Monthly Archives: August 2015

It’s sometimes necessary for benevolence to prevail over judgment (1)

Petach 94 then adds that it’s sometimes necessary for benevolence to prevail over judgment and to bring about kindness even when the actual letter of the law wouldn’t call for that — in order for the world to survive [1]. This happens only sometimes and only by specific means, Ramchal adds in is comments here.

It’s nonetheless an awe-inspiring thought, though, that — despite His own wishes that the world be based on the letter of the law, and on responsibility and maturity on our part — God will still-and-all bypass the strict rule of law when necessary, for the greater good.

That’s a function of the mitzvah-system, he adds. For while some mitzvot effect specific Tikkunim i.e., they rectify one’s own errors and others’ too on a smaller, local level, other mitzvot rectify on a grander, more encompassing scale [2]. That’s to say that neither just anyone or any deed can effect this beneficence; there are specifics involved.

Footnotes:

[1]         See Da’at Tevunot 139, 154.

[2]         Ramchal speaks of the mitzvah of shofar in that context in Derech Hashem 4:7:4.

 

(c) 2015 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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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”.

Erich Anpin and its counterpart Zeir Anpin (4)

The point is that it’s Erich Anpin’s makeup itself that mitigates the judgments of Zeir Anpin. And it does that without having to intensify its irradiations over Zeir Anpin in order to bypass the latter’s judgment, which is another sort of Tikkun used to disallow judgment to reign — though it would continue to exist, as Ramchal offers elsewhere [1]. He then reminds us that judgment isn’t meant to be undone yet, just not to hold complete sway [2].

Footnote:

[1]         See Clallim Rishonim 21; also see Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at 84.

[2]         See Clallim Rishonim 21.

 

(c) 2015 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”.

Erich Anpin and its counterpart Zeir Anpin (3)

There’s more to be said about the relationship of Erich Anpin and Zeir Anpin, and that will the gist of Petach 93.

The very fact that judgment emerges for the meanwhile for the sake of utter benevolence alone actually mitigates judgment. That’s to say that judgment achieves a sort of merit for living up to its role which is its mitigation (i.e., its being “sweetened” as its termed in the original).

Judgment — which is to say the system of reward and punishment and the like — is given sway for the meanwhile, to be sure, but again the point is that benevolence — which is not merit-based — will reign in the end. For a king’s ultimate goal is to be benevolent, even when that’s not always evident. Understand that God could very well have allowed the universe to function through rank judgment alone ad infinitum, but He didn’t want to, as Ramchal underscores in his comments.

 

(c) 2015 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”.

Erich Anpin and its counterpart Zeir Anpin (2)

And yet Zeir Anpin which represents the mystical notion of justice derives from Erich Anpin, for Zeir Anpin does in fact derive from it, though you might not think so since they’re antithetical.

The point of the matter is that even though judgment exists and functions very pronouncedly in the world as we now know it, it will be undone in the end because it is a product of — and thus must ultimately be subsumed to — beneficence [1].

Footnote:

[1]         See Clallim Rishonim 24 and Ma’amar Havichuah 136 “Amnan” for a discussion of Erich Anpin versus Zeir Anpin.

 

(c) 2015 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”.

Erich Anpin and its counterpart Zeir Anpin (1)

This then is the whole matter of Erich Anpin and its counterpart Zeir Anpin which are the primary agents of Divine governance (with Abba and Imma functioning between the two) [1].

Erich Anpin represents the mystical notion of utter beneficence, which only bestows goodness regardless of its being deserved or not, all leading up of the utter undoing of Rah. Ramchal adds in his comments that this all-encompassing beneficent on the part of Erich is aside from the same predilection on the part of the Line, since both play a similar role in the ultimate Tikkun [2]. 

Footnotes:

[1]         This will be explained in Petach 111.

[2]         See Petach 26.

 

(c) 2015 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”.

Justice must exist before the end of the universe as we know it

Thus, the present system of justice and judgment that must exist before the end of the universe as we know it is a consequence of the ultimate goal of complete and utter beneficence itself, even though the two seem to contradict each other. Since the judgment process will ultimately allow for perfection and the revelation of God’s Yichud. And Ramchal adds in his comments that we must keep this apparent anomaly in mind as we explore the purposeful progression of the worlds from Atzilut downward.

(c) 2015 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”.

It’s just that …

It’s just that the universe must first be governed with justice and sinners must be punished for their own benefit so as to have the wrong in them undone. all in order for complete beneficence to eventually be bestowed.

(c) 2015 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”.

It’s first necessary to go through the entire cycle to its end

It’s just that in order to reach this goal of utter and prefect beneficence, Petach  92 goes on to say, it’s first necessary to go through the entire requisite cycle of right and wrong, reward and punishment, Gevurah and Chessed to its end. That’s so because things have to happen in stages, as Ramchal makes the point in his comments, before the great Yichud can be revealed.

 

(c) 2015 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 universe must first be governed with justice in order for complete beneficence to eventually be bestowed.

 It’s just that in order to reach this goal of utter and prefect beneficence, Petach  92 continues, it’s first necessary to go through the entire requisite cycle of right and wrong, reward and punishment, Gevurah and Chessed to its end. Thus, the universe must first be governed with justice and sinners must be punished for their own benefit, in order to undo the wrong in them. all in order for complete beneficence to eventually be bestowed.

 

(c) 2015 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 ultimate goal is to bestow utter and perfect beneficence

Petach 92 returns to a vitally important theme enunciated early on. The ultimate goal of the entire order of the Sephirot and their governance — which is to say, of all of creation and reality — is to bestow utter and perfect beneficence with the undoing of wrong and injustice, and the revelation of God’s Yichud [1].

We’ll explore that and the role of Erich Anpin as opposed to its counterpart Zeir Anpin in it all.

 

Footnote:

[1] See here.

In his comments here Ramchal makes the point that the ultimate beneficence also has to manifest itself in the “Trace” realm referred to earlier on, in which right and wrong play themselves out. See section 6 for a discussion of the Trace and the Line and their interactions.

 

(c) 2015 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”.