Monthly Archives: July 2013

Petach 57 ends with the following. After the vessels involved in the Shevira process “functioned as … imperfect phenomena” (Petach 54), and AV became a dominant force (Petachim 55-57),  it then became necessary for 288 sparks [1] of holiness that remained behind after the breaking of the vessels to descend from there i.e., from the Chariot, so as to bolster and sustain the vessels that were descending in the course of the breaking process. And that was so that there wouldn’t be utter annihilation, and so that there’d be the possibility of a way of returning and being repaired instead.

As is explained in Ramchal’s comments here, this harkens back to the point made earlier on, in Petach 30, that even though God’s sovereignty was concealed, it still functioned of course. The effect of that came to manifest itself in the balancing of two opposing forces: on one level, rah had to function (so as to allow for free will, and to seem to thwart God’s Sovereignty), but it couldn’t be allowed to continue to hold sway forever, or else the world would be destroyed in the end. So, 288 means of reparation were allowed to sprinkle about in the ether, if you will, so that there’d be more than a tiny chance that all could go well eventually.

As a result of those 288 sparks, Ramchal concludes, the phenomena of this world came to be such that a single power, i.e., the Shechina, would remain so that the world wouldn’t be destroyed, God forbid, and so that what had been damaged could be repaired through this remaining power

Notes:

[1]  Quite simply, 288 is the value of the four AV’s spoken of above (i.e., 4 x 72 = 288). But there are another couple of reasons why there came to be 288 sparks specifically, all of which underscore the importance of AV in all this.

As Ramchal explains in his comments here, in fact “very many sparks … descended with the vessels …. But it became necessary to formulate a specific amount that would total 288. For if not, it would have meant either that there was no need for any specific number at all”, which would defeat the lesson to be learned about the centrality of AV, “or that all the sparks that descended would have been counted as a single one”, i.e. as a single amorphous conglomeration of all, without that same focus on AV, “or that the initial levels in each name”, i.e., the specific instance of AV, SaG, MaH, and BaN themselves “would have been counted” rather than AV itself.

(c) 2013 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”.

Parenthetically, the arcane expression, “the Throne that bears its bearers” used here alludes to the following statement in the Zohar (2, 242a): “The one who’s on a high (spiritual) level (actually) bears the one (who seems to be) bearing him”. The Zohar itself harkens to the analogous statement in the Talmud that “the ark of the covenant (actually) bore (what appeared to be) its bearers” (Sotah 35, see Joshua 4:18). The point of the matter is that “Erich Anpin (the higher level, actually) saves the other (lower) Partzufim from harm (by ‘bearing’ them)” so to speak, as Ramchal says in his comments here.

(c) 2013 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”.

In any event chariots apparently stopped resonating all that much in terms of governance when leadership was placed in the hands of governors rather than warriors, per se — of those who ruled on palatial thrones somewhere in the capitol city rather than in those who lead while in battle.

That might explain why the Chariot came to represent the king’s court in the Heichalot (literally, “palaces”) literature — which were produced from Talmudic times all the way to the early Middle Ages — and the fact that the King there sits on His Throne. And it also might explain why the Chariot came to represent the array of Sephirot — all representative of God’s governance — in the Zohar and later Kabbalistic literature, thus hearkening to the King on His Throne once again.

Here, finally, is how Ramchal uses both Chariot and Throne in Klach (Petach 57). These four instances of AV discussed in the previous Petach which reinforce the four Partzufim of Abba, Imma, Zeir Anpin, and Nukveh in Erich Anpin, and which are removed from harm, are the essence of the “Chariot”. It’s here that the “Throne” “bears its bearers”.

As he explains in his comments there, “The Chariot represents the connection of the entire governmental order”. We’ll explain the idea of the Throne “bearing its bearers” soon, but suffice it to say for our purposes here that Ramchal equates the Chariot with the Throne, and with the entirety of the Sephirot system.

(c) 2013 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 equating of God’s Chariot with a Throne began early on. Let’s start off with the discussion of the Tabernacle in the desert, first cited in Exodus 25. We’re told there that it contained an “ark” (v. 16), “two golden cherubim” (v. 18) which were to “have their wings spread upwards, shielding the ark cover with their wings” (v. 20), and that “into the ark you are to place the testimony, which I will give you” (v. 21) — all so as to “make Me a sanctuary (where) I will dwell in their midst” (v. 8). Notice that neither the term Chariot or Throne is cited there: only an Ark.

It’s later on, in Tanach, though, where the Tabernacle is said to be God’s Throne. “The ark of the covenant of God Almighty, who is enthroned (there) between the cherubim” (1 Samuel 4:4), “God Almighty is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark” (2 Samuel 6:2), “The ark of God the Lord, who is enthroned between the cherubim” (1 Chronicles 13:6).

And then the Throne is termed God’s Chariot: “And for the incense altar, refined gold in weight, and for the pattern of the chariot, the cherubim of gold, which spread out (their wings) and covered the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 28:18) [1].

Note:

[1]       Also see Moreh Nevuchim 1:70 again for the equating of Chariot and Throne.

(c) 2013 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’ll cite this quotation from the M. Friedlander translation of Moreh Nevuchim (1:70) which speaks to the points we’ve made about the significance of the Chariot (Merkava) as a representation of God’s rule. Rambam says there that:

“The term rakab, ‘to ride,’ is a synonym. In its primary signification it is applied to man’s riding on an animal, in the usual way; e.g., ‘Now he was riding (rokeb) upon his ass’ (Num. xxii. 22). It has then been figuratively used to denote ‘dominion over a thing’; because the rider governs and rules the animal he rides upon; e.g., ‘He made him ride (yarkibehu) on the high places of the earth’ (Deut. xxxii. 13); ‘and I will cause thee to ride (ve-hirkabtika) upon the high places of the earth’ (Isa. lviii. 14), that is, you shall have dominion over the highest (people) on earth; ‘I will make Ephraim to ride (arkib)’ (Hos. x. 11), i.e., I shall give him rule and dominion. In this same sense it is said of God, ‘who rideth (rokeb) upon the heaven in thy help’ (Deut. xxxiii. 26), that is, who rules the heaven; and ‘Him that rideth (la-rokeb) upon the ‘arabot’ (Ps. lxviii. 4), i.e., who rules the ‘arabot, the uppermost, all-encompassing sphere”.

….

“The rider is better than the animal upon which he rides — the comparative is only used for the sake of convenience, for the rider is not of the same class as the animal upon which he rides — furthermore, the rider moves the animal and leads it as he likes; it is as it were his instrument, which he uses according to his will; he is separate from it, apart from it, not connected with it. In like manner the uppermost sphere, by the rotation of which everything moveable is set in motion, is moved by God, who is separate from the sphere, and is not a power in it. In Bereshit Rabba we read that in commenting on the Divine words, ‘The eternal God is a refuge’ (lit., a dwelling, Deut. xxxiii. 27), our Sages said, ‘He is the dwelling of His world, the world is not His dwelling.’ This explanation is then followed by the remark, ‘The horse is secondary to the rider, the rider is not subservient to the horse; this is meant by ‘Thou wilt ride upon thy horses’ (Hab. iii. 8). Consider and learn how they described the relation of God to the sphere, asserting that the latter is His instrument, by means of which He rules the universe”.

(c) 2013 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”.