Ramchal

Petach 58, the last one of this section, concludes it by expanding upon the detail in Petach 57 about the role of the Shechina [1]; by addressing a point made in Petach 54 about the configuration of things after the Shevira process [2]; and by harkening back to the statement in Petach 52 about the relationship between Zeir Anpin and Nukveh [3].

It makes the point that the Tikkun process itself — which is the subject of the very next section — will right what had gone wrong in the relationship between the supernal Male and Female phenomena (and more).

Ramchal remarks here that the Shechina, which is analogous to Malchut in the Sephira configuration and Nukveh in the Partzuf configuration, only becomes beautiful and delightful, i.e., fulfilled, fully balanced, and successful at its raison d’être [4], when Yesod or Zeir Anpin is with her [5], for she’s only made complete by means of Yesod or Zeir Anpin.

But when Shechina, Malchut or Nukveh is without Yesod or Zeir Anpin, she’s the source of all sorts of deficiency and “sadness” and is thus neither beautiful nor delightful, yet when Shechina, Malchut or Nukveh is with Yesod or Zeir Anpin, she’s the source of all sorts of  joy for the male, or for Yesod or Zeir Anpin, himself.

Accordingly, at first, i.e., in the course of the breaking of the vessels, everything was in the mystical configuration of BaN, which is Shechina, Nukveh or Malchut without the male, i.e., without Yesod or Zeir Anpin, which resulted in “sadness”. And the “six directions” contained in Zeir Anpin: Chessed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod, didn’t face Shechina, Malchut or Nukveh, because they weren’t yet delightful.

But when Yesod or Zeir Anpin assumes the mystical configuration of MaH in the course of the Tikkun, she, i.e., Shechina, Malchut or Nukveh, will be perfected and will herself inspire delight in the male, i.e., in Yesod or Zeir Anpin, which is the Tikkun process itself.

This completes Section Ten.

Notes:

[1]       As a result of those 288 sparks, the reality of this world came to be such that a single power, i.e., the Shechina, would remain so that the world wouldn’t be destroyed ….

[2]       That the ability to govern was taken away from the vessels when they were broken. They also didn’t function as the mystical configuration of a perfect form then. Instead, they functioned as various imperfect phenomena that were unfit to do things fully.

[3]       That what was lacking in the primordial kings was the fact that the six Sephirot of Chessed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod didn’t face towards the Malchut and they thus weren’t spared “sorrow” and “severity” or isolation.

[4]       As Ramchal depicts it in his comments, “’beauty’ manifests itself when the repairs are properly ordered without an admixture of darkness, (and) when everything is arranged to foster perfect … governance”.

[5]       “This represents the mystical notion of the moon (i.e., Malchut), which … shines and is seen to be beautiful through the power of the sun (i.e., Yesod)”, Ramchal points out in his comments as well.

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I won’t be posting for a couple of weeks. Happy summer!

Petach 57 ends with the following. After the vessels involved in the Shevira process “functioned as … imperfect phenomena” (Petach 54), and AV became a dominant force (Petachim 55-57),  it then became necessary for 288 sparks [1] of holiness that remained behind after the breaking of the vessels to descend from there i.e., from the Chariot, so as to bolster and sustain the vessels that were descending in the course of the breaking process. And that was so that there wouldn’t be utter annihilation, and so that there’d be the possibility of a way of returning and being repaired instead.

As is explained in Ramchal’s comments here, this harkens back to the point made earlier on, in Petach 30, that even though God’s sovereignty was concealed, it still functioned of course. The effect of that came to manifest itself in the balancing of two opposing forces: on one level, rah had to function (so as to allow for free will, and to seem to thwart God’s Sovereignty), but it couldn’t be allowed to continue to hold sway forever, or else the world would be destroyed in the end. So, 288 means of reparation were allowed to sprinkle about in the ether, if you will, so that there’d be more than a tiny chance that all could go well eventually.

As a result of those 288 sparks, Ramchal concludes, the phenomena of this world came to be such that a single power, i.e., the Shechina, would remain so that the world wouldn’t be destroyed, God forbid, and so that what had been damaged could be repaired through this remaining power

Notes:

[1]  Quite simply, 288 is the value of the four AV’s spoken of above (i.e., 4 x 72 = 288). But there are another couple of reasons why there came to be 288 sparks specifically, all of which underscore the importance of AV in all this.

As Ramchal explains in his comments here, in fact “very many sparks … descended with the vessels …. But it became necessary to formulate a specific amount that would total 288. For if not, it would have meant either that there was no need for any specific number at all”, which would defeat the lesson to be learned about the centrality of AV, “or that all the sparks that descended would have been counted as a single one”, i.e. as a single amorphous conglomeration of all, without that same focus on AV, “or that the initial levels in each name”, i.e., the specific instance of AV, SaG, MaH, and BaN themselves “would have been counted” rather than AV itself.

(c) 2013 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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

Parenthetically, the arcane expression, “the Throne that bears its bearers” used here alludes to the following statement in the Zohar (2, 242a): “The one who’s on a high (spiritual) level (actually) bears the one (who seems to be) bearing him”. The Zohar itself harkens to the analogous statement in the Talmud that “the ark of the covenant (actually) bore (what appeared to be) its bearers” (Sotah 35, see Joshua 4:18). The point of the matter is that “Erich Anpin (the higher level, actually) saves the other (lower) Partzufim from harm (by ‘bearing’ them)” so to speak, as Ramchal says in his comments here.

(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.

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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”.

In any event chariots apparently stopped resonating all that much in terms of governance when leadership was placed in the hands of governors rather than warriors, per se — of those who ruled on palatial thrones somewhere in the capitol city rather than in those who lead while in battle.

That might explain why the Chariot came to represent the king’s court in the Heichalot (literally, “palaces”) literature — which were produced from Talmudic times all the way to the early Middle Ages — and the fact that the King there sits on His Throne. And it also might explain why the Chariot came to represent the array of Sephirot — all representative of God’s governance — in the Zohar and later Kabbalistic literature, thus hearkening to the King on His Throne once again.

Here, finally, is how Ramchal uses both Chariot and Throne in Klach (Petach 57). These four instances of AV discussed in the previous Petach which reinforce the four Partzufim of Abba, Imma, Zeir Anpin, and Nukveh in Erich Anpin, and which are removed from harm, are the essence of the “Chariot”. It’s here that the “Throne” “bears its bearers”.

As he explains in his comments there, “The Chariot represents the connection of the entire governmental order”. We’ll explain the idea of the Throne “bearing its bearers” soon, but suffice it to say for our purposes here that Ramchal equates the Chariot with the Throne, and with the entirety of the Sephirot system.

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Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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

The equating of God’s Chariot with a Throne began early on. Let’s start off with the discussion of the Tabernacle in the desert, first cited in Exodus 25. We’re told there that it contained an “ark” (v. 16), “two golden cherubim” (v. 18) which were to “have their wings spread upwards, shielding the ark cover with their wings” (v. 20), and that “into the ark you are to place the testimony, which I will give you” (v. 21) — all so as to “make Me a sanctuary (where) I will dwell in their midst” (v. 8). Notice that neither the term Chariot or Throne is cited there: only an Ark.

It’s later on, in Tanach, though, where the Tabernacle is said to be God’s Throne. “The ark of the covenant of God Almighty, who is enthroned (there) between the cherubim” (1 Samuel 4:4), “God Almighty is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark” (2 Samuel 6:2), “The ark of God the Lord, who is enthroned between the cherubim” (1 Chronicles 13:6).

And then the Throne is termed God’s Chariot: “And for the incense altar, refined gold in weight, and for the pattern of the chariot, the cherubim of gold, which spread out (their wings) and covered the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 28:18) [1].

Note:

[1]       Also see Moreh Nevuchim 1:70 again for the equating of Chariot and Throne.

(c) 2013 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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

We’ll cite this quotation from the M. Friedlander translation of Moreh Nevuchim (1:70) which speaks to the points we’ve made about the significance of the Chariot (Merkava) as a representation of God’s rule. Rambam says there that:

“The term rakab, ‘to ride,’ is a synonym. In its primary signification it is applied to man’s riding on an animal, in the usual way; e.g., ‘Now he was riding (rokeb) upon his ass’ (Num. xxii. 22). It has then been figuratively used to denote ‘dominion over a thing’; because the rider governs and rules the animal he rides upon; e.g., ‘He made him ride (yarkibehu) on the high places of the earth’ (Deut. xxxii. 13); ‘and I will cause thee to ride (ve-hirkabtika) upon the high places of the earth’ (Isa. lviii. 14), that is, you shall have dominion over the highest (people) on earth; ‘I will make Ephraim to ride (arkib)’ (Hos. x. 11), i.e., I shall give him rule and dominion. In this same sense it is said of God, ‘who rideth (rokeb) upon the heaven in thy help’ (Deut. xxxiii. 26), that is, who rules the heaven; and ‘Him that rideth (la-rokeb) upon the ‘arabot’ (Ps. lxviii. 4), i.e., who rules the ‘arabot, the uppermost, all-encompassing sphere”.

….

“The rider is better than the animal upon which he rides — the comparative is only used for the sake of convenience, for the rider is not of the same class as the animal upon which he rides — furthermore, the rider moves the animal and leads it as he likes; it is as it were his instrument, which he uses according to his will; he is separate from it, apart from it, not connected with it. In like manner the uppermost sphere, by the rotation of which everything moveable is set in motion, is moved by God, who is separate from the sphere, and is not a power in it. In Bereshit Rabba we read that in commenting on the Divine words, ‘The eternal God is a refuge’ (lit., a dwelling, Deut. xxxiii. 27), our Sages said, ‘He is the dwelling of His world, the world is not His dwelling.’ This explanation is then followed by the remark, ‘The horse is secondary to the rider, the rider is not subservient to the horse; this is meant by ‘Thou wilt ride upon thy horses’ (Hab. iii. 8). Consider and learn how they described the relation of God to the sphere, asserting that the latter is His instrument, by means of which He rules the universe”.

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

Given that a chariot represents what it does — the various ways God administers the cosmos from His throne — we now understand why we’re taught that “The subject of … the workings of the chariot (may not be expounded to anyone other than) . . . a sage who has an innate understanding (of it). (In fact,) whoever (else) speculates on it would have been better off not having come into the world” (Mishna Hagigah 2:1). That’s so because knowledge of God’s ways in the world can lead one astray.

Yet we’re taught that “The account of the Chariot is a great matter while the discussions of Abaya and Rava” — which is to say, the discussions upon which all practical Halacha are based — “is a lesser matter” (Sukkah 28a). And that a Torah scholar who appears before God after his death is asked, “My son, since you occupied yourself with the study of the Talmud, did you gaze upon the Chariot? For in My world there is no real pleasure except when sages are sitting occupied with the words of Torah and gaze and look, behold and meditate upon” the realm of the Chariot as well (Midrash Mishlei, Chapter 10). So it’s obviously a vitally important subject of study.

Interestingly enough, though, the above Midrash starts to veer off onto a discussion of the Divine Throne rather than on the Chariot per se, thus equating the two.

This could be explained by the fact that the word “chariot” isn’t cited in the first chapter of Ezekiel, as we indicated, while “throne” is (twice in 1:26). But that didn’t seem to affect the change, given that the term Chariot continued to be used after the codification of The Book of Ezekiel, as we see from the Post-Biblical references. So, when and why did the concern for the Chariot become a concern with the Throne?

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Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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

There are many instances of chariots in Tanach: from Joseph’s, which is indicative of righteous leadership and power (see Genesis 41:43, 46:29, and 50:9); to Pharaoh’s, which is indicative of wrongful leadership and power (see Exodus 14:6, 7, 9); on to a slew of various leaders’ chariots (see the books of Kings, Chronicles, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets for example). But the most famous of all is the one cited in the very first chapter of Ezekiel — where the word “chariot” itself is never mentioned, but which is certainly understood and referred to in later writings.

In any event, at bottom a chariot is this: it’s a vehicle that allows its occupant to move at great speed without expending energy of his own, and that allows him to sit at ease while commanding a world of things that rush about at great speed about him following his orders. It’s clearly symbolic of the way of a thought sitting in the center of the mind unmoved yet affecting the entire thinking process; of the soul sitting in the center of the being unmoved yet affecting the entire self; and of God Almighty sitting in the center of the cosmos unmoved yet affecting the whole of it. And it’s easy to understand the eventual use of this symbol in the Tradition.

(c) 2013 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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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”.