Ramchal speaks outright of the makeup of the Torah in Ma’amar HaIkurrim, Derech Hashem, in his lesser-known Derech Chochma, and in Da’at Tevunot, and more esoterically elsewhere.
He focuses on the makeup and structure of the Oral Torah in Ma’amar HaIkurrim where he addresses the need God perceived there to be to conceal things in His Written Torah which would then be revealed at length in His Oral Torah in various ways. And he then discussed the various allusions contained in the former which were fleshed out by the latter, both ritual and theological, and the Rabbinic enactments derived from them.
He makes the points in Derech Hashem that Torah study is the single best way for one to draw him- or herself close to God as well as the world at large (1:4:9); he discusses the ways that the Torah acts as a guide to determining God’s will for us at any one moment (4:2:1); and he asserts that it is God’s predominant agent for allowing His emanations to affect this world to various degrees, depending upon one’s character, demeanor and intentions when delving into it (4:2:2-7).
Well see what he offers in Derech Chochma and Da’at Tevunot next time.
(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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