Ramchal

This next section, entitled “The 288 Sparks”, is comprised of Petachim 54-58. As we’ve done till now, we’ll present each Petach on its own, speak of the lot of them together, then dive deep back within.

This final Petach of the section (53) acts as a short, quick bridge between the themes of the Breaking of the Vessels and the Tikkun.

Everything that was degraded at the time of the breaking of the vessels is to be repaired little by little through mankind’s input. This includes both the descent of the “hind parts” of Abba and Imma, which are the Partzuf equivalents of Chochma and Binah, as well as the breaking of the  “hind” and “front” parts of the other Sephirot, i.e., Zeir Anpin and Nukveh [1].

For everything that was lacking then, i.e., at the breaking of the vessels, began to be fulfilled at the time of the repair of Atzilut, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiyah through Heaven’s input. But in the end everything will be fulfilled in the perfect repair that will come about in the ultimate future when God’s Yichud will be revealed (Petach 53).

Notes:

[1]       See Eitz Chaim 9:2.

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Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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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 Chaim, Sha’ar Sh’virat HaKeilim, Ch. 3; also see Ramchal’s Klallei Ma’amar HaChochma 19.

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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”.

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

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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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”.

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 Sephirot— was 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

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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”.

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

Chag Kosher v’Samaiyach

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

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”.