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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