{"id":1311,"date":"2012-07-31T11:46:12","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T15:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=1311"},"modified":"2012-07-31T11:46:12","modified_gmt":"2012-07-31T15:46:12","slug":"all-is-not-right-with-the-world-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2012\/07\/31\/all-is-not-right-with-the-world-1\/","title":{"rendered":"All is not right with the world (1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our subject is termed rah<\/em> in Hebrew. While it\u2019s often and incongruously translated as \u201cwicked\u201d or \u201cevil\u201d, we choose to translate it as \u201cwrong\u201d or \u201cinjustice\u201d, or a combination of the two, as that seems to be the subject at hand [1].<\/p>\n

In fact, there are very many other meanings of the term, which include \u201cinferior\u201d or \u201cworthless\u201d, as in a bad<\/em> computer for example; \u201cdangerous\u201d, or \u201cmalignant\u201d, as in a bad<\/em> illness; \u201cnoxious\u201d, \u201cdispleasing\u201d, and \u201crepugnant\u201d, as in a bad<\/em> odor; etc.<\/p>\n

Very notably in the context of the Breaking of the Vessels — and given that it might very well be one of Ari\u201ds sources for the concept — r\u2019ah<\/em>,its hitpoel<\/em> (reflexive) form translates as \u201cbroken\u201d, \u201ccrushed\u201d, or \u201cshattered\u201d [2].<\/p>\n

In any event, the tradition very clearly attributes its creation to God alone [3], and it\u2019s usefulness and worth is certainly not denied [4].<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And also because not every instance of rah<\/em> is inherently and intentionally wicked or bad, as we\u2019ll soon point out.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Daniel 2:40; also see Kiddushin<\/em> 39b, Ta\u2019anit<\/em> 20b, etc.<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Isaiah 45:7, Amos 3:6, lamentations 3:38, Baba<\/em> Batra<\/em> 16a.<\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Breishit<\/em> Raba<\/em> 9:7.<\/p>\n

(c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————-<\/p>\n

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here<\/a> at a discount.<\/p>\n

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here<\/a> at a discount as well.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our subject is termed rah in Hebrew. While it\u2019s often and incongruously translated as \u201cwicked\u201d or \u201cevil\u201d, we choose to translate it as \u201cwrong\u201d or \u201cinjustice\u201d, or a combination of the two, as that seems to be the subject at … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}