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“Public Domain” and “Private Domain”

That’s also why the first three Sephirot of Zeir Anpin were missing when Imma entered into and rectified it, i.e., Zeir Anpin. The six others were then termed a “public domain” rather than a “private domain”.

Tractate Shabbat deals at length with the idea of transferring from one “domain” (or “sphere”) to another in chapters 1 and 11, and it distinguishes between four of them: a private domain such as one’s house, a public one such as a major thoroughfare, as well as a semi-public and a sort of neutral area. The idea of a private or public sphere began to assume mystical implications in the Zohar and elsewhere [1].

As Ramchal explains in his comments here, the term “public domain” is the one Ari and others used to depict the six Sephirot between Binah and Malchut “when they were arranged one under the other” [2] rather than side by side. Thus the term “public domain” here seems to imply the sort of lack of intimacy one would experience in a homier “private domain”. The point, he offers, is that “proper governance would be based on the consensus of all the Sephirot … which need to face each other with the center column conjoining them. This way the effect is produced with the agreement of all levels, and this is termed the ‘private domain’”.

As a consequence, each of the six functioned separately and (seeming) independently, and without the input of Malchut. This brought on “excessive separation and dissension”, as a consequence of which “they were not interconnected in a single governing order in which everything stands together” as he put it.

This was the condition out of which the “other side” emerged, since its nature and role is to bring about division. That’s to say, as Ramchal indicates in his comments, the whole purpose of the “other side” or yetzer harah is to “withhold the flow (of beneficence) … from its (intended) recipients” which can only come about with the cooperation and concentrated efforts of all parts.

Notes:

[1]       See Tikkunei Zohar 30, p. 73b, for example.

[2]       See Eitz ChaimSha’ar Sh’virat HaKeilim, Ch. 3; also see Ramchal’s Klallei Ma’amar HaChochma 19.

(c) 2013 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”.

What was lacking in the Primordial Kings

This phenomenon is what was lacking in the primordial kings, in the world of Nikkudim during the breaking of the vessels. For the six Sephirot of Chessed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod that came into play then, didn’t face towards the Malchut that came into play [1].

“This shows”, Ramchal adds in his comments here, “that the essential nature of creation (lies in the fact that) everything is directed towards those in the lower world [2]…. (And that) the awakening and flashing of the lights (above) depends entirely on the (actions of the) created entities in the lower world”.

They thus weren’t spared “sorrow” and “severity” or isolation. Imma allowed them to remain that way rather than to mitigate the situation, so as to allow for the cleansing process.

 Notes:

[1] See R’ Spinner’s note here where he points out that this solves an apparent contradictions in Ari’s depiction of the breaking of the vessels. In Eitz Chaim,  Ari offers three different reasons for the breaking process: the lack of the first three Sephirot, the fact that the six “sides” (i.e., the six Sephirot of Chessed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod that came into play then) weren’t yet rectified, and the fact that Nukveh was missing, Ramchal explains here that each of the three phenomena were involved, and occurred in succession.

[2] See Da’at Tevunot 155 and Klallim Rishonim 27.

 

(c) 2013 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”.

Why the primordial kings weren’t spared “sorrow” and “severity”

This phenomenon is what was lacking in the primordial kings, in the world of Nikkudim during the breaking of the vessels. For the six Sephirot of Chessed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod that came into play then, didn’t face towards the Malchut that came into play. and they thus weren’t spared “sorrow” and “severity” or isolation, and Imma allowed them to remain that way rather than to mitigate the situation, so as to allow for the cleansing process.

Ramchal makes the addition point in his comments here that “wrongfulness per se didn’t yet exist” in the realm in which the breaking of the vessels occurred, which would have explained how goodness, unity, and severity could have been undone; it was “the initial state of Zeir Anpin in its aspect of strict Judgment”, which did exist, that fed into this.

(c) 2013 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”.

Zeir Anpin and Nukveh

But as we began to address above, all of this — the whole phenomenon of “sorrow” and enmity turning to “sweetness” and “brotherly love” among Zeir Anpin’s Sephirotwas accomplished through the agency of Malchut, as Ramchal points out in Petach 52. As Malchut  was established to be the container for all of them, i.e., for the Sephirot of Chessed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod that lie above it, so that instead of each light functioning separately, they’d all head in one direction, i.e., toward Malchut, and a connection would then be established between them.

Here’s how Ramchal explains it in his comments here. “The underlying principle is that Imma will only rest upon Zeir Anpin when Nukveh is joined to the latter, as Nukveh is the root of the recipients” [1]. That is, since Nukveh is the lowest spiritual realm, and is thus the most proximate one to the lower realms that receive their sustenance from above, Imma will only interact with Zeir Anpin when Nukveh is connected with it. Once that occurs, “everything is then full of joy and radiant excitement”.

The point is that Imma’s gift of “sweetness” and “brotherly love” could only reign only after the Sephirot of Zeir Anpin were purposefully joined to Nukveh, which is itself joined to the lower realms. As, “the Supreme Imma closes or opens the gates (of blessing and accord) according to how ready the Nukveh is for Zeir Anpin”, as Ramchal offers in his comments; and“this shows that the essential makeup of creation — how everything is directed only towards those in the lower world”.

Notes:

[1] See Tikkunei Zohar p. 86a, 125a

(c) 2013 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”.

Pesach Break

It’s that time again. I’ll be off-line (largely) until after Pesach, so no new entries until then.

Chag Kosher v’Samaiyach

Ramchal on the Shechina in Klach

Here’s what he offers in this section (in Petach 52) about the Shechina, and it’s a nuanced and complex vision. It’s also a rather arcane one, so we’ll need to explain it as we go along.

He says that the greatness of the Shechina (the female aspect) lies in its enabling the male (aspect) to achieve perfection”. That’s to say that the Shechina has a specific and vitally important — albeit supportive — role in things, while Zeir Anpin (the male aspect) has the main role, to be sure, but it’s still and all dependent upon the Shechina to achieve it [1].

And he then makes the point there in explanation that “the mystical principle behind this is that Imma only rests upon Zeir Anpin when Nukveh is with him.” Let’s explain that.

Recall that Imma is analogous to Binah, Zeir Anpin is analogous to Yesod, and Nukveh is analogous to Malchut. But, what has Binah to do with the Shechina, you might ask? The Zohar speaks of two Shechinas: an “Upper Shechina” which is Binah, and the more familiar “Lower Shechina” which is Malchut (1, pp. 159b-160a). They’re both “Shechinas” because both Binah and Malchut are female aspects, and (in keeping with our point) they both hold sway over realms lower than themselves (Binah holds sway over the Sephirot beneath her, and Malchut holds sway over the lower worlds) yet both are subservient to realms higher than themselves. (Binah is subservient to Keter and Chochma, and Malchut is subservient to Yesod especially as well as all the other Sephirot above them).

His point is that Malchut only enables Yesod to achieve its lofty goal when Malchut’s upper counterpart, Binah or Imma, plays an active role as well. Thus, Ramchal presents us here with multifarious Shechina that’s active yet passive, vital yet accessory, male- yet female-like aspects of the Shechina.

Note:

[1]       Also see Iggerot Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at 44 and Adir Bamarom p. 4 (at end).

(c) 2013 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”.

Ramchal on the Shechina in other writings

As we’d expect, Ramchal has a rather unique, poetic understanding of the Shechina in his other writings. He says at one point that “the first thing God wanted to occur in the world was universal governance, which is to say, His own interactions with the world, and His presence in it. This phenomenon is termed the ‘Shechina’”. He goes on to say there that that’s to say that “God is said to ‘dwell’ (shochein) among His created beings because He functions that way in the world” (Sefer Kinat Adonai Tzevaot). In other words, the idea of the Shechina is a representation of the process by which God comes into close and consequential contact with the world.

Elsewhere he says — somewhere along the same lines — that the term Shechina is a depiction of the “space” (or physical reality as we know it) in which the world exists, and in which He bestows upon it (Adir Bamarom p. 293). This also points to the intimacy he associated between the Shechina and God Himself, and with the world itself which the Shechina and God both envelope and interact with.

While these aren’t ways of identifying God Himself with the Shechina, they do underscore just how God and it function together, and how crucial the Shechina is to God’s plans. Let’s see next what he says about it here, in Klach.

(c) 2013 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 Zohar on the Shechina

The Zohar often depicts the Shechina as a passive, dependant “female”-figure who is without “color” or “light” (i.e., overt substance and strong definition) of her own, and who can thus act as a sort of selfless, malleable reflector of whatever enters her purview from above and to transmute it downward unobtrusively (see Zohar 1, 221a, 151b-152a; also see Eitz Chaim 6:5).

Thus, in relation to the Sephirot above it, the Shechina is of the lowest-rank, but in relation to the worlds below it is of the very highest order (1, 172a-b; 1, 159b-160a; also see Pardes 11:2 where Malchut is referred to as the world’s “architect”). It’s thus “female” in that it receives Divine flow from the active “male” Sephirot above her, but it then, ironically, transmits it in a “male” way to the lower phenomena under its purview

And it’s said to act as the foundation stone of the world (2, 222a-b), its house (1, 172a-b), its mother (3, 249a-b), as righteousness itself (2, 139b-140a), God’s own agent (2, 50b-51a), as the moon to God’s sun (1, 181a-b; 3, 45b, 248b), and as God’s queen (3, 69a),

We see, then, that the Kabbalists combined the nearness and approachability of the Shechina expressed above and its association with God Himself, as His very consort, partner, and intimate in the act of creation.

We’ll see what Ramchal said about this next.

(c) 2013 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”.

Why God Isn’t Mentioned in The Book of Esther: A Theory

A “theory” is a logical presumption about what’s going on behind the scenes to explain a continuing confusing phenomenon in the world. Some theories are mere guesses and some are educated guesses that are more likely to be true, though not necessarily so.

Suppose, for example, a friend and I found ourselves in a strange and foreign environment after travelling for a long time (and not knowing where we were going). “Where are we?” one of us would say. “I have a theory,” I might say. “Everyone around us seems to have Eastern features, they seem to be eating foods favored by Chinese people, and they seem to be engaged in Chinese practices. I’m thinking we must be in China.” So my theory would be that based on what we see all around us, we’d come to be in China in fact.

“Wait a minute,” my friend might say. “Maybe we’re in Chinatown in San Francisco?” After all, most people there have Eastern facial features, eat Chinese food, and are engaged in Chinese practices, too. “My theory is we’re in Chinatown” he says.

Well, both would be reasonable theories, except for the fact that no matter how far we went we couldn’t see a sign of anything that San Francisco is famous for. So it seems that my theory — that we were in China after all — is the more reasonable one. Besides, I happen to read Mandarin, and I read about everyday things that would be typical of life in China going on there day after day, so based on my expertise, my educated guess would be more conclusive, though not absolutely certain, since, who knows, maybe we were whisked off to Japan in an area where a whole swath of Chinese people lived and still spoke and wrote about home a lot. We were simply not privy to all we’d need to arrive at the absolute truth.

Along the same lines, suppose a large number of things were simply and entirely inexplicable in life, and a friend and I were trying to explain what lie behind them. “My theory is that what’s going on is all circumstantial and by chance,” my friend might say, “since that often happens”. I have a hunch that things aren’t so chancy, based on my studies and years of ruminations, and I offer the idea that there’s “someone” behind all of this who’s purposeful, omniscient, and omnipotent. I could be wrong, but I really believe that, so I’m sticking to it. My friend offers no other theories, and no one else knows for certain (since one would have to be omniscient himself to know after all), so we’re left in that position.

The holiday of “Purim” itself is named after the lots (purim in Akkadian) that were cast to determine the fate of the Jews (see Esther 3:7). As such, by not mentioning God it seems to offer proof for the theory that life — its political machinations, its causes and effects, its outcomes, etc. — is chancy, and is rooted in “the throw of the dice”. After all, there doesn’t seem to be a purposeful, omniscient, and omnipotent being anywhere to explain it.

What we people of faith believe, though — based on the thinking and ruminations of the best of us, to say nothing of direct revelation — is that the best theory of all behind everything that happens here is in fact the existence of just such a Being, God, who, while hidden, is still behind it all. So while not offering that theory itself the Book of Esther was included in Tanach to underscore the idea that God does indeed control life’s machinations, and that belief in Him is in fact the most viable theory of all.

(c) 2013 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”.

Shechina (3)

Oftentimes, the term Shechina is used in the tradition simply as an alternative term for God Himself, as when the Talmud asks about the verse “Follow (the ways of) God your Lord” (Deuteronomy 13:5), “is it possible for a man to follow (the ways of) the Shechina?” (Sotah 14a). Thus, that notion and the statements to the effect that the Shechina is in all places (Baba Battra 25a), and that just as the sun radiates throughout the world so does the Shechina (Sanhedrin 39a) seem to indicate that the term Shechina was oftentimes used to play-down the idea that God was restricted to any one sphere.

The term is also used in connection with the experience of God’s presence to an extreme degree as before the thorn bush in which Moses caught sight of Him, at Mount Sinai and the Tabernacle where everyone encountered His presence, and at the first Temple (see Shabbat 67a, Sotah 5a, Yoma 9b, and Shemot Rabbah 34:1), as well as the Shechina being in our midst in exile (Megillah 29a) or even in our impure state (Yoma 56b). And that, too, seems to align the term Shechina with God’s omnipresence.

But unlike the above rabbinic insights, the early Jewish philosophers were concerned with avoiding any possible anthropomorphic interpretations of the term, and went to great lengths to point out that the Shechina doesn’t refer to God Himself but rather to an independent entity that He’d created.

According to Saadiah Gaon, the term Shechina is identical with God’s “glory”, which served as an intermediary between God and man during the prophetic experience. Thus, he maintained that when Moses asked to see God’s glory, he was shown the Shechina, and when the prophets “saw” God they actually saw the Shechina (Emunot v’De’ot 2:10).

According to R’ Yehuda Halevi there are two aspects of the Shechina: the visible one, that ceased to appear in our midst with the destruction of the Holy Temple and the cessation of prophecy, but which will return with the coming of the Moshiach (Kuzari, 2:20, 23; 3:23); and the invisible Shechina, which has never disappeared and is instead “with every virtuous Jew with a pure heart and an upright mind” (ibid., 5:23). He thus managed to equate the Shechina with God and to remove it from Him at one at the same time.

And like Saadiah, Rambam also identifies the Shechina with God’s glory at a certain point (Moreh Nevuchim 1:21), yet also identified the Shechina with God Himself at another point (Ibid. 1:28).

Let’s see how the Zohar, the Kabbalists, and Ramchal himself defined the term.

(c) 2013 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”.