Monthly Archives: October 2011

The solution (Part 3)

The line, though, is the gift of relative “perfection that God allowed back” into the environment created by the Tzimtzum “in order to (allow the created entities to) perfect all of their imperfections” to a degree. That’s to say, as he goes on to explain, the “perfection that God brought back” was the kind that was “relative to their (i.e., the created entities’) makeup, and not relative to His own His makeup” which would be utter perfection. The latter refers to the presence of God that remains outside of and surrounds the world’s environment (Klallim Rishonim 6).

In other words, there are three environments: 1. There’s God’s own, which is removed from the world’s and is represented by God’s presence surrounding the “space” created by the Tzimtzum; 2. there’s the imperfect and ambiguous environment allowed for by the existence of the (mere) “trace” of God’s presence; and 3. there’s the sort of relative perfection that the world can achieve in the environment created by the “trace” thanks to God having allowed His presence to shine upon the “trace” environment by means of the “line”.

That’s to say that Ramchal apparently sees Ari’s system as a means of depicting the drama of God’s interactions with reality: of God allowing for it, His granting it its challenges and its possibilities, and His standing at a distance from it while yearning for its success.

Put another way and taking great liberties in the process, we’d suggest that Ramchal could be said to see the Kabbalistic system as a depiction of God’s “parenting” of the universe, so to speak; His leaving it on its own in an imperfect but tenable environment that He supplies and provides for; and His enabling it achieve its potential (without granting it that from the outset — like a wise parent who refuses to spoil his child and wants him instead to reach his potential on his own, along with the parent’s encouragement) [1].

Note:

[1]       Note that the eventual revelation of God’s full sovereignty will undo the image of Him as a loving, hands-off parent in that all prove to have been in God’s hands from the first, but that’s beside the present point. See Adir Bamarom p. 266 for more on the connections between the Tzimtzum, trace, and line.

(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”.

The solution (Part 2)

Let’s go in order here: First of all he depicts the “space” left by the factoring in of the Tzimtzum as an instance of God granting a place for existent beings to be and function — a specific environment, as we’d term it. That’s what’s so radically original about this outcome of the Tzimtzum; existent beings simply couldn’t exist without it. But now that this environment has indeed come about there “needs to be existent beings, so the matter can be completed, otherwise the space would be empty”, and there needs to be a connection between them and their Source (Klallim Rishonim 4). That’s to say that God does nothing by mistake or unintentionally, and He never separates Himself from anything He does.

Ramchal then depicts the next factor, the trace, as “a small remnant of what had been removed” with the onset of the Tzimtzum process which nonetheless serves as the “root of the universe’s various phenomena and of its governance”. As he goes on to say, the trace-environment “is the source of the imperfect nature of existence” and of the system of “(relative) good and evil” as opposed to the fully good that would be manifest in a perfect world (Klallim Rishonim 5). In other words, the environment in which we now exist is the basis of all the good and bad, justice and injustice, fairness and unfairness, light and darkness, and the like that comprises the human experience. It’s imperfect to be sure, but purposelessly so.

But the line is a whole other thing, as we’ll see.

(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”.

The solution (Part 1)

So much for the makeup of the line; let’s turn now to its place in the grand scheme of things — along with that of the trace — as Ramchal understands it. That is, let’s explore Ramchal’s solution to the enigma of a “line” entering into the “trace” left behind in the reality that was produced by the coming about of the Tzimtzum.

At bottom it comes down to the idea that the line represents God’s unchanging will in the context of the Sephirot and Partzufim which represent changing circumstances within the environment created by the trace.

Ramchal explained this in his comments to Klach as well as elsewhere, but he explains it best in Klallim Rishonim which we’ll draw from most especially.

(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”.

The “Line” (Part 2)

The line is also referred to as a “pipe (line)”, meaning to say that it is three- rather than two-dimensional and has content. Here’s how Ramchal explains it in Petach 29:

The Sephirot are what came forth from the mystical space that occurred at the time of the Tzimtzum as we pointed out. But there’s another element here that can only be explained by the three-dimensionality of the “line” — the fact that within each Sephira lies an inner core that came about by the inner light of the line of the Ein Sof entering it.

As Ramchal explained in his comments here, “when the line entered into the trace, a brilliant light shone from the line … which is the soul of each (Sephira’s) vessel”. Thus each Sephira serves as “a garb (i.e., an encasement) for the line”. As such, “the line shines within the inner core of each Sephira with the mystical implications of a soul to the Sephira’s “body”. There’s thus a dynamic ebb and flow between line and Sephira.

(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”.

Catching Up

While the Yom Tov season had been fulsome and vivid, the world beckons and we respond. Let’s review what we’ve done so far in this section, which is the beginning of the heart of Kabbalah.

We started our sequential analysis with a discussion of God unto Himself — before creation. Then we offered an explanation of Tzimtzum as Ari depicted it (along with a couple of theories of its origin), and Ramchal’s explication of it. That lead to a discussion of the makeup, source and role of rah (evil, injustice, ungodliness).

We then moved along to the next stage with a discussion of the “trace” of Godliness left behind after the Tzimtzum process, which serves as the root of all that’s to follow. Then we began to discuss the “line” (or filament of God’s light) that extends downward to the physical universe. We’ll continue with the “line” next time.

(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”.