Category Archives: Kabbalah, Jewish Thought, Ramchal, Torah, Hashkafa

It goes on to say, yet there are certain relatively minor differences between the lights of “male” and “female” as well as real differences in their procedures. But when it comes to differences in form, there are real differences there indeed, just as there are “innate differences between males and females in respect to voice, appearance, physical strength, etc.” in our experience, Ramchal adds in his comments.

But those differences only manifest themselves in the lights that are involved in the conduction process, namely the two respective Yesods, or their respective “reproductive organs”, if you will; which are intimately involved in “channeling the influence to its destination” as he puts it, from up above down below. Since they act as conduction agents, as all the different, i.e., other, parts of the Partzuf are drawn to them i.e., to the respective Yesods, in order to act as conduits in keeping with their own processes. Hence, “since the channeling process … depends upon the Yesods and the other ‘limbs’ (i.e., the Sephirot above it in the Partzuf) are subject to them in this respect, it’s enough for the difference to be in the Yesods in order to affect the necessary changes in Divine Governance”, he adds 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”.

Petach 72 indicates that some of the Partzufim are, i.e., function as, “male” and others as “female”. That is, some of them, the “male” ones, function as a conduit for Chessed, and others i.e., the “female” ones, function as a conduit for Gevurah. But when they conjoin, both forms of conduction combine and “give birth” to a desired action, as there’s nothing that isn’t a combination of the two qualities of Chessed and Gevurah. This harkens back to what was said above in 11:3; see there for an explanation.

 Ramchal offers in his comments here that there are three reasons why everything is a combination of Chessed (allowance and consent) and Gevurah (prohibition and refusal): to allocate reward and punishment (as an allowance for one’s freely-made decisions to do right, or a refusal to allow for it for decisions to do wrong), to allow for counterbalance (which only the existence of patent opposites like Chessed and Gevurah allows for), and because the very essence of things are rooted in these concepts (so their offspring must be comprised of them, too).

(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”.

Petach 71 reads, the arrangement of the lights, i.e., the Sephirot, of the Partzuf, their interconnections and everything about them are just like the arrangement of the limbs and organs of a human body. That’s to say that everything that exists in man i.e., when it comes to his organs, has a corresponding aspect in the lights in the Partzufim above [1].

As Ramchal points out in his comments here, “this corresponds to the mystical understanding of (the often cited verse that reads) ‘from my flesh I perceive God’ (Job 19:26)”, which has allowed many Kabbalists to grasp the makeup of the upper realms by inference.

In fact, as Ramchal continues in his comments, “it’s in the Partzufim (alone) that we find this differentiation into particulars, not in the Sephirot”. That’s to say that it’s the complexities and subtleties of the Partzufim that allow for analogies which the relative straightforward and linear makeup of the Sephirot would not.

Note:

[1] Also see Klallim MiSefer Kinat Hashem Tzivakot 9 and Iggerot Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at 3.

(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”.

Getting ready for Pesach physically and spiritually takes time. We’ll be on break until afterwards.

A Chag Kosher v’Samaiach to all!

Next we’re told that all of them are connected into a single order in order to be joined to one another and to be governed by one overarching form of governance, each part in accordance with its own function. This single order “is the ‘heart’ (i.e. driving force, though it’s presented otherwise there) that governs all the different limbs and organs … through the blood and spirit (i.e., life-force) within it”, Ramchal adds in his own comments here.

And finally, we learn that there are 613 parts to each Partzuf all in all, each of which is then comprised of several smaller parts needed for its perfection. The 613 parts correspond to the “Likeness of Man” concept cited in Petach 12 above, given that man is a composite of 613 body parts [1]. This last theme will be expanded on in the very next Petach.

Notes:

[1]       See Makkot 23b and Zohar 1:170b where the 248 + 365 (= 613) elements are spoken of in connection with the 613 mitzvot.

(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”.

All of them, i.e., all of the aspects of the Partzufim, are connected into a single order, Petach 70 goes on to say, in order to be joined to one another and to be governed by one overarching form of governance, each part in accordance with its own function.

That is, they’re all connected that way in order to function as individual component parts [1] of a single and whole “Merkava” (i.e., vehicle) that would execute God’s governance of the universe.

Notes:

[1] See Da’at Tevunot 124 and Klallim Rishonim 12 for discussions about these component parts, termed koneniyot.

(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”.

Once again, a Partzuf comes about by a single light, expanding outward and revealing all of its aspects as a single order, the Petach goes on to say, in which certain parts remain interior aspects, others remain exterior, some parts are high, and others are low.

The “interior” and “exterior” aspects depict the Partzuf’s “width” (Shiur HaOvi), while its “high” and “low” aspects depict its “length” (Shiur HaKoma). They address the multi-dimensionality, plasticity, complexity, and intricacy of the Partzufim, which is itself responsible for the same traits in the universe at large and in God’s governance of it. Their relative internality and highness speak to their being closer to their source, and their externality and lowness speak to the opposite.

(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”.

This section expands upon the idea of Partzufim which we’ve already encountered [1]. It’s spoken of here at more length than before because it was the Tikkun process — which was focused upon in the previous section — that allowed for the formation of Partzufim.

We’ll also find that rest of Klach Pitchei Chochma will expand upon each Partzuf as it completes Ramchal’s depiction of the entire Kabbalistic system.

As such the first Petach of the section, 70, defines Partzuf as follows. A Partzuf comes about by a single light, i.e., Sephira, expanding outward and revealing all of its aspects as a single order i.e., in human configuration.

Notes:

[1] See 3:2 and 4:1, 5 for example.

(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”.

We start off with a definition of terms and listing of some details. A Partzuf comes about by a single light, i.e., Sephira, expanding outward and revealing all of its aspects as a single order i.e., in human configuration, in which certain parts remain interior aspects, i.e., the Mochin (“minds”), others remain exterior, i.e., the vessels, some parts are high, and others are low. Then we determine they’re interconnected thusly: All of them are connected into a single order in order to be joined to one another and to be governed by one overarching form of governance, each part in accordance with its own function. There are 613 parts to each Partzuf all in all, each of which is then comprised of several smaller parts needed for its perfection (Petach 70).

There’s a discussion of anthropomorphism beginning with the statement that the arrangement of the lights, i.e., the Sephirot, of the Partzuf, their interconnections and everything about them are just like the arrangement of the limbs and organs of a human body. That’s to say, everything that exists in man i.e., when it comes to his organs, has a corresponding aspect in the lights in the Partzufim above (Petach 71).

And we learn that the anthropomorphism also touches on gender (and subtler-yet differences where that’s concerned), as we’re told that some of the Partzufim are “male” and others “female”. That is, some of them, the “male” ones, act as a conduit for Chessed and others i.e., the “female” ones, act as a conduit for Gevurah. But when they conjoin, both forms of conduction combine and “give birth” to the desired action, as there’s nothing that isn’t a combination of the two qualities of Chessed and Gevurah. Yet there are certain differences between the lights of “male” and “female” as well as real differences in their processes. But when it comes to differences in form, there are real differences indeed, but only in the lights that are involved in the conduction process, namely the two respective Yesods. Since they act as conduction agents, as all the different, i.e., other, parts of the Partzuf are drawn to them i.e., the respective Yesods, in order to act as conduits in keeping with their own processes (Petach 72).

Then we’re instructed in the essential role played by gender in all this, given that perfection is achieved with the conjugation of “male” and “female” aspects, and with the conduction of the Divine flow through that conjugation. As such, when “male” and “female” are close to each other, that indicates a level of perfection that requires no service on the part of the lower entities. And when they are further apart from each other, that indicates a need for i.e., or a lack of, perfection and for the need for service on the part of the lower entities (Petach 73).

We’ll explore all of this, point by point.

(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”.

בור הדו”ן הוא השלמות, ובו נמשכת ההשפעה.

 ולכן כל מה שהדו”ן קרובים יותר מאליהם – מורה שלמות, שאין צריך שם עבודת התחתונים. וכל מה שהולכים ומתרחקים זה מזה – מורה שצריך שלמות, ושצריך שם עבודת התחתונים.

Perfection is achieved with the conjugation of “male” and “female” aspects, and with the conduction of the Divine flow through that conjugation.

As such, when “male” and “female” are close to each other, that indicates a level of perfection that requires no service on the part of the lower entities. And when they are further apart from each other, that indicates a need for i.e., or a lack of, perfection and for the need for service on the part of the lower entities.

(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”.