Monthly Archives: November 2012

The rest of this section touches on the other major Kabbalistic concern here: the creation of the worlds of Atzilut, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiyah. But let’s retrace our steps now and see some of what we’d learned so far in this section.

After spending some time discussing other things that Klach does (see the précis here), we began to discuss the major Kabbalistic themes expanded on in this section. We began with the classical explanations of the Breaking of the Vessels (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), going on to offer Ramchal’s own (here, here, here, here, and here).

Then we went on to speak of the repair that took place for the meanwhile (here). We come now to the formation of those other worlds.

(c) 2012 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”.

Let’s finally see the points Ramchal makes here, in Klach, about Resurrection of the Dead and the World to Come and tie them in with what’s been said above. Before can do that, though, we’d need to backtrack a bit.

Ramchal said in Petach 27 that everything that was to exist in the world has its roots in the Trace of God’s presence that He’d allowed to enter into the Residue-realm that is our world; and he offered there that God interacts with phenomena that are rooted in the Trace the way a soul governs a body.

That’s to say that the Line which enters into and governs the Trace-realm is analogous to the soul that enters into and governs the body. Recall the fact that the World to Come is characterized as the realm in which body, which had been resurrected, and the soul will be rejoined and you’ll understand his point.

Moving on to Adam and Eve in his recounting of the story of the universe, Ramchal says in Petach 41 of our section that “If Adam had not sinned, then his body would have been pure and it would have been instantaneously rectified (and he and the universe would immediately have entered into the World to Come). But, since he did sin, impurity came to reside in man’s body, so the soul (i.e., souls in general) can’t join with (bodies) in a perfect bond. On the contrary, the soul must leave the body at death”, and they must both await the resurrection and the World to Come.

He goes on to say there that “the body is then alone (i.e., at death, without the soul) when it expunges out all the wrong in it”. That’s to say that the body is cleansed of all of its impurities in death, and that’s the way that death serves to further along God’s agenda.

But understand that “this will take place (i.e., the full benefit of death will only take place) with the resurrection of the dead, when the body will be rebuilt. The soul will then (re)enter and remain in the body without a blemish forever… until it will ascend to the highest level suited to it” finally, in the World to Come.

His ultimate point here then is the fact that “all this is found (i.e., is also played out) above in the (realm of the) Line and the Trace” as we’ll now see. For,” before the Line could be joined with the Trace in a (way) … that would cause everything to go in one direction (i.e., in the direction of ultimate perfection), the Trace had to be allowed to do everything in its power” much the way the body had to be free enough to possibly sin.

But in the end “the Line will then join with the Trace-realm in a complete bond as when the Line first entered into it, and just as it shone before the breaking of the vessels”. That’s to say that the much like soul first entered the body, which then sinned, died, was purified, and is to be rejoined with the soul in the World to Come, “so (too) will it shine afterwards with their rectification… until everything will be completely purified.”

Thus rather than go into details about the makeup of the resurrection and the World to Come as traditional sources do; and rather than discuss them in terms of one’s personal recompense and the makeup of the ultimate reality as he does in his other works, Ramchal uses them both in Klach to draw an analogy between an individual’s “big picture” and the universe’s own “big picture”, as we alluded to above.

For just as the universe was comprised of a physical aspect (the Residue) and a soul (the Line), sinned and had to die and decompose (the breaking of the vessels) so as to eventually reach true perfection (with the rejoining of Trace and Line), likewise is the self comprised of a body and soul, which must be separated at death then be rejoined at the resurrection so as to reach the World to Come.

(c) 2012 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 speaks of the World to Come in two ways over-all in his other works: as a recompense for one’s spiritual and ethical efforts [1], and as a wholly different reality that’s God, soul, and spirit centered rather than material and body centered [2].

Notes:

[1]       See this from Messilat Yesharim (Ch. 1). “Our sages of blessed memory have taught us that we were created to delight in God and enjoy the radiance of His Divine presence. This is the true delight, the greatest enjoyment of all.  But in truth, the place for this pleasure is the World to Come, as it was created, readied and prepared for just such a pleasure”….. “Many teachings of our sages can be found in this same vein, likening this world to a place and time of preparation, and the next world to one of rest and the ingesting of the already-prepared. This is what they meant by ‘This world is like a vestibule …’ (Pirkei Avot 4:16); Today (was created) to do them (the mitzvot); tomorrow to receive the reward for them’ (Eruvin 22a); ‘One who struggles on the Eve of the Shabbat will eat on Shabbat’ (Avodah Zara 3a); and, ‘This world is like the shoreline, and the World to Come is like the sea’(Kohelet Rabbah 1), as well as by many other expressions like them”.

Also see Ch. 4 there, as well as Derech Hashem 1:3:4; 2:2:1; and 2:4:6 (for Non-Jews there); Ma’amar HaIkurim, HaGemul; Da’at Tevunot 24; and “Da’at Tevunot 2” 44 (found in Ginzei Ramchal p. 50)

[2]       See Derech Hashem 1:3:4; 1:3:9; 2:2:2; and 2:8:4; Da’at Tevunot 124; and Klallim Rishonim 34.

(c) 2012 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 Zohar doesn’t go to any great length to depict the World to Come, given its nature. But like so many other things purely spiritual in nature, the World to Come is also compared to light there.

In fact, the light that will be displayed there (i.e., that is its essence) will be so vast and so mighty that “no created being could (be expected to) endure it” (1, p. 265a). It’s said that while the light there will be “1/60,075^th of the light that shines in God’s presence”, still in all it’s so vast that “the light of the sun is 1/60,075^th” of its capacity (Zohar Chadash, Breishit 20a). That degree of light and enlightenment goes a long way to explain the statement that the righteous would “see God there” (1, p. 135a), given their experience.

(c) 2012 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”.

One of the more arcane experiences in the World to Come would be the meal that the righteous will enjoy there that will be comprised of a portion of special leviathan and behemoth meat, and more [1].

But, didn’t we learn that “In the World to Come there’s no eating, drinking” etc.? Obviously then this meal will be an aspect of that experience termed “sit(ting) with crowns on their head and enjoy(ing) the radiance of the Shechina” (see Berachot 17a). That’s to say that the “meal” depicted below will be an “absorption” or grasping of Godliness like none other [2]. Let’s see the specifics.

The Book of Job depicts the Leviathan and the Behemoth (40:15-32). According to the Talmud, God originally produced both a male and a female Leviathan, but concerned that they might become many and destroy the world, He slaughtered the female and reserved her flesh for the banquet that the righteous will enjoy with the coming of the Moshiach (Baba Batra 74a), but the Zohar speaks of that meal taking place in the World to Come (1, p. 135b)

Here’s how Rebbe Yochanan depicted the Leviathan: “Once we boarded a ship and saw a fish that stuck its head out of the water that had horns upon which was written: ‘I am one of the meanest creatures to inhabit the sea. I am three hundred miles in length, and I enter this day into the jaws of the Leviathan’ (which is so much greater) (Baba Batra 74a). When the leviathan is hungry he issues heat from his mouth that’s so great that all the waters of the deep boil as a result of it (Ibid.).

And we’re taught that it’s from the hide of the Leviathan that God will make “tents for the pious of the first rank, garments for those of the second, belts for those of the third, and necklaces for those of the fourth. The remainder of the hide will be spread on the walls of Jerusalem”, which addresses the various levels of righteousness of those found there; but what most especially addresses the spiritual nature of the Leviathan is the statement that “the whole world will be illuminated by its brightness” (Ibid).

Notes:

[1]       Since this meal is spoken of in standard rabbinic sources as well as in the Zohar, we’ll use it as our segue to a more extended discussion of the latter’s remarks about the World to Come.

[2]       See Zohar 1, p. 135b.

(c) 2012 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”.

As to the World to Come, according to classical sources, little can be said about it as it’s wholly other-worldly — a phenomenon that “since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has (any) eye seen, O God, beside You” (Isaiah 64:3). Nonetheless we’re told that three things offer a “sample” of it: the Shabbat, sexual intercourse, and a sunny day (though the sages were unsure whether sexual intercourse should be included. since it weakens the body) (Berachot 57b).

There are, though, some things we know about it (though it might be said that the incomprehensible implications of what’s offered detracts from the advantage of having it). We’re told that “In the World to Come there’s no eating, drinking, procreation, commerce, jealousy, antagonism, or rivalry’ which constitute the whole of life, “instead, the righteous sit with crowns on their head and enjoy the radiance of the Shechina there” (Berachot 17a), which is inexplicable.

Nevertheless, “all Israel have a portion in the World to Come” (other than those who “maintain that the resurrection of the dead isn’t a biblical doctrine, that the Torah wasn’t divinely revealed, and heretics”) (Mishna Sanhedrin 10:1); and righteous gentiles also have a place in the World to Come (Tosefta, Sanhedrin 13:2).

(c) 2012 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”.

I forgot to include what’s said in the Zohar about Techiyat HaMeitim, so let’s do that now.

The Zohar offers quite a lot of insight into the state of things in the course of the Techiyat HaMeitim, so we’ll only offer the following which sums up the gist of it.We’re told that the Techiyat HaMeitim will come about through the agency of the supernal light that had been hidden away with creation (T Z p. 41a).

The righteous will be rewarded then with as handsome a body in the course of Techiyat HaMeitim as Adam had when he first entered the Garden of Eden (1, p 113b; also see 1, p. 141a). That of course refers to the sort of other-worldly body that Adam was granted which, when reduplicated in the Techiyat HaMeitim, will add a higher degree of other-worldly luster to their souls.

Curiously enough, given the absolutely unfathomable distinctiveness of the whole experience, we’re nonetheless told that “the only difference between the world now and (the world in the course of) Techiyat HaMeitim is in (degrees of) purity, intellectual grasp,…. and length of life” (1, p. 139a).

Those who come back in the course of Techiyat HaMeitim will live in the Land of Israel (1, p. 69a), and the dead of the Land of Israel will rise up before those outside of it in the course of it (2, p. 199b; also see 1, p. 181b, 1, p. 128b, TZ 81a).

Given that the Zohar fully accepts the reality of reincarnation, the natural question is which body will come back to him? And we’re told that one’s first body will reunite with his soul most often (2, p. 100a, 3, p. 308b; but also see 2, p. 105b, 1, p. 131a).

Especially touching is the idea that friends and others will recognize each other then (2, p. 220a). And in fact if one died with maladies (for example) he’ll come back with them so that friends will recognize him, and then they’ll be made whole (3, p. 91a).

And we’re informed that people will rise up in groups: the righteous with other righteous, wrongdoers with other wrongdoers, etc (1, p. 63a), like cliques in a way.

(c) 2012 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”.

Let’s see now what Ramchal said about Techiyat HaMeitim in some of his other works. Interestingly, he sees it in light of the ethical continuum starting from Adam and Eve’s sin until the end of all sin in the World to Come (Derech Hashem 1:3:9). Since “humanity and the universe at large will not be able to reach perfection while continuing to exist in a ruined state,” he says there, “they and it will have to die and be undone, after which they and it will come back to life anew in a form that’s conducive to perfection”. Being more explicit he says elsewhere that the universe itself will “return to a state of formlessness and emptiness” (Genesis 1:2) after 6,000 years (Sanhedrin 97b), “returning then to its …. primal form” (Ma’amar HaIkarim, Geulah) [1].

Addressing the renewed relationship between body and soul then, Ramchal informs us that when the soul returns to the body after Techiyat HaMeitim, the soul will function “in all its splendor and might” (which it couldn’t do while the individual was alive) and will purify the body to “a great degree” [2]. And then the conjoined soul and body will “ascend higher and higher” (Derech Hashem 1:3:13).

Note:

[1]       See Adir Bamarom p. 188 for more on the chronology as well as pp. 197-198 there.

[2]       But see Da’at Tevunot 72 for a discussion of a complete purification of the body from the first, and more.

(c) 2012 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”.

We were stuck in Chicago for a week because we couldn’t get a flight back to NY. We’re back and will start again as soon as possible.