Monthly Archives: February 2011

(We’re going to be doing some cutting and pasting here. repeating a couple of points, reordering a bit, and adding on things to make our point. YF)

As we’d said earlier on, Ramchal declared that we’re to study Kabbalah because it “explains how everything created and fashioned in the universe emanated from the Supreme Will”; because it “shows how everything is governed the right way by the One God, blessed be He, so as to ultimately bring all of creation to (a state of) utter perfection”; because “all the details of this science [i.e., Kabbalah] serve as a laying-out of all the laws and processes [involved] in [God’s] governance” of the universe; and most especially because Kabbalah “comes to exhibit the truth of (the Jewish) Faith”. In other words, as Ramchal understands it, Kabbalah explains and illustrates tachlis — the point of it all — as nothing else can.

Now, there are many who study Kabbalah for all the wrong reasons accordingly. They assume Ari is depicting a metaphysical transcendent reality that’s to be studied assiduously like a super-cosmic map and floor-plan, and that if one “loses his way” if you will along the galactic crossways he’ll do tremendous damage and suffer more harm to himself than any good he could possibly do with his studies.

The truth be known, on one level those individuals can’t be blamed because, as Ramchal put it, because “Ari hardly explained himself, since he didn’t want to express his thoughts (openly) in writing”. So they couldn’t know what he was setting out to explain.

But as a consequence of Ari’s hesitance, “his readers took his words literally and (understood them) on a superficial level” as we explained, and thus demeaned his message. But that’s not right Ramchal said — it didn’t “at all” befit “a subject of study” of this caliber. And as a result of that misapprehension of things all that those students were left with, for all intents and purposes, were “names and themes that one would have to memorize”, which Ramchal describes as being tantamount to “a table of contents”. As such, the rest of us we’re left “without an understanding of the intentions or meaning” of those terms (Introduction to Ma’amar HaVichuach).

So what Ramchal set out to do, he wrote in a letter, was to “eradicate the mistaken notion that there are (for example) lights that (literally) turn into ‘circles’ or ‘lines’ as some believe”, which “the ear simply cannot accept”. And he took it upon himself to “spell out the referent in each metaphor found in Ari’s writings” (Iggerot Ramchal 50). That’s to say, he set out to explain just what Ari meant by his symbols.

Let’s tie this all in now to the makeup and “appearance” of the Sephirot.

At bottom, Ramchal contends that life and the universe at large is extraordinarily confusing and seemingly inexplicable, and that that fact alone often throws us and challenges our faith. Is there a plan, we wonder; is God in control; do we have meaning; does what we do matter in the end, etc.?

As he himself worded it, “all the enormous and incongruous events in the world seem to contradict God’s governance of the world, God forbid, given that we can’t determine where everything is heading, what God wants of us, where He’s leading us, and what will result from it all” (Da’at Tevunot 7).

So, we need to know, and we need a system that will explain it. That system, Ramchal declares, is Kabbalah. We’re to study it “in order to understand (God’s) governance, … (and to know) why He created all the various creatures, what He wants from them, what will come at the end of all the events of the universe, and how all these bizarre events are to be explained” (comments to Petach 90).

His point there is that we can determine all that by understanding the interplay of the Sephirot and the various Worlds which is the gist of the Kabbalistic system. Those Sephirot and Worlds aren’t abstract notions flitting about in the deepest reaches of outer-space or in the secret-most corners of pre-creation. They function in the here and now, and are to be utilized for distinct purposes.

After all, isn’t it written, “You have been shown (all sorts of wonders) in order to know that God is the Lord; there is no other beside Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35)? Are we to imagine that the process has stopped, God forbid? Of course it has not. Ramchal’s contention is that it continues in our day indeed — thanks to the study of Kabbalah which rests largely on the teachings of those prophets and great souls who could “read” the Sephirot and their interactions, and to relate God’s ways to us accordingly.

To use Ramchal’s own words, so the Sephirot … were allowed to be “envisioned” prophetically (Petach 5) because God wanted them to be known of and for His governance to be “readable”, if you will; which is to say, He wanted us to understand what would be taking place in the governing process through that attribute at that time (Petach 6).

That’s to say, thanks to those who can “read” the Sephirot — who know the import of each metaphoric statement Ari offered in his great and piercing revelations — we know about life’s meaning, what’s being played out in the cosmos, who its most important “actors” are, and most importantly we now have insight into tachlis.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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As we’d said earlier on, Ramchal declared that we’re to study Kabbalah because it “explains how everything created and fashioned in the universe emanated from the Supreme Will”; because it “shows how everything is governed the right way by the One God, blessed be He, so as to ultimately bring all of creation to (a state of) utter perfection”; because “all the details of this science [i.e., Kabbalah] serve as a laying-out of all the laws and processes [involved] in [God’s] governance” of the universe); and most especially because Kabbalah “comes to exhibit the truth of (the Jewish) Faith” [1].

But there are many who study it for all the wrong reasons simply because they don’t understand it. On one level they can’t be blamed because, as Ramchal put it, “Ari hardly explained himself since he didn’t want to express his thoughts (openly) in writing”. But as a consequence of that, “his readers took his words literally and (understood them) on a superficial level”. But that’s not right he said — it didn’t “at all” befit “a subject of study” of this caliber. And as a result all we have, for all intents and purposes, are “names and themes that one would have to memorize”, which is tantamount to “a table of contents”. So we’re left “without knowing their intentions or meaning” (Introduction to Ma’amar HaVichuach).

So what he set out to do, he wrote in a letter, was to “eradicate the mistaken notion that there are (for example) lights that (literally) turn into ‘circles’ or ‘lines’ as some believe”, which “the ear simply cannot accept”. He took it upon himself to “spell out the referent in each metaphor found in Ari’s writings” (Iggerot Ramchal 50).

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

———————————————————-

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Ramchal famously — and quite controversially — argued that Ari was speaking figuratively when he spoke of the Sephirot assuming round or linear shapes, of matters such as Tzimtzum, Kav “straight line”), Reshimu (“a residue”), Sh’virat HaKellim (“the breaking of the vessels”), Olam Tikkun (“the world of rectification”), of terms for the Partzufim like Abba and Imma (“mother” and “father”), and much more [1].

And part of his understanding we’d assume is based on the out-and-out anthropomorphic nature of the language and imagery Ari used to depict these phenomena (as we indicated above).

As most know, anthropomorphism is an old bone of contention. The term kaviyachol (“as if it could be said as such”) was very often inserted in traditional sources in order to soften the effect of anthropomorphic depictions[2], Onkelos translated anthropomorphic terminology symbolically, and many of the medieval sages also went out of their way to explain anthropomorphisms [3]. The problem was compounded, though, when it came to Kabbalistic terminology.

In fact, an entire work was dedicated to debunking Kabbalistic imagery which was entitled Ari Noham (“A Lion Roars”) by the 17^th Century scholar R’ Yehudah Ari of Modenah. Ramchal was thought to have written Ma’amar HaVichuach as an argument against R’ Yehudah Ari’s work, but that doesn’t seem to be the case [4]. An early 20^th Century also spoke disparagingly of Kabbalistic anthropomorphisms and other issues raised by Kabbalah that’s entitled Milchamot Hashem (“The Wars of the Lord”) by R’ Yichaya Kapach which was responded to, nearly point by point, in Emunat Hashem (“Faith in God”) [5].

Our contention here though is that it can be said that Ramchal set out to explicate Kabbalistic imagery somewhat along the same lines that the earlier sages tried to explicate Biblical, Talmudic, and Midrashic imagery. For just as they underscored that the anthropomorphisms there aren’t to be taken literally, Ramchal set out to underscore the same about Kabbalistic anthropomorphisms. And he used his understanding here of the fact that the Sephirot could be “envisioned” to begin to explicate that, as we’ll see.

Notes:

[1]       See the Gaon of Vilna’ comments to Iddrah Rabbah (beginning) about the metaphoric nature of Kabbalistic terminology and imagery. And see the letter of R’ Avraham Simcha in the name of R’ Chaim of Voloshin (as found in the Mavo to Sefer Haklallim p.236 R’ Friedlander’s edition) asserting that the Gaon believed that Ramchal knew the referent.

[2]       See Mechilta, Yitro 4 for example.

[3]       See Emunot V’De’ot starting at 1:10, Chovot HaLevovot 1:10, much of the first section of Moreh Nevuchim, etc.

[4]       See the work of R’ Dovid Cohen (who was known as The Nazir) entitled Kol HaNevuah pp. 278-279 note 407 for a full discussion of this.

[5]       Ibid. note 205.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

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Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Explaining the import of “circles” as opposed to “lines” in the Ari’s depiction, Ramchal makes the following important remark in his comments to Petach 13 which will help us understand his discussion of overall providence as opposed to the detailed mode of governance.

He says that “the causal relationship between Sephirot [1] can be understood from the ‘circles’ (that were envisioned), while governance [2] can be understood from the ‘lines’ (that were envisioned)”.

That’s to say that what Ari’s depiction reveals is that God employs two different systems for interacting with the world through His Sephirot: one in which He interacts on a simple, overall cause-and-effect level of governance (i.e., if A happens then B will happen; just as Keter brings on Chochma, etc.); and another in which He interacts more dynamically and unpredictably in a detailed mode (i.e., if A happens then B may happen or it may not and L might happen; just as Chochma can affect Binah which is by its side, or Chessed which is beneath it, etc.) [3].

Ramchal expounds upon these two systems elsewhere at length. As he explains it in Da’at Tevunot (190), on one level, God maintains the world and keeps it moving onward toward its ultimate goal come-what-may and despite specific moral or immoral events in the world. Ramchal terms that mode God’s overall providence since it doesn’t touch on variables. On another level, though, God does indeed take specific moral or immoral events into consideration, and Ramchal terms that the detailed mode of governance since it takes every factor into account [4].

Understand that the latter can’t thwart God’s goals for the world; all they do is affect our own standing in the world, depending on our spiritual and ethical standing, but that’s besides the subject at hand. But this will be discussed in different junctures in this work.

This dynamism and interaction also explains Ramchal’s statement in Petach 10 (as well as in his comments there) to the effect that the Sephirot are interdependent,… sequential, and … sequestered within each other, as well as his discussion of Sephirot sometimes being “encased” in each other or seeming to “emerge” from another.

But there’s another point to be made here which is fundamentally important: Ari never said anything about two systems of interaction; that’s how Ramchal explains these “metaphors”. So let’s examine that next.

Notes:

[1}       This is termed hishtalshilut in Hebrew and it derives from the term for “lowering down” (shilshul) or acting as a “chain” (shalshelet). It thus refers to the descending and causative nature of the Sephirot from Keter to Chochma (etc.) downwards, and to the fixed nature of the relationship.

[2]       This is termed hanhaga in Hebrew and it derives from the term for “to lead” “to drive” (nahag). And it thus refers to the dynamic nature of the Sephirot which interact from the top downward, as when Chochma leads to Chessed or when Binah leads to Gevurah (etc.), as well as from side to side, as when Chochma interacts with Binah or when Chessed interacts with Gevurah (etc.).

[3]       As Ramchal worded it in Petach 10, a (vision of a) “circle” refers to a circular mode of governance without differentiation as to Chessed (Kindness), Din (Judgment) or Rachamim (Mercy), but rather as (i.e., it’s an expression of) overall providence…. And it is (a depiction of) the mystical notion of causality. The (vision of a) “straight line” on the other hand indicates a detailed mode of governance that is based on Chessed (Kindness), Din (Judgment) and Rachamim (Mercy, which are themselves laid out as) right, left or center (poles).

[4]       Also see Petach 96 below; Klallim Rishonim 36; and Biurim Al Sefer Otzrot Chaim 14, 18.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

A lot of what we’d cited will be expanded on in the course of Klach Pitchei Chochma, so let’s cut to the chase by paraphrasing the pertinent material from Ari’s Eitz Chaim (1:1:1-2) which all of this is based on.

Ari reports that there’d been a disagreement among earlier Kabbalists as to the set-up of the Sephirot. Some said that they followed each other sequentially, so that the highest, Keter, was followed by the next highest, Chochma, and so on down to the last, Malchut. Others said that they were arranged in three columns, left, middle, and right to the effect that Chochma, Chessed, and Netzach stood on the right in that specific order; Binah, Gevurah, and Hod stood on the left in that specific order; and Keter, Tipheret, Yesod, and Malchut stood in the center in that specific order.

This proved to be a very vexing problem as each side cited quotations from the Zohar, Tikkunei Zohar, and Sefer Bahir to prove their positions, and there seemed to be no solution that didn’t violate an essential understanding of either God’s ways in the universe or the makeup of the Sephirot in general. But Ari famously declared that in fact, both opinions were correct — but at different points. The Sephirot were originally configured linearly in concentric circles with one above the other, whereas later on they were reconfigured into the three columns cited above. Both formulations then existed “side by side” if you will, albeit in different “dimensions” as we’d put it today.

Ari went on from there to explain more of the process. He began with a description of the Tzimtzum process (cited above and to be expanded upon later), and then offered that a straight “line” (i.e., a single beam) of light that began in the Ein Sof then broke through into the empty circle formed by the Tzimtzum process which then did the following. It began to attach itself to the “wall” of the empty circle and to go around the circle and to then form deeper and deeper layers. Given that the outermost circle is closest to the Ein Sof which lies outside of the circle (while inside it, too; but that’s not the subject at hand), that outermost circle is thus the highest grade of light, Keter, the next and deeper layer is Chochma, and so on until the final and deepest level which is Chochma. Each layer (i.e., Sephira) serves as the “cause” of the layer (Sephira) below it, but that’s where their relationship ends (for our purposes here).

The straight “line” then assumed a linear formation with the three “sides” we cited above. In this instance there came to be a very dynamic relationship between the various Sephirot. For not only do the three Sephirot heading each column “cause” the one beneath it, and so on downward, it’s also true that the left, right, and middle interact with and affect each other in various ways as do all of the elements.

This goes far to explain Ramchal’s statement to the effect that two sorts of formations could be envisioned: a circular, causal one; and a straight and dynamic formation comprised of three columns [1]. It doesn’t explain, though, what he refers to as overall providence as opposed to the detailed mode of governance, nor does it explicate the dynamic relationship between all the parts, which we’ll get into next.

Note:

[1]       See Ramchal’s comments at the end of Petach 13 where he spells out the relationship between the Sephirot in both formulations in some detail.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Let’s explain the place of “circles” and “straight lines” in God’s governance as cited in Petachim 9 and (most especially) 13. In order to do that we’d also need to explain Chessed (Kindness), Din (Judgment) or Rachamim (Mercy); “piercing”, and “ascending” or “descending”; linear and non-linear Divine Providence; and causality as opposed to non-causality. But let’s first quote the pertinent statement in Petach 13.

A (vision of a) “circle” refers to a circular (i.e., non-linear) mode of governance without differentiation as to Chessed (Kindness), Din (Judgment) or Rachamim (Mercy), but rather as (i.e., it’s an expression of) overall providence …. It is (a depiction of) the mystical notion of (linear) causality. The (vision of a) “straight line” on the other hand indicates a detailed mode of governance that is based on Chessed (Kindness), Din (Judgment) and Rachamim (Mercy, which are themselves laid out as) right, left or center (poles).

All of this refers to Ari’s depiction of how the Sephirot came about, and how they interact with each other in order to govern the universe according to God’s will, as we’ll explain.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Why, though, were we told that “The Account of the Merkava should only be taught to the wise and to those able to deduce through wisdom on their own” (Mishna Chagiga 2:1)? Apparently because there were dangers involved, as in the case of the child who studied it and suddenly died (Chagiga 13b) and of the student who was struck with leprosy when studying it (J.T. Chagiga 3:1). Also because the Divine Presence and various ministering angels appear before those who study it (Chagiga 14b), or a fire would surround them and the earth would tremble (J.T. Chagiga 3:1), and few could withstand that.

Ramchal refers to the Merkava later on in Klach as we’ll see [1] and in other esoteric works to a limited extent. But he dedicated an entire, albeit small, book to the subject entitled Pinot HaMerkava (“The Corners of the Merkava”) [2].

An abstruse work, Pinot HaMerkava ties various themes together. Most significantly for our purposes it addresses the role that the Merkava plays in prophecy and what the prophet is to “envision”, and the place each “corner” has in the ultimate redemption and revelation of God’s Yichud. It’s thus easy to see why Ramchal discusses the subject at this early juncture even though its particulars don’t quite belong here.

Notes:

[1]       See Petachim 24, 31, 57, and 129.

[2]      It’s contained in Ginzei Ramchal pp. 310-359.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Along with Ma’aseh Merkava (the account of the Merkava experience) as a subject of intense inquiry was Ma’aseh Breishit, the account of creation. Both had special status and carried a slew of restrictions, as we’ll see. While we won’t deal with Ma’aseh Breishit much here simply because it isn’t the subject at hand, we’ll offer this about the two “accounts”.

Rambam famously said that while Ma’aseh Breishit simply speaks to the laws of nature and the makeup of the cosmos, Ma’aseh Merkava simply speaks to metaphysics and the makeup of souls, angels, and the like [1]. The Kabbalists (Ramchal included) vehemently rejected that view and said it referred to themes discussed in the Zohar and other related mystical pehnomena [2].

Part of the reason the Kabbalists rebuffed Rambam’s model was that it placed the onus of proof upon traditional insights against Aristotle’s theories, which were assumed to be patently true. The Kabbalists held that it was offensive to take anything as more factual than the sort of prophetic visions that Ezekiel, Isaiah and others had of the Ma’aseh Merkava and that Moses had of Ma’aseh Breishit.

We in modernity know that the great preponderance of Aristotle’s ideas are simply wrong (in fact, one need only study Rambam writings on the subject that we cited in the notes to see how outlandish Aristotle’s idea have proven to be). Does anyone in fact claim to be a die-hard Aristotelian, Platonist, or the like today? Does anyone doubt that Rambam himself would reject Aristotle’s ideas if Rambam were alive today?

One point is that Aristotle’s physical model has failed, so subsuming prophetic insight into the nature of things to it is thus proved to be foolish, and we need to draw lessons from that [3].

Notes:

[1]       Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah Ch’s 1-4; see the Peticha to Section 3 of Moreh Nevuchim, and Ch’s 1-7 there for a discussion of Ma’aseh Merkava. Also see Meiri to Chaggigah 11a.

[2]       See Avodat HaKodesh, Chelek HaTachlit 15; Shomer Emunim 1:9 which cites several earlier sources. Also see Gra to Yoreh Deah 246:4, and Abarbanel’s introduction to his comments on Ezekiel.

[3]          That doesn’t mean to say that we of the traditional community have a “lock” on truth in light of that, since one’s readings of the traditional insights could prove to have been wrong in the end, too. It only means to argue for humility and for patience in the search for truth, which this is all about in the end.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

At one point in his comments to Petach 7 Ramchal says that the whole array of God’s governance, as exemplified by the traits of Divine tolerance (Chessed), strictness (Gevurah), and judiciousness (Rachamim), constitutes The Merkava (“Chariot”) that the prophets were able to envision. We’ll lay out the details of all this later on in this work but for now it’s important to explore the concept of The Merkava itself, since it has all sorts of associations in Kabbalistic and Rabbinic literature [1].

The term Merkava is mentioned quite a lot of times in Tanach, but the term is specifically taken to refer to Ezekiel’s vision as recorded in the first chapter of his work [2]. But chariots themselves do play significant roles in Tanach.

Pharaoh had Joseph ride in a chariot that would signal his coming to be second-in-command (Genesis 41:43, 46:29, and 50:9); King David’s heir-apparent Absalom was acquired a chariot along with horses and 50 runners to signify his stature (II Samuel 15:1, I Kings 1:5), and the prophet Elijah was said to have “ascended up to heaven in a whirlwind” upon “a chariot of fire (II Kings 2:11). So a chariot was clearly an important indicator of prestige and ascendance.

So, what’s the significance of the Merkava in the tradition, and why were we told that “The Account of the Merkava should only be taught to the wise and to those able to deduce through wisdom on their own” (Chagiga 2:1)?

Notes:

[1]       For one thing, Ramchal refers there to the combination of Chessed, Gevurah, and Rachamim as a “herkava” (a blend), which is obviously entomologically related to merkava. As such, the word merkava itself could merely be a different construct of “blend”. But Ramchal purposefully and unequivocally equates it with the Merkava that the prophets envisioned.

[2]       In Mishna Chagiga 2:1 the chapter is said to refer to Ma’aseh Merkava — an accounting of the Merkava (experience). In fact, the term Merkava isn’t cited in that chapter at all (or in chapters 8 and 10 there which refer to vision). But see I Chronicles 28:18.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Along the same lines, many of the ancients spoke of the human form as the universal pattern, and of the universe thus being a single entity with many parts [1]. Perhaps the most beautiful depiction of the gist of that was Bachya Ibn Pakudah’s when he said that if you “observe the world as a whole (you’ll notice that) it emerges as a (single) complex composite of (many) parts, not even one of which is expendable. In fact, we experience it as a fully furnished house, with sky overhead as its roof, earth below as its bed, stars set about like lights, a variety of necessities stored away like buried treasure, with mankind in charge of it like a head of the house, making use of it all. There are all sorts of plants there for his sake and all kinds of animals for his use as well… The sun shines and sets to fix the course of day and night, it ascends and descends to furnish the world with heat and cold, so summer and winter can keep to their fixed and best courses without interruption… And the spheres rotate on course, stars and constellations move about in measured, even and immutable courses” (Chovot HaLevovot 1:6).

But these are obviously material (albeit cosmic) parallels to Ari’s Adam Kadmon which probably fed into and triggered his metaphysical understandings of it. Let’s see now what Ramchal said about Adam Kadmon aside from his key remarks cited in the body of Petach 12 [2].

“Everything (in the universe) is part of a single phenomenon that’s comprised of many elements” which is Adam Kadmon, he says; and he offers the following as proof-text, “As it’s written: “Let us make (a) Man in our image, after our likeness’ (Genesis 1:26)”. He then intensifies that with the remark that “this likeness”, Adam Kadmon, “incorporates all of the holy Forces” which refers to all the Sephirot, Olamot (i.e., “Worlds”, to be explained below), and Partzufim that Ari expands upon.

Then he goes on to illustrate how Adam Kadmon is comprised of many interconnected “body-parts”, as we’d cited before, by making use of their Partzuf and Olam (singular of Olamot) elements. As he puts it, “just as each individual Partzuf divides into 613 mystical lights which are its 613 ‘limbs’, the same is true of all of existence which is also comprised of 613 ‘limbs’, all of which constitute a single likeness. For even though each of the worlds is considered to be a world (unto itself), they’re all only limbs of this overall likeness. And all their connections and affiliations are (actually instances of) the connections and affiliations between these limbs”. We’ll explain the details cited here later on.

The final element of his depictions of Adam Kadmon is the fact that it’s said to illustrate God’s governance. We’ll use this theme to address why Ramchal speaks of Adam Kadmon here, so early on in Klach Pitchei Chochma, when he delves into it at length later on — most obviously in Petachim 31-35, which serves as a section unto itself that’s entitled “Adam Kadmon and its Offshoots”, and elsewhere.

As he puts it here, the various phenomena we see in the universe “aren’t separate items created for all sorts of reasons. There’s one single aim for everything”, which is to “allude to (God’s) governance”, given that “everything that occurs in the universe is part of (this) governance”. And he goes on to point out that aim of His governance is to bestow utter goodness upon creation, which is to say, to manifest His Yichud as discussed earlier.

As such, it’s clear that Ramchal’s objective behind citing Adam Kadmon here is to underscore his central theme, which, as stated in Petach 12, is that the whole on-going process of (God’s) governance (of the universe) … which the Emanator instituted was in fact instituted with the (singular) goal of bestowing utter goodness upon creation, which is the revelation of God’s Yichud.

His main point then is that everything in the universe serves its purpose, and each and every thing will illustrate God’s Yichud and play a role in His intentions to bring the universe to perfection.

But he’s also underscoring a couple of other very important things: first, the fact that while the many details of Adam Kadmon — the whole of reality — and its mechanics do indeed matter in our understanding of God’s governance of the cosmos, at bottom what matters most is that we know that the whole of reality has one Divine goal which we’re never to forget. Secondly, that there are only two beings at bottom: God and the universe; and that the two are constantly interacting.

Notes:

[1]       See Ibn Ezra’s comments to Exodus 25:40, Kuzari (4:3), and Moreh Nevuchim (1:72) for example.

[2]       All the citations here are from Ramchal’s comments to Petach 12.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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