Ramchal

We’d taken a long Pesach break so let’s review.

We’d begun to delve into the very esoteric Petach 16 which cites the fact that the Sephirot express two sorts of “forward” and “backward” light. Firstly, after the descent grade by grade from Keter to Malchut, Malchut then turns backward to become Keter, and so on in the same way until Keter becomes Malchut.

That’s to say, Sephira #1 (Keter) emanates from Starting Point A in the spherical Empty Space created by the Tzimtzum (to be explained later). Sephira #1 then irradiates downward through the spherical Empty Space (which is obviously no longer empty) to produce (spherical) Lights #2, 3, 4, (Chochma, Binah, Chessed, etc.) until it reaches End Point A of the spherical Empty Space, where it produces Light #10 (Malchut). Then the whole thing repeats itself in reverse.

Light # 10 (Malchut) starts ricocheting back from new Starting Point B (i.e., the old End Point A) in the spherical Empty Space so that Light #10 (Malchut) now functions as a new Light #1 (Keter) until it becomes a new Light #10 (Malchut) at new End Point B (i.e., the old Starting Point A). Then the whole process repeats itself.

Now, the often-cited source for this schema is Eitz Chaim 6:15, but as R’ Shalom Sharabi points out in his note there (in Shemesh), its actual source is Ramak’s Pardes Rimonim 15:4. But the latter in fact draws upon Sefer Bahir 171, so we’ll cite from the it and see how Ramak explains it, then we’ll delve into Ari’s analysis and wind up seeing what Ramchal says about it in his comments to this Petach and in his Biurim l’Sefer Otzrot Chaim (36).

(c) 2011 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”.

We’re taking a break now until after Pesach for our due diligence. After all, can anyone ever remove enough chometz, when you get right down to it?

Best wishes for a Chag Kosher v’Samaiyach!

YF

Let’s delve now into the very esoteric Petach 16 which cites the fact that the Sephirot express two sorts of “forward” and “backward” light. Firstly, after the descent grade by grade from Keter to Malchut, Malchut then turns backward to become Keter, and so on in the same way until Keter becomes Malchut.

That’s to say, Sephira #1 (Keter) emanates from Starting Point A in the spherical Empty Space created by the Tzimtzum (to be explained later). Sephira #1 then irradiates downward through the spherical Empty Space (which is obviously no longer empty) to produce (spherical) Lights #2, 3, 4, (Chochma, Binah, Chessed, etc.) until it reaches End Point A of the spherical Empty Space, where it produces Light #10 (Malchut). Then the whole thing repeats itself in reverse.

Light # 10 (Malchut) starts ricocheting back from new Starting Point B (i.e., the old End Point A) in the spherical Empty Space so that Light #10 (Malchut) now functions as a new Light #1 (Keter) until it becomes a new Light #10 (Malchut) at new End Point B (i.e., the old Starting Point A). Then the whole process repeats itself.

But there’s more.

(c) 2011 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 next inquiry is into what we are able to discuss about Sephirot and what not. “In short,” Ramchal writes in his comments to Petach 14, “we can’t ask why the Sephirot exist (as they do) and why they have this (particular) structure”, as that’s too close to the bone and is tantamount to peering behind the screen, which we simply can’t do.

Besides, he adds there, “there’s no better reason than the fact that this is (simply) the way it is”, period; “this is what’s needed, no less and no more … to achieve (God’s) intended goal of creation” [1].  For, that touches upon the makeup of the first Sephira, Keter, which we can’t delve into since it’s rooted in the Divine Will (Petach 15). That’s to say, it’s “attached to Ein Sof” (as Ramchal explains in his comments to there) which we haven’t any access to, and whose reasoning we couldn’t fathom anyway.

But we are to ask about and (try to) understand … the actions of the gradations and about how they function in the governance of the universe (Petach 15), which is to say, the Sephira of Chochma and then on. As Chochma is the point where “the thought (behind creation) divides things … in accordance with what has already been laid out” in Keter, and applies them to the governance of the universe (comment to Petach 15).

Ramchal then completes the equation by saying there that the very next Sephira, Binah, “is the ‘disclosure’ of Chochma” (i.e., it’s more accessible to us than Chochma), so we may inquire into it, “and (the Partzuf termed) Zeir (or Zeir Anpin, which is a conglomerate of the six Sephirot of Chessed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod) and (the Partzuf termed) Nukveh (which is comprised of the Sephira of Malchut) which comprise the whole of (Divine) governance” may all be inquired into as well.

Notes:

[1]       Also see Ramchal’s comments to Petach 100 as well as his Peirush l’Arimat Yadi B’tzalutin, Ma’amar Harautin, and Iggerot Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at 6.

(c) 2011 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.

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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”.

Ramchal expands on the correspondence between the physical universe and the Sephira system that we referred to above in his Klallim Rishonim 1. He indicates there that “creation … itself in its entirety is a replica of all the lights (i.e., of the Sephira system) that produced it. As the various parts of the universe each corresponds to the lights in every way … each to each”.  That explains the idea of there being “613 lights which parallel the (248) limbs (and 365 organs) of the human form”, and the idea that they function in ways that “parallel the natural laws that govern humanity” and the natural world.

He also makes the point that “whatever is said of the Sephirot is (likewise) said of the universe”, it’s just that what’s said about the former “is said about them in their context” while what’s said about of the latter “is said about them in their context”. So, for example, it’s said that “Sephirot ‘speak’ to each other” or “that they ‘hug’” one another, and the like. “That’s not to say that the Sephirot are two specific entities that (actually) speak to each other” or hug of course, Ramchal underscores. The point is that at times “one of them leaves its own border and enters the border of the other” much the way people communicate by one person emitting words which enter another’s ears, and the like. And that illustrates the idea that they interact by assuming different relative positions, as when they’re “encased” within each other for example.

(c) 2011 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 first principal (to consider) regarding the (system of) … structure of the Sephirot” Ramchal offers in Petach 14, “is (a consideration of) the makeup of the structure and its gradations, the makeup of the gradations themselves, and the makeup of their parts, properties, and of their interactions”.

So he offers in his comments there that we’d need to know that the entire structure is comprised of “613 lights which parallel the (248) limbs (and 365 organs) of the human form”; that they function in ways that “parallel the natural laws that govern humanity” and the natural world, though of course they only seem to do that in the eyes of the prophet, since they’re not material in fact; and that they interact by assuming different relative positions as when they’re “encased” (i.e., subsumed) one within the other when one’s functions are overt while another’s is covert, as we saw in Section 3 and will discuss later on [1].

The other important thing to keep in mind, he insists, is the fact that the “recipe” needs to be exact, with neither too much nor too little of anything, which it is in fact, since God “knew just what was needed, no less and no more, to bring about the full system of governance that would achieve His goal for creation” and so that humans would be free-willed enough to make their own moral and spiritual choices.

And he compares God’s purposeful setting-up of the components of this structure to our building a fire. For just as the fire needs to be made just-so to function, with neither too much nor too little wood or else the fire will extinguish, this structure likewise needs to be made just-so in order for it, too, to function.

What’s interesting about his analogy is that one would obviously need to be making a very small fire for it to be affected by such subtle variations in its fuel-source. That’s obviously a reference, then, to the tininess of the cosmos from God’s own perspective.

Notes:

[1]       See 3:4 and note 39 there.

(c) 2011 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”.

Ramchal offers a fundamental statement at a number of junctures, which is that everything is heading toward one thing alone: “(universal) rectification … (and) universal perfection” (comments to Petach 69, also see Da’at Tevunot 47, 170 and elsewhere). That’s to say, everything is contributing toward the aforementioned revelation of God’s Yichud.

But he then raises the point that that seems “to contradict reward and punishment, and free will” (Da’at Tevunot 44). After all, if universal perfection is sure to come about, come what may, what then do our actions matter?

So he goes on to offer that there are various and many ways of bringing universal perfection about, many of which are unfathomable to us (Da’at Tevunot, 170), but that at bottom it will surely come about; in the meanwhile, though, the system of reward and punishment, which “is (God’s) overt form of governance”, does indeed play itself out in the world (Ibid.). In the end, though, “the governing system of (i.e., that will eventually bring about universal) rectification will eventuate”. But it will follow on the heels of “the ways of reward and punishment” (Ibid., and Da’at Tevunot 53), which functions in the meanwhile (Ibid., 56).

According to Ramchal, then, that’s to say that there are two systems at play at the very same time: the overt one of reward and punishment (i.e., of universal progression and regression, depending on our moral and spiritual standing), and the covert one of oncoming perfection (i.e., of universal progression, come what may). It’s nonetheless true that the two systems interact, as he’ll go on to explain later on in Klach Pitchei Chochma; so our moral and spiritual standings do matter.

Let’s return to the Sephirot now.

(c) 2011 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”.

Ramchal is most explicit about the dynamics of reward and punishment in his Ma’amar HaIkkurim (“A Discourse on Fundamentals”) in the section entitled Hashgacha (“Providence”).

His first point there is that “God oversees everything He created” with an eye toward “the purpose for which it was created”. That’s to say that God is aware of everything that happens and makes sure that adjustments and alterations are made to accomplish His goal when necessary. Given that humans are the only free and independent agents whereas everything else simply follows course, it’s clear that it’s our deeds and their consequences that need to be adjusted. That’s why Ramchal then offers that “the providence that applies to humankind must be different from that of other beings”.

Given that we’re free-agents it also follows that some of what we do “results in merit”, i.e., our “good deeds”; while some “result in liability”, i.e., our “sins”; and that each is recompensed, which is to say — they’re reacted to and are either “rewarded” because they further God’s goal, or “punished” or adjusted because they don’t.

The things we do that are neither good deeds nor sins per se, however are allowed to follow the natural course of things simply because our free-agency has no bearing on them, and God just naturally makes sure they suit His goal (regardless of whether we understand how they do, or not).

And finally we’re taught that the “reward” or “punishment” is either administered in the course of one’s life or afterwards, but the point of the matter is that God is well aware of everything and is sure to see to it that everything is prearranged or adjusted retroactively to suit His goal (which, as we learned, is the revelation of His Yichud).

But there’s more, of course.

(c) 2011 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.

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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”.

The ideas that goodness and obedience to God’s charges are to be admired and rewarded, and that wrongfulness and disobedience are to be condemned and punished are axiomatic to the faith. It’s asserted, for example, in the second paragraph of Sh’ma Yisrael (Deuteronomy 11:13-21) that goodness will facilitate the bringing on of “the rain of the land in its seasons” and that wrongfulness will encourage God to “stop up the heavens (so) that there be no rain and (so) the land will not yield her fruit”; in the Ten Commandments, where dutifully honoring one’s parents will ensure that “your days will be long upon the earth” (Ex. 20:12); and at many other points.

And the Tradition points to reward and punishment in the Afterlife and in the ultimate World to Come at quite a number of junctures as well — both explicitly as in Pirkei Avot 2:2 which speaks of merit “enduring forever”, and implicitly as in Pesachim 54b where it’s pointed out that despite the fact that one cannot fathom the depths of God’s judgment, Divine Justice does prevail.

We’ll see how Ramchal understands the concept next.

(c) 2011 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.

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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”.

We’ve already spoken a lot about free will in Section One. See especially this, from note 14:

Ramchal discussed our free will in a number of other places in Klach. See for example Petachim 27 (p. 76), 29 (p. 87), 30 (p. 93), and 81 (pp. 260, 262). Also see Da’at Tevunot 14, 158; Derech Hashem 1:3:1, 1:5:4; Ma’amar HaIkkurim, “BaHashgacha”; etc.

Also see Deuteronomy 30:15–19; Pirkei Avot 3:15; Emunot v’ Deot (Ch. 4); Chovot Halevovot (3:8), Moreh Nevuchim (3:17), Hilchot Teshuvah Ch. 5, and the statement that “All is in the hands of Heaven but the fear of Heaven” (Berachot 33b), which is to say that humankind is free to offer any sort of ethical response to whatever Heaven offers.”

And this, from note 22 there:

Ramchal enters into a rather protracted discussion of the seeming contradiction between the idea of mankind’s God-given free-will and God’s over-arching will in Petach 1. If, as we’re taught, we’re each utterly free to make the ethical choices we deem fit and we’re thus seemingly capable of “foiling” God’s wishes in the process, then how could God’s will be absolute? As such, some might argue that indeed “Originally, God may have been alone” i.e., independent and hence omnipotent, but “He then chose to create beings … with wills of their own,” which then made it “possible … for them to thwart His will … and go against it”. After all, they’d argue, didn’t God also “create the Other Side” – i.e., wrongfulness and ungodliness, which apparently goes against His will all the time. And don’t we also see that “the Nation of Israel has sinned, and there is (apparently) no salvation for them”, so how could He, who chose them to be the purveyors of His will, be said to be omnipotent?

Ramchal’s response is simply this: Whatever seems to thwart His will only does so because “He allows it to, for His own inscrutable reasons” (Petach 2). So the point is that at bottom God is in utter command of everything, “nothing can thwart His wishes”, and all other wills are in fact “subservient to Him” and His wishes (see below as well).

We’d now add these Ramchal references: Klallim Rishonim 28, where he discusses the implications of free will being rooted in Nesirah, to be discussed later on; Adir Bamarom p. 414 where he discusses it in terms of man’s natural versus his “post-Adamic” state; and Ibid. p. 456 where its place among the Sephirot is discussed.

We’d also add these references now which seem to deny free will altogether or, at best, to relegate it to an apparent, very conditional, temporary, or perhaps ineffective or effete status: “Man only does what God wants (to have done)” (Adir Bamarom p. 416); other wills “are subservient to His” (Petach 1, p. 3); our so-called “free will” is merely a product of our ignorance of God’s own will (Petach 81, p. 262); we all wind up following God’s wishes ;“even when it appears that we’re doing the opposite” (Tiktu Tephillot 40), and the fact that so-called “free will” will be undone in the end anyway (Da’at Tevunot 40).

We’ll get to reward and punishment next.

(c) 2011 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”.