Ramchal

One of the more arcane experiences in the World to Come would be the meal that the righteous will enjoy there that will be comprised of a portion of special leviathan and behemoth meat, and more [1].

But, didn’t we learn that “In the World to Come there’s no eating, drinking” etc.? Obviously then this meal will be an aspect of that experience termed “sit(ting) with crowns on their head and enjoy(ing) the radiance of the Shechina” (see Berachot 17a). That’s to say that the “meal” depicted below will be an “absorption” or grasping of Godliness like none other [2]. Let’s see the specifics.

The Book of Job depicts the Leviathan and the Behemoth (40:15-32). According to the Talmud, God originally produced both a male and a female Leviathan, but concerned that they might become many and destroy the world, He slaughtered the female and reserved her flesh for the banquet that the righteous will enjoy with the coming of the Moshiach (Baba Batra 74a), but the Zohar speaks of that meal taking place in the World to Come (1, p. 135b)

Here’s how Rebbe Yochanan depicted the Leviathan: “Once we boarded a ship and saw a fish that stuck its head out of the water that had horns upon which was written: ‘I am one of the meanest creatures to inhabit the sea. I am three hundred miles in length, and I enter this day into the jaws of the Leviathan’ (which is so much greater) (Baba Batra 74a). When the leviathan is hungry he issues heat from his mouth that’s so great that all the waters of the deep boil as a result of it (Ibid.).

And we’re taught that it’s from the hide of the Leviathan that God will make “tents for the pious of the first rank, garments for those of the second, belts for those of the third, and necklaces for those of the fourth. The remainder of the hide will be spread on the walls of Jerusalem”, which addresses the various levels of righteousness of those found there; but what most especially addresses the spiritual nature of the Leviathan is the statement that “the whole world will be illuminated by its brightness” (Ibid).

Notes:

[1]       Since this meal is spoken of in standard rabbinic sources as well as in the Zohar, we’ll use it as our segue to a more extended discussion of the latter’s remarks about the World to Come.

[2]       See Zohar 1, p. 135b.

(c) 2012 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”.

As to the World to Come, according to classical sources, little can be said about it as it’s wholly other-worldly — a phenomenon that “since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has (any) eye seen, O God, beside You” (Isaiah 64:3). Nonetheless we’re told that three things offer a “sample” of it: the Shabbat, sexual intercourse, and a sunny day (though the sages were unsure whether sexual intercourse should be included. since it weakens the body) (Berachot 57b).

There are, though, some things we know about it (though it might be said that the incomprehensible implications of what’s offered detracts from the advantage of having it). We’re told that “In the World to Come there’s no eating, drinking, procreation, commerce, jealousy, antagonism, or rivalry’ which constitute the whole of life, “instead, the righteous sit with crowns on their head and enjoy the radiance of the Shechina there” (Berachot 17a), which is inexplicable.

Nevertheless, “all Israel have a portion in the World to Come” (other than those who “maintain that the resurrection of the dead isn’t a biblical doctrine, that the Torah wasn’t divinely revealed, and heretics”) (Mishna Sanhedrin 10:1); and righteous gentiles also have a place in the World to Come (Tosefta, Sanhedrin 13:2).

(c) 2012 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”.

I forgot to include what’s said in the Zohar about Techiyat HaMeitim, so let’s do that now.

The Zohar offers quite a lot of insight into the state of things in the course of the Techiyat HaMeitim, so we’ll only offer the following which sums up the gist of it.We’re told that the Techiyat HaMeitim will come about through the agency of the supernal light that had been hidden away with creation (T Z p. 41a).

The righteous will be rewarded then with as handsome a body in the course of Techiyat HaMeitim as Adam had when he first entered the Garden of Eden (1, p 113b; also see 1, p. 141a). That of course refers to the sort of other-worldly body that Adam was granted which, when reduplicated in the Techiyat HaMeitim, will add a higher degree of other-worldly luster to their souls.

Curiously enough, given the absolutely unfathomable distinctiveness of the whole experience, we’re nonetheless told that “the only difference between the world now and (the world in the course of) Techiyat HaMeitim is in (degrees of) purity, intellectual grasp,…. and length of life” (1, p. 139a).

Those who come back in the course of Techiyat HaMeitim will live in the Land of Israel (1, p. 69a), and the dead of the Land of Israel will rise up before those outside of it in the course of it (2, p. 199b; also see 1, p. 181b, 1, p. 128b, TZ 81a).

Given that the Zohar fully accepts the reality of reincarnation, the natural question is which body will come back to him? And we’re told that one’s first body will reunite with his soul most often (2, p. 100a, 3, p. 308b; but also see 2, p. 105b, 1, p. 131a).

Especially touching is the idea that friends and others will recognize each other then (2, p. 220a). And in fact if one died with maladies (for example) he’ll come back with them so that friends will recognize him, and then they’ll be made whole (3, p. 91a).

And we’re informed that people will rise up in groups: the righteous with other righteous, wrongdoers with other wrongdoers, etc (1, p. 63a), like cliques in a way.

(c) 2012 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”.

Let’s see now what Ramchal said about Techiyat HaMeitim in some of his other works. Interestingly, he sees it in light of the ethical continuum starting from Adam and Eve’s sin until the end of all sin in the World to Come (Derech Hashem 1:3:9). Since “humanity and the universe at large will not be able to reach perfection while continuing to exist in a ruined state,” he says there, “they and it will have to die and be undone, after which they and it will come back to life anew in a form that’s conducive to perfection”. Being more explicit he says elsewhere that the universe itself will “return to a state of formlessness and emptiness” (Genesis 1:2) after 6,000 years (Sanhedrin 97b), “returning then to its …. primal form” (Ma’amar HaIkarim, Geulah) [1].

Addressing the renewed relationship between body and soul then, Ramchal informs us that when the soul returns to the body after Techiyat HaMeitim, the soul will function “in all its splendor and might” (which it couldn’t do while the individual was alive) and will purify the body to “a great degree” [2]. And then the conjoined soul and body will “ascend higher and higher” (Derech Hashem 1:3:13).

Note:

[1]       See Adir Bamarom p. 188 for more on the chronology as well as pp. 197-198 there.

[2]       But see Da’at Tevunot 72 for a discussion of a complete purification of the body from the first, and more.

(c) 2012 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 were stuck in Chicago for a week because we couldn’t get a flight back to NY. We’re back and will start again as soon as possible.

The tradition is adamant about belief in the resurrection of the dead as evidenced by the statement that “whoever denies the resurrection of the dead will have no share in it” (Sanhedrin 90b), as if to say that if you doubt it, you don’t belong there in the first place.

In reference to the eeriness of it and the out-and-out other-worldliness of something that’s so far removed from human experience, the Talmud underscores the point that “the resurrection of the dead will be accomplished by God, who alone holds the key to it” (Ta’anit 2a, Sanhedrin 113a).

Rambam made it the last of his thirteen articles of faith, which, as worded in Ani Ma’amin, reads: “I firmly believe that there will be a revival of the dead at a time which will please the Creator, blessed be His name.” He did, though, contend that it would only be experienced by the righteous in his comments to the Mishna (Sanhedrin 10:1), but many argued against that view and affirmed a resurrection for all dead (Abarbanel in his Ma’yenei Yeshu’ah 2:9 and Menashe ben Israel, in his Nishmat Ḥayyim 1:2:8).

But perhaps the most elegant affirmation of it is the one we’re asked to offer each and every morning when we say, “O God, the soul which You have set within me is pure. You Have fashioned it; You have breathed it into me, You keep it within me, and will take it from me and restore it to me in time to come. As long as it is within me I will give homage to You, divine Master, Lord of all spirits, who returns soul to dead bodies” (Berachot 60b).

(c) 2012 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”.

While Job enunciated the universal longing for the Resurrection of the Dead by saying, “Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death”, (14:14), and Daniel promised it when he said that “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (12:2), Ezekiel laid out the details in Ch. 37 of his book.

He said that “the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Lord God, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord God says to these bones: I will make spirit enter you, and you will come to life.  I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.  I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the spirit; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Come, spirit, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. Then He said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, My people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.  I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’” (vs. 1-14).

(c) 2012 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”.

After speaking in general about humankind above, Ramchal depicts the relationship between our souls and our bodies [1], and then he takes us on an excursion into the Resurrection of the Dead and the World to Come in relation to the ultimate rectification [2]. So we’ll present the traditional view of those two epoch events, the Zohar’s perspective on them, Ramchal’s views elsewhere, and finally, and what he adds to that here in our section.

Notes:

[1]       See the beginning of his comments to Petach 41.

[2]       See further on there.

(c) 2012 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”.

Ramchal declares that the repairing of the final degree depends on human input, for humanity is meant to strengthen the power of holiness. Once that’s accomplished there’ll no longer be wrong, and everything will serve only to manifest the glory of the Creator… Everything will revert to helping to perfect the “basic foundation” that was established so that all of creation would be of one accord … which will lead to the revelation of God’s sovereignty…. Light will complete its entry into all the vessels … and everything will be in a state of utter repair (Petach 48). And he declares that the truly wrongful was always mean to revert to goodness through the repairs carried out by humankind (Petach 49).

Finally, he lays out some more details in his comments to Petach 48. He offers that “God’s Supreme Will originally desired that He Himself would begin (the process of universal rectification) while allowing man to complete it. Thus, when humanity’s work will be finished that will complete the entire process, and a state of (utter) repair will reign”. For, “the repair of this last level will depend on the actions of humanity… For this is in fact what the Supreme Mind allowed for in order to provide for the possibility of reward and punishment. For (while God Himself) separated rah from the supernal Sephirot He nevertheless left its complete removal in the hands of humanity”.

As such, “this is the difference between the repair brought on by the hands of Heaven and the one brought on by humanity: everything that involved an innovation (i.e., an instance of the creation of something out of nothing) could only be brought about by the hands of Heaven, but what simply involved bolstering the repair and making it permanent was to be accomplished by humanity”.

(c) 2012 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”.

            As we said before our YomTov break, Ar”i and the other Kabbalists spoke at great length about just how primal mankind is to it all, and that we’d next see just what Ramchal said elsewhere about this, so here goes.

For one thing, like nearly all Jewish Sages before and subsequent to him, Ramchal differentiated between the role of the Jewish Nation and that of others. He dedicated an entire chapter to that in Derech Hashem: 2:4. He acknowledges that both share the same physiology and biology but offers that in the eyes of the Torah, though, the two groups are wholly different. He explains that difference by depicting Adam and Eve’s makeup (and their immediate prodigy’s) since they were neither Jewish or not. His point is that Adam and Eve’s misstep undid the unique connection mankind had with God and the universe, and that no one restored that until Abraham, the first Jew (and that that role was reinforced but the giving of the Torah to his descendants who accepted it upon themselves so willingly). The clear implication is that there needn’t have been a differentiation between Jewish and non-Jewish roles in the universe: that breakdown is an acknowledgement of the sanctity of all that Abraham did and allowed for in the universe. As such, the role incumbent upon the Jewish Nation now is to recover what had been lost by Adam and Eve’s sin, and to accomplish what they could have but didn’t besides [1].

Note:

[1] For more on Adam and Eve’s role and downfall see Adir Bamarom p. 29; for the difference between Abraham and Jacob’s role see Biurim al Tanach, Parshat Va’Era (Otzrot Ramchal p. 39); for more on the other nations see Adir Bamarom p. 380; and see Da’at Tevunot on Adam and Eve at 72, 78, 126, and on the role and makeup of the Jewish Nation at 36, 126, 130, 134, 158, 160.

(c) 2012 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”.