/sup>,\n\u201cG-d\u2019s eyes flew all over the earth\u201d (Zechariah 4:10) 8<\/sup>, \u201cThese are\nthe ones 9 <\/sup>whom G-d has sent to walk the earth\u201d (Ibid, 1:10), and\nthe like. They all refer to G-d\u2019s aforementioned system of administration 10<\/sup>,\nand to the angels who were appointed to carry it out and to attest to what\nhappens, as if they were \u201cG-d\u2019s eyes\u201d 11<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence, when G-d appears before\none of these Heavenly Tribunals to act as a judge for one case or another, as\nHe did, for example, when it came to instance of the building of the Tower of\nBabel, the Torah stated that \u201cG-d came down to see\u201d (Genesis 11:5) 12<\/sup>,\nas in other such instances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But know that the only thing the\nHeavenly Tribunal has in common with earthly courts is the system of\nadjudication we described. Earthly courts carry out other functions differently\n13<\/sup>. Because while the physical realm is based on physical phenomena,\nthe spiritual realm is based on spiritual ones and on their components\u2019 means\nof perceiving things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Footnotes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 <\/sup>That is, He allows the\ntestimony of the angels referred to below, as well as the rules of logic, cause\nand effect, and the run of the natural course of events to influence His\njudgments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 <\/sup>See 1:5:2 above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 <\/sup>See Ta\u2019anit<\/em> 18a and Zohar 3: 99a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 <\/sup>The idea that G-d doesn\u2019t use His foreknowledge isn\u2019t\nonly cited right above but also at the end of 2:6:2. Some contend that there\nseems to be some text missing from the original that would have expanded upon\nthis idea in novel ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5 <\/sup>That is to say that He had His angels observe\nwhat went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 <\/sup>I.e., the\nangels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7 <\/sup>To report\nwhat they\u2019d seen. See Zohar 2:32b.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8 <\/sup>This also\nrefers to the angels, as is indicated below. See Zohar 3:99a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9 <\/sup>I.e., the\nangels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10 <\/sup>See Moreh<\/em>\nNevuchim<\/em> 1:44.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11 <\/sub>See Tikkunei<\/em>\nZohar<\/em> 153b.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12 <\/sup>See Zohar\n2:33b.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13 <\/sup>See Clallim<\/em>\nRishonim<\/em> 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (c) 2019 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feel free to\ncontact me at feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ———————————————————-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rabbi\nFeldman’s new annotated translation of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag\u2019s \u201cIntroduction to\nthe Zohar\u201d is available as \u201cThe Kabbalah of Self\u201d on Kindle here<\/a>. His\nannotated translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here<\/a> and his\nannotated translation of Rabbeinu Yonah\u2019s “The Gates of Repentance”\nis available here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He has also\ntranslated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The\nDuties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rabbi\nFeldman also offers two free e-mail classes torah.org entitled \u201cSpiritual\nExcellence<\/a>\u201d\nand \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d that can\nbe subscribed to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Way of G-d 2:6:3 1. Given the above, the fact is that G-d doesn\u2019t judge the world according to His foreknowledge but rather according to the way He wants things to function in the world 1. 2. Another point … Continue reading