Monthly Archives: June 2014

In order to understand Ramchal’s statements we’d need to begin with this. The Kabbalists speak of two sorts of movements in the universe: from Heaven down to earth, known as Ohr Yashar (“Light [that emits] straight [and heads downward]”), and from earth back up to Heaven, known as Ohr Chozer (“Light [that emits] backward [or, heads back up]”}. The point is that while we have been presenting the Ohr Yashar dynamicin our discussions of how the universe derived from the Divine, the Ohr Chozer dynamic also comes into play.

For, put plainly, the world wasn’t only created to remain in the present state forever; it will someday return to the pristine oneness with the Divine Presence it enjoyed before the world was created [1]. And it — as well as we ourselves — will experience certain specific stages along the way.

The point is that all of that will come about through a sort of “implosion” of the Ohr Yashar process that Ari has been laying out for us (and which Ramchal has been explaining in Klach) that is the great Ohr Chozer phenomenon. Let’s see how the Partzuf of Attik and others illustrate all this.

Note:

[1]       See 4:6 above and note 16 there.

(c) 2014 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”.

And we’re told that the Partzuf of Attik clothes itself, i.e., it’s encased and ensconced, in the world of Atzilut by way of the Partzuf of Erich Anpin in order to connect it to the world of Adam Kadmon and to sustain and govern it.

That’s to say that the Partzuf of Atzilut acts a bridge between the two highest worlds, Adam Kadmon and Atzilut, by means its neighbor Partzuf, Erich Anpin, and that it sustains and governs the world of Atzilut that way.

So much for the lay-out and interactions of these upper worlds and Partzufim (which we’ll expand upon and return to below and at various other points in Klach). Elsewhere, though, Ramchal makes a couple of important esoteric points about Attik that touch upon its “bridge” function, as we’ll see.

(c) 2014 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”.

The Petach continues with the technical statement that Attik also extends outward with the repairs that Adam Kadmon needs, i.e., with MaH and Ban. This is offered to clear up an apparent contradiction in Ari’s writings [1].

Note:

[1]  As Ramchal offers in his own comments here, “in one place the Kabbalistic teachings it’s stated that Attik was comprised of MaH and BaN (see Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Attik Ch. 1), whereas elsewhere it appears that Attik is the Malchut of Adam Kadmon (Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Seder Attik Ch. 1) which would make it impossible for Adam Kadmon to have been comprised of MaH and BaN”. Ramchal offers that “the explanation lies in the fact that in order to govern Attik, it was necessary for the Malchut of Adam Kadmon to take on these aspects (i.e. of MaH and BaN), which are its repairs, for it is with this ability that Malchut of Adam Kadmon governs Attik” . So there is no contradiction; everything is relevant to its function and stature.

(c) 2014 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”.