Monthly Archives: December 2014

The point that will made over and over again later on that the righteous will get their just reward in the Afterlife is first stated in the Sifre (53) [28].

The Babylonian Talmud (Berachot 7a) argues that righteous people who suffer do so because their parents weren’t righteous, so they (the righteous children) pay that price — when the children have followed their parents’ examples to one degree or another, that is; and that the wrongful who do well do so because their parents were righteous, so they (the wrongful children) reap that benefit — when they too have followed their parents’ examples to one degree or another. As such its point is that things are not always what they appear to be, and that while some may seem to be righteous or wrongful, they aren’t often or fully so, and that there are other factors to take into account.

Elsewhere the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 30b) agrees with the Sifre’s reference to the reward in the Afterlife but adds that one would in fact prefer his punishment in this world to the one he’d otherwise have to suffer in the Afterlife, so one shouldn’t raise the issue of how “unfair” suffering can be.

And finally it indicates (Ta’anit 11a) that point of the matter is that the righteous suffer in the world because of the minor sins they’d have committed (though they’ll be rewarded accordingly in the Afterlife), and the wrongful are rewarded in the world because of the few good things they did (though they’ll be punished accordingly in the Afterlife). This doesn’t seem to explain exceptional “underserved” this-world reward or punishment, but perhaps the case can be made that it would seem to imply that some Afterlife reward or punishment will be exceptional too.

Footnotes:

[1]       What’s interesting there is the characterization of the people who point out that the righteous often suffer in this world as people who “fold their arms (over their chest)” in underserved satisfaction, thinking they’ve made a profound and original point, when they’ve not.

(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 issue was first raised in Tanach, where Kohelet said, “I have noticed everything in the days of my vanity (including the fact that) there can be a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and a wicked man who lives long in his wickedness.” (Ecclesiastes 7:15) [1],

And it’s discussed at great length and in depth in the Talmudic and the medieval literature, among the pre-modern and modern traditionalists, as well in the Zohar, the writings of the Ari, and in various places in Ramchal’s works, as we’ll see.

Note:

[1]       Also see 8:14 there and Habakkuk 1:13.

(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”.

Not only is that so, but in fact, the whole vexing issue of why “a righteous person sometimes does well” while at other times “a righteous person suffers” derives from this, too, Ramchal points out here.

This seeming contradiction of God’s inherent goodness and justice is discussed widely and is termed “Theodicy”. We’ll present traditional Jewish responses to it, Kabbalistic, and then Ramchal’s own.

(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”.

Petach 82 touches upon another vital issue and begins with the statement that the Tikkun granted each individual soul is a result of how the conjunction of MaH and BaN is arranged in his own instance.

Ramchal explains that in Klallim Rishonim (34) where he says that it’s important to know that “there are things … that are rectified thanks to an abundance of light (i.e., Divine generosity) and on (Divine) benevolence (toward one person or another), and there are others that … are rectified by (one suffering) tribulations, poverty, and want that have nothing to do with (one’s) merits or misconduct, but rather on the makeup of the created world alone” and on “the (makeup of the) conjunction of MaH and BaN” [1].

That’s to say that some things happen simply because the makeup of creation requires it to happen that way, and because it falls under the rubric of the immutable and non-linear workings of the mysterious conjunction of MaH and BaN, though it may or not seem fair.

He goes on to say there that the system of reward and punishment will play itself out in the Afterlife and the World to Come to be sure (thus things will prove to be fair in the end), but it often just doesn’t play itself out that way in this world.

Note:

[1]       Also see Da’at Tevunot 166.

(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”.

So we’re told that this “root” — i.e., the root and essential interactions of MaH and Ban — cannot be revealed [1]. That’s because it’s rooted in God’s “hidden agenda” [2]. In fact, Divine governance is entirety dependent on its being concealed, for when it’s concealed people engage in their affairs out of free will while God carries out His own hidden agenda in the background which is based on His foreknowledge. As such, it’s the concealment itself that allows for free actions which could be wrong and for eventual Tikkun and correction.

Accordingly, there is on one hand the overt order that God Himself displays that involves the order of Atzilut with its various Partzufim — Erich, Abbah, Imma, Zeir Anpin, and Nukveh, which are all rooted in free will, right and wrong and the like — while on the other hand there’s the concealed root that’s based on the fact that MaH is conjoined with BaN, which is covert and rooted in Divine foreknowledge [3].

We now have a deeper understanding of Ramchal’s viewpoint on free will versus foreknowledge. It comes to this: we do indeed have free will, yet given that nothing can thwart God’s will, our free will is often “bedside the point” when it comes to God’s ultimate wishes which are rooted in His foreknowledge and His own will.

Footnotes:

[1]       That’s why it will also be referred to as Radlah, i.e., Reisha d’La Ityada, “The Unfathomable Head” See Petachim 85-89 below especially for more on this.

[2]       Ramchal is commenting here on the fact that, as is shown in Eitz Chaim (Sha’ar Attik, Ch. 1), the layout of the interplay of MaH and BaN is decidedly neither linear nor straightforward, and he explains that as indicating the hidden inexplicable Divine agenda. See his own comments here for more on this.

[3]       See 1:4 above for a discussion of the two agendas,

(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”.