Ramchal

The beginning of the next Petach (63) is straightforward. It says that since Divine governance is based on the mystical principle of a combination of Chessed and Din, which is the source of right and of wrong, all of which is for the sake of reward and punishment, it follows then that two progenitors are needed for every action.

Thus, a light that’s to govern will only emerge through the agency of two lights that draw it forth, i.e., that will produce it.

What follows, though, touches on an important theme that appears throughout the Zohar and Kabbalistic literature: zivvug — “conjunction”, “union”, or intercourse in human terms.

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Ramchal offers the following well known Kabbalistic principle in his comments to Petach 62 (our subject at hand) which is that, “every (supernal) level has a corresponding level in regard to human service”. That’s to say that everything that occurs in the human experience corresponds to and must occur in the supernal realms, and vice versa.

As such, “since humankind’s service is entirely based on free will, wherever there’s free choice, there has to be the possibility of (both) damage and repair, (as well as) reward and punishment (in the supernal realm).”

And so we learn in this Petach that in order for there to be human free will and subsequent reward and punishment, the Sephira system was erected upon the foundations of MaH which allows for goodness and Tikkun, and BaN which allows for rah and its consequences, both of which need to exist together.

Thus we’re taught in the Petach itself that all things having to do with defects — i.e. whatever allows for defilements and their subsequent penalties — are rooted in the Sephirot of BaN, whereas all things having to do with Tikkun, which come to repair these defects, are rooted in the Sephirot of MaH.

But each level needs to be comprised of both MaH and Ban for the sake of the sort of governance needed, i.e., to allow for free will. As a consequence, all elements of rah exist there under the auspices of BaN, while all elements of goodness exist there under the auspices of MaH [1].

Note:

[1] Also see Klallei Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at 8.

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The Petach then ends with the following, which underscores our role in the great Tikkun. But other levels of BaN that weren’t connected to MaH remained behind in Atzilut, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiyah, so creation wasn’t complete given that there were still a number of deficiencies. Nonetheless this will eventually be rectified step by step [1] to the point where everything will be repaired and in a state of perfection.

Note:

[1] See 9:5 above.

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He then begins there, in his comments, to equate the broken-then-fixed state of the universe to the broken-then-fixed relationship between the Jewish Nation and God, citing these verses: whereas at first “The virgin of Israel is fallen; (and) she shall (seemingly) never rise” (Amos 5:2), nonetheless, “I will (eventually) raise up David’s fallen tabernacle” (ibid. 9:11).

In other words,” as Ramchal offers, “When the Assembly of Israel fell, it was because the Supreme King hadn’t yet revealed His Glory … completely. For, was happened (at that point) only occurred because (the world) awaited revelation”.

But in fact, God “didn’t want to merely return them to the state they’d already been in” without allowing them to better themselves even more so. Instead, “He wanted to bring them to a new state of being in which they’d be (fully) rectified” in the end. The point is that while He started the Tikkun process, He expected and enabled us to finish it ourselves.

“Thus the Supreme Mind set about making what it made through this (initial) repair process, until all of the different levels and Partzufim were produced, and they were all comprised of parts that had been damaged in the earlier Shevira together with the Tikkun that came to fix them” i.e., until they were granted the parts of MaH and BaN out of which the Partzufim were made.

And so while “the world is governed thus” for the meanwhile, “the work is now in the hands of humanity to complete”.

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Ramchal already explained in Petach 54 [1] that BaN had to await another irradiation in order to initiate its Tikkun process — “the Partzufim (that derived) from the lights of MaH and BaN combined”, as he puts it in his comments here.

And so we’re told in Petach 61 that MaH then had all the levels that were connected through BaN connected to it, and out of them were produced the “Tree of Holiness”, which is to say, the Worlds of Atzilut, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiyah.

 Notes:

[1]       See 10:1 and note 3 to that section.

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Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

Here, then, is Petach 60 along with its explanation.

After the lights of Adam Kadmon’s “eyes”, which are BaN, emerged, they were aligned with the governance of Malchut of Adam Kadmon, whereas when the radiation of the “forehead”, which is MaH, emerged, it was aligned with the governance of Yesod of Adam Kadmon, as we’d just explained.

Yesod and Malchut of Adam Kadmon then conjoined, and as a consequence, all judgments were mitigated, and governance functioned along the lines of Tikkun and “love”, rather than disjunction and rupture.

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Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

As Ramchal explains in his comments here, there is in fact no contradiction in the depictions offered in EitzChaim cited above. For, when it comes to the Lights under discussion here, “aside from (considering) the sources from which they emerged, we must also take into account the sources to which they’re (eventually) bound, and from which they derive their power and governing ability”.           

So we need to know that while “these Lights (originally) emerged from the ‘eyes’, they were then bound to Adam Kadmon’s Malchut and they (likewise) derived their governing ability from there.”

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Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

The whole point of the next, rather esoteric Petach — the 60^th — is to clear up an apparent contradiction in R’ Chaim Vitale’s explanation of the role of the primordial kings (who experienced the Shevira process) and their eventual Tikkun. At one point he said that the kings derived from Adam Kadmon’s “eyes” and that MaH derived from its “forehead” (Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Drushei Nekudot Ch.1), and elsewhere he said that the kings derived from Adam Kadmon’s Malchut and that MaH was a product of the male emissions of Adam Kadmon’s “Yesod” (Eitz Chaim, Seder Atzilut Ch. 2; also see Petach 96 below).

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Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

At this point, though, those conjoined units didn’t have influence upon lower Partzufim. That only came about once the center-spoke of the balance-scale came into play as well, aside from the left and right spokes. It enabled them to combine and to influence the lower Partzufim.

Nonetheless, everything was governed by mutual agreement and cooperation as a consequence of the Tikkun, rather than by one Partzuf or Sephira alone shining as had been the case beforehand.

Because this new order epitomized order and agreement — as well as reciprocal relationships — rather than the autonomous and sovereign stance that held sway over the various parts before, the parts were now said to be bound to one another like a, “father”, i.e. Abbah, “mother” i.e., Imma, “son”, i.e., Zeir Anpin, and “daughter”, i.e., Nukveh, thus illustrating those sorts of familial, vertical and horizontal reciprocal relationships.

As such, the great innovation of the Tikkun process was the instigation of the Partzuf system [1], thanks to which there are fuller, more mature phenomenon than isolated Sephirot interplaying in the universe. In fact, one almost has the impression of the earlier layout as an example of the interaction of kids walking down a hall single file, full of themselves, and self-important, who then mature into full-fledged family members who cooperate and interact healthily and selflessly.

Note:

[1] See Petach 70.

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What first came about because of the aforementioned union was an immediate awakening of love between the lights (as well between all the other Sephirot that resulted from them). This refers to the onset of a strong attraction between “lovers”, or perhaps better said between “partners” that brings them together.

We’re not talking about human romantic love, attraction, or partnership of course. Perhaps the best analogy would be to the way one pole of a magnet is attracted to the opposite pole of another magnet: with a genuine and natural attraction and pull which is nonetheless non-emotional.

Thank to that “love”, Ramchal goes on  to say, the partners were no longer in the state of “sadness” or of being unfulfilled they had been in, in the course of the Shevira, when the lights stood in perpendicular relationship to each other. Instead, they faced one another, and they became bound to one another and assumed a horizontal relationship [1].

Note:

[1]       See Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar HaTikkun Ch. 3 where this is linked back to the primordial kings, the first seven of whom died as a consequence of the Shevira process, until the eight king (Hadar) arose — both he and his wife (see Genesis 36:39). Also see Iddrah Rabbah, Zohar 3, p. 135b.

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Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.