Ramchal

God’s Yichud is one of Ramchal’s foremost themes [1], hence Klach launches into a discussion of it from the first, where it speaks of it in terms of God’s sovereignty and omnipotence [2]. But Ramchal really doesn’t offer a definition of the term, which doesn’t simply mean “one” as in its cognate term echad. He does define Yichud elsewhere in his writings, though.

When challenged to define it in Da’at Tevunot with the query that doesn’t “Yichud (simply) refer to the fact that God alone is truly one?” Ramchal offers that “while that’s true in broad terms” even so the expression means a lot more [3]. “It isn’t enough to say that God is unique in His being when we say He’s ‘one’,” he offers, “with the implication that only His existence is imperative [4], and that He’s the only Creator [5]. We’d also have to understand that He’s the sovereign Ruler, that He alone holds absolute sway over everyone and everything else in creation, and that nothing and no one can thwart His actions or wishes — which is to say that His sovereignty is utterly supreme (i.e., “one of a kind”) [6].

Not only is all that so, but it’s likewise true that “He alone oversees everything personally, and (that) everything that comes about in the world only occurs because He wills it and brings it about rather than by happenstance, by (the laws of) nature, or by the (influence of the) constellations. Instead, He serves as the Judge (i.e., Ruler) of the world and everything therein, and directs everything that’s done above and below to the very last measure” [7]. Consider the ramifications of all that, if you will!

But as we’ll see, there’s even more to be said about this.

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Note:

[1]       As R’ Shriki puts it, “every single student of Ramchal’s writings knows that one of  the fundamental themes that occupied (him) practically his entire life was the issue of God’s Yichud” (Rechev Yisrael p. 167).

See Ramchal’s opening comments to Petach 1 that “God’s Yichud is the foundation of (the Jewish) faith and the root of wisdom, so it must be explained first”. Also see Ma’amar HaVichuach p. 45.

[2]       He says that the implications of the term Yichud is that “only His will functions”, that “He alone reigns” (Petach 1), that “there’s no sphere of influence apart from Him” (Petach 2), and “that He has neither deterrents nor defects” (Petach 4). And he also adds quite mysteriously that God’s Yichud will revealed eventually (Petach 4), whatever that means (see below).

[3]       Da’at Tevunot 35. Though he doesn’t say as much, Ramchal is alluding to the way earlier commentators defined the term, including Rambam’s statements in Hilchot Yisodei HaTorah 1:1, 7, Ibn Pakudah’s in Chovot HaLevovot 8:3 as well as in the “Invocation” at the end, and others.

[4]       That is, since nothing else could exist if He didn’t, His existence is absolutely necessary, which is unique to Him. Everything else is dispensable. See Derech Hashem 1:1:3.

[5]       See Derech Hashem 1:1:6.

[6]       That is, that His sovereignty is “one of a kind” that way, as in echad and Yichud. Da’at Tevunot 35. Also see 40 there (p. 26) and 46 (p. 37).

[7]       Da’at Tevunot 36 (p. 16).

(c) 2010 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 next point to have in mind is that “we won’t be discussing God Himself”– God irrespective of creation and in His utterly unfathomable being — in this work, since we may not .

We may not discuss God Himself for a number of reasons: most significantly, we’d offer, because whatever we’d say about Him in His essence — which is necessarily out of the context of reality as we know it — would be incorrect. Since all the words, symbols, and references we would have to draw upon would be based on human experiences which are un-Godlike by definition. For even the term “Will” in relation to God is purely metaphorical, since even the suggestion of so subtle and recondite element as a will is still-and-all anthropomorphic, and only depicts God in relation to created beings rather than Himself. Ramchal said elsewhere that only God could grasp Himself (Derech Hashem 1:1:2), for as it had once been put, “If I knew Him, I would be Him” (Sefer HaIkkurim 2:30).

Now, the ramifications of the fact that we’re neither able nor allowed to speak of God Himself are huge. Among many other things it implies that God Himself isn’t addressed in the Torah, only His will for us; and it suggests that most arguments for or against belief in God are off-the-mark since they only touch upon His role as Creator without addressing His Being before creation.

It’s also important to say that speaking of God Himself might lead one to inadvertently demean Him, and to so misunderstand Him that one would be worshipping a not-God rather than Him [1].

As such, whatever will be said in Klach Pitchei Chochma will only touch upon God’s will rather than on Himself, since “we are permitted to speak of it” [2]. That explains Ramchal’s references to God’s will alone later on, too.

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Notes:

[1] That having been said, we’re nonetheless about to explain the concept of God as it’s understood classically because in point of fact Ramchal did “define” Him in another work written for a wider readership than this one, known as Derech Hashem(The Way of God). And he did that there presumably in order to introduce and clarify the matter to some degree as well as to further the conversation.

He wrote there (1:1:6, based on Maimonides’s Yesodei HaTorah Ch. 1) that what one should understand about God is that He exists (though not the way we exist, with all that implies about our mortality, limitations, etc.), that He’s perfect, that His existence is imperative (i.e., if He didn’t exist, then nothing else would exist either; His existence is utterly necessary), that He’s utterly self-sufficient, that He’s simple (i.e., purely God, and unalloyed), and that there’s only one of Him (which Ramchal will touch upon below in more depth.) Ramchal also indicated there that our knowledge of Him is a consequence of the traditions we have of Him from the forefathers and the prophets, and from our mystical experience at God at Mount Sinai (1:1:2), when God appeared to us with the revelation of the Torah (see Exodus 19-20), and when we were on par with Moses’ level of prophecy (Yesodei HaTorah 8:1,3).

As to the notion that we won’t be speaking of God Himself but of His will that statement was probably inspired by The opening word’s of the Ari’s Eitz Chaim, “When God first willed to create beings…”.

See the following citations about our not being able or allowed to speak of God Himself: Ramchal’s Da’at Tevunot 80, Adir Bamarom p.59A, Ma’amar HaVichuach 44, and Ma’amar Yichud HaYirah; also see the Vilna Gaon at the end of his commentary to Sifra D’tzniutah, “Sod Hatzimtzum”; the beginning of HaRav m’Fano’s Yonat Elim; Ramban’s introduction to his commentary to the Torah, and Tikkunei Zohar 17a (Petach Eliyahu). Also see Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed (1:58-59).

God Himself is often referred to as Ein Sof, the Infinite, in Kabbalistic literature to differentiate Him from the four-letter name usually attributed to Him. See Ramchal’s discussion of that differentiation in Klallim (p. 352) and below, in this work, in Petach 15.

[2] Ramchal makes the distinction later on between being allowed to speak of the will rather than of “The One Who Wills” (the Ba’al HaRatzon rather than the ratzon). Also see Cordovero’s Pardes (20:1).

[3] … given that His will is the very first and hence most tenuous point at which His Being and creation converge.

(c) 2010 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

Ramchal offers this as an introduction to Petach 1 as well as to Klach Petach Chochma itself which explains why we’re to study Kabbalah. As he suggests, we ourselves derive a lot from the study of Kabbalah.

After all, it “explains how everything created and fashioned in the universe emanated from the Supreme Will” step by step, rather than out of sheer nothingness and at random. It “shows how everything is governed the right way by the One God, blessed be He, so as to ultimately bring all of creation to (a state of) utter perfection”. That’s to say that by studying Kabbalah we’ll catch sight of and follow God’s overarching presence and sovereignty in the cosmos as His intentions work themselves out in the course of history towards a glorious end. (What will allow us to do that, by the way, is the fact that “all the details of this science [i.e., Kabbalah] serve as a laying-out of all the laws and processes [involved] in [God’s] governance” of the universe.)

At bottom, though, Kabbalah “comes to exhibit the truth of (the Jewish) Faith”, which is to say that what Kabbalah does better than anything else is explain in detail the metaphysical processes lying behind what we’re to do as Jews, what we mean when we affirm that there’s only one God, and why we’re to cling fast on to God’s Presence as we’re implored to again and again [1].

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Notes:

[1] As Ramchal worded it at a certain point, “People neither know nor understand G-d’s actual actions or (the idea and the ramifications of the fact) that He actually governs the universe. Instead, they attribute everything to nature, or to the stars and constellations” (Introduction to Ma’amar HaVichuach p. 19).

Elsewhere Ramchal explains that the kabbalistic system serves three distinct functions over-all: it illustrates how the various names and depictions of God’s traits offered in the Torah and elsewhere apply (which he terms Kabbalah’s most “superficial” function); it demonstrates the fact that God will eventually exhibit His abiding beneficence, which will then lead to the undoing of all wrongdoing and to the ultimate reward of the righteous (which will be discussed in the 2^nd petach); and lastly (what Ramchal terms its most significant role) Kabbalah reveals God’s Yichud and ever-presence, and shows just how everything will return to its Source (end of Iggrot Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at). This last, decidedly recondite, point — which could perhaps be termed The Great Implosion — is part of “the truth of the [Jewish] faith” cited above, which Ramchal contends few of us understand. We’ll return to this idea.

An unknown student of Ramchal cited some other cogent reasons to study Kabbalah based on Ramchal’s teachings, in a work known as Klallim Mitoch Sefer Milchemet Moshe (found on pp. 349- 365 of R’ Friedlander’s edition of Da’at Tevunot – Sefer HaKlallim).

One more cogent point is made about the role of Kabbalah at the end of the second petach, where we’re told that the Kabbalistic system will illustrate just how “everything comes only from God” and how “His … will to be beneficent will endure forever and nothing else”. See Ramchal’s Klallei Milchamot Moshe, his Choker u’Mekubal, as well as petach 12 and 30 below for further discussions of this.

One of Ramchal’s points here is that Kabbalah is in fact a chochma — a science, with the implication that it calls for independent thought and analysis, agreeing with HaYashar m’Kandia’s important work entitled Novlot Chochma among other early sources. That disagrees though with R’ R.M. Ibn Gabai’s Shomer Emunim along with others who say it’s a Kabbalah — literally a tradition, implying that independent thought and analysis is anathema to it.

It’s important to know that some latter-day Kabbalists disagreed with Ramchal’s assessment of the role of Kabbalah, including the Hassidic Master, Rabbi Meshulam Feivish of Zhebariza, the author of Yosher Divrei Emmet; and Rabbi Shlomo Eliyashuv, the author of Leshem Shevo v’Achlamah (Sefer HaDeah p. 57).

But see Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlop’s Mai Marom Ch. 8 note 17 (cited by Rabbi S. Debliztky in his approbation to Rabbi Mordechai Shriki’s Derech Chochmat haEmet) where he explains Ramchal’s intentions.

(c) 2010 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”.

Unlike the rest of the work, this first part of Klach Pitchei Chochma hardly touches upon Kabbalah per se, but rather offers a rationale for the book as a whole.

Nonetheless the first thing open for discussion in this Kabbalistic work is why we should study Kabbalah in the first place. After all, many insist we shouldn’t and others suggest it isn’t worth the effort which could be better spent on more “useful” things like Talmud, Halacha, etc. Ramchal has his own insights into that as we would expect, but let’s see what others who had preceded him offered.

Without explaining the personal or general advantages to be had from studying Kabbalah, some say we simply must if we’re able to (See Tikkunei Zohar 43 and refer to Kissei Melech there; Vilna Gaon’s Even Shleima 5:24 and his comments to Tikkunei Zohar p. 81b; Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Hilchot Talmud Torah 4; Sefer HaTanya, Kuntress Acharon p. 156b; Arizal’s Sha’ar HaMitvot, Introduction; etc.)

Others do explain the advantages to its study, on the other hand. Some say learning it solidifies one’s faith in God, since it’s so deep and wondrous (R’ Yaakov Tzemach’s Introduction to Ranu Yisrael, as cited at the beginning of the standard text of Eitz Chaim) and allows one to be sure of the wisdom of God’s ways (Sur Marah v’Assei Tov 138); being proficient in its study enables one to dedicate even his more profane acts more effectively to God (Sur Marah v’Assei Tov 140); and R’ Moshe Cordovero cites nineteen profound reasons, running the gamut from be able to achieve Devekut to being able to pray more efficaciously and much more (Ohr Ne’erav 4-5).

We’ll see what Ramchal proposes next.

(c) 2010 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.

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 themes that are highlighted in this first section:

First off, though this isn’t enunciated in the Mishnayot, Why should we study Kabbalah, and what we’re to derive from it. Then there are the following that are set out in the Mishnayot.

1. The makeup of G-d’s Yichud

2. G-d’s will as opposed to His Being itself

3. G-d’s intentions for the world

4. The meaning of “wrongful” and “good”

5. G-d’s beneficence

6. Human “shame” in the face of benevolence

7. The revelation of G-d’s Yichud.

Ramchal set up Klach to be a series of 138 “Mishanyot” or core statements for which he provided “Gemarot” or explanations. We will be translating all 138 Mishanyot and only draw upon his Gemarot (as well as other statements of his and of others).

The first four comprise the book’s first section which is entitled “On the Revelation of God’s Yichud and His Beneficence”.

Petach 1

יחוד האין סוף ב”ה הוא – שרק רצונו ית’ הוא הנמצא, ואין שום רצון אחר נמצא אלא ממנו, על כן הוא לבדו שולט, ולא שום רצון אחר. ועל יסוד זה בנוי כל הבנין:

“The Infinite One’s Yichud” implies that only His will functions (fully) and that no other will functions other than through it. Hence, He alone reigns (supreme) and no other (being’s) will does. The entire structure is erected upon this foundation.

Petach 2

רצונו של המאציל ית”ש הוא רק טוב, ולכן לא יתקיים שום דבר אלא טובו. וכל מה שהוא רע בתחלה, אינו יוצא מרשות אחר ח”ו, שיוכל להתקיים נגדו, אלא סופו הוא טוב ודאי. ואז נודע שלא יש רשות אחר אלא הוא:

The Emanator wants only (to do) good, so nothing but (manifestations of) His goodness exists. Hence, whatever is initially wrongful (by all appearances) does not emanate from another sphere of influence that could oppose Him (as we might think) — God forbid; instead it will undoubtedly (prove to be) good in the end. And (thanks to that) it will be known that there’s no sphere of influence apart from Him.

Petach 3

תכלית בריאת העולם הוא להיות מיטיב כפי חשקו הטוב בתכלית הטוב:

The world was ultimately created so that God could be beneficent in accordance with His generous desire to bestow utmost goodness (upon the universe).

Petach 4

רצה הא”ס ב”ה להיות מיטיב הטבה שלמה, שלא יהיה אפילו בושת למקבלים אותו. ושיער לגלות בפועל יחודו השלם – שאין שום מניעה נמצאת לפניו, ולא שום חסרון. לכן שם ההנהגה הזאת שהוא מנהג, שבה יהיה בפועל החזרת הרע לטוב, דהיינו במה שנתן בתחילה מקום לרע לעשות את שלו, ובסוף הכל כבר כל קלקול נתקן, וכל רעה חוזרת לטובה ממש. והרי היחוד מתגלה, שהוא עצמו תענוגן של נשמות

The Infinite One wanted to express utter and complete benevolence in such a way that its recipients wouldn’t be ashamed to accept it. So He set out to (eventually) reveal His Yichud, (and to thus show) that He has neither deterrents nor defects.

There’s obviously a lot being said here, which we’ll get to piece by piece. Next time, though, we’ll offer the major themes being touched on in this very important section.

(c) 2010 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.

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”.

In truth, it’s the zivvugim of the Middle that are discussed in (the Ari’s analysis) of (the world of) Atzilut; the zivvugim of the Beginning and End are a whole other matter, though. They refer to the zivvug of Atzilut (itself) with the Kavod in (the lower world of) Briah.

For the (eventual all-encompassing) Tikkun will ultimately involve the attaching of the lower and higher (realms, worlds, beings, phenomena) to each other, after which everything will be attached to the Ein Sof, and it will be said that everything is one. That will entail the perfection of the Middle and the conjoining of the Beginning and End, and is the point of (our Divine) service.

For in fact the only things that can be differentiated from each other are the Lights and the (lower) entities; the Lights themselves can’t be differentiated.

The Ari often spoke of the conjoining of Partzufim. But as Ramchal wrote in a letter to his teacher, R’ Bashan, he himself had been allowed to speak of a greater conjoining of parts: that of the Beginning and End. For while the former address temporary, nearly temporal conjugations, the latter speaks to the ultimate conjugation of Creator and created. Our task here, his point is, is to bring about that very phenomenon; everything else is commentary.

(c) 2010 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Thus, there are two sorts of zivvugim (literally, “couplings)”: the zivvug of (the elements that comprise) the Middle, and the zivvugim of (the elements that comprise) the Beginning and End. For, while God’s Yichud has to be made manifest, it only comes about little by little and by means of zivvugim. “Left” surrenders to “Right”, and Good prevails as Evil returns to Good. Once the Yichud is made manifest in the Middle (epoch) the others (i.e., the other elements) of Beginning and End then automatically conjoin, as everything will then be One — Beginning, Middle, and End. And all will be Good without any Evil.

(It would not have happened before that) for as long as the Middle existed — which is (the paradigm of) “Name and Expression” as well as of “Benevolence versus Judgment” — there’s a differentiation between Beginning and End. For Beginning is (then only in a potential state) and not yet actualized as the End, which is (in a) realized (state). But once the Middle returns to Goodness, Beginning and End will automatically conjoin, which is the mystical import of (the expression) “I am first and I am last” (Isaiah 44:6).

That’s to say that the ultimate and inevitable coupling of Beginning and End (which are identical) will only come about once the coupling of the Middle — of all the elements of the cosmos including matter, paradox, ethics, reward and punishment, and more — occurs. But that slow process is purposeful, as we’ll see; God’s aim wouldn’t be served if it happened automatically and from the get-go.

© 2010 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

From Ramchal’s Sod HaYichud. Original will be in bold, all comments in standard print.

The Ein Sof was as perfect (from the first) as He is now and as He will be in the World to Come without any change (in between). It’s just that His perfection wasn’t actually made manifest at first, while it will be later on.

Since He wanted this manifestation to come about, there are thus three matters (under discussion when it comes to God’s Yichud): a Beginning, End, and Middle. “Beginning” refers to (that epoch in which) His original perfection was there in a state of potentiality; “End” refers to (that epoch of time in which) His perfection will actually be made manifest; and “Middle” refers to (that epoch of time) before His perfection is to be made manifest.

There is no wrong (evil, wickedness, sinfulness, un-holiness, un-Godliness, etc.) in the “Beginning” or the “End”, as everything is good (right, righteous, holy, Godly) then. In the “Middle”, though, there are things that appear to be wrong (evil, etc.) but they’re actually good. This (entire paradigm) is termed “Name and Expression”.

That’s to say that Ein Sof stands apart from space-time as an inherently existent, independent, perfect entity, and has been so from before space-time came about, and remains so in the course of space-time as well as after space-time will cease to exist.

Space-time — as well as any notions of right and wrong — are all beside His point, if you will, for He is only termed The Creator, and all the other appellations applied to Him after having brought reality as we know it about. Hence, His “Name”, i.e., the truest depiction of Ein Sof, isn’t Creator, The Benevolent One, or the like: they’re mere Expressions of the role He assumes in the course of space-time. His own Self doesn’t touch on any of that.

© 2010 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

See Ramchal’s Ma’amar Reisha v’Sofa (found in Adir BaMarom 2, pp. 35-60) and his Peirush Ma’amar Arimat Yadi (Ibid. pp. 61-92) for his discussion of everything returning to Elohut. See Ba’al HaSulem’s treatment of it in his Introduction to the Zohar, and The Leshem at various points.

I’m going to start blogging from Ramchal’s Sod HaYichud (found in Ginzei Ramchal pp. 264 – 271) in which he explains the various elements of his all-important take on Yichud Hashem. 

I warn you — this is not your father’s Kabbalah.