{"id":198,"date":"2010-12-07T07:32:11","date_gmt":"2010-12-07T11:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=198"},"modified":"2010-12-07T07:32:11","modified_gmt":"2010-12-07T11:32:11","slug":"a-quick-aside-god-and-the-meaning-of-life-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2010\/12\/07\/a-quick-aside-god-and-the-meaning-of-life-3\/","title":{"rendered":"A Quick Aside: God and the Meaning of Life (3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In point of fact, we matter very much in the functioning of the universe [1]. At bottom, we were created as free agents — as Ramchal put it in Petach<\/em> 1, God \u201ccreated independent creatures possessing their own will<\/em>\u201d [2] — who were charged by God to do His bidding in this world, to execute His plans, and to experience His Yichud<\/em>.<\/p>\n

————————————————–<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mankind\u2019s key role in creation was discussed widely: arguing for it, aside from the Kabbalists, was R\u2019 Saadia Gaon in\u00a0Emunot v\u2019De\u2019ot<\/em> (end of Part 1 and beginning of Part 4); arguing against it include Ibn Ezra (near the beginning to his comments to Genesis) and at Exodus 23:20 (in his condensed commentary), Maimonides in\u00a0The Guide for the Perplexed<\/em> (3:12-13), and R\u2019 Y. Aramah in Akeidat Yitzchak<\/em> (Gate 5).<\/p>\n

[2] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ramchal discussed our free will in a number of other places in Klach<\/em>. See for example Petachim<\/em> 27 (p. 76), 30 (p. 93), and 81 (pp. 260, 262). Also see Da\u2019at<\/em> Tevunot<\/em> 14, 158; Derech<\/em> Hashem<\/em> 1:3:1, 1:5:4; Ma\u2019amar<\/em> HaIkkurim<\/em>, \u201cBaHashgacha<\/em>\u201d; etc.<\/p>\n

Also see Deuteronomy 30:15\u201319; Pirkei<\/em> Avot<\/em> 3:15;\u00a0Emunot v\u2019 Deot<\/em> (Ch. 4);\u00a0Chovot Halevovot<\/em> (3:8),\u00a0Moreh Nevuchim<\/em> (3:17), Hilchot<\/em> Teshuvah<\/em> Ch. 5, and the statement that \u201cAll is in the hands of Heaven but the fear of Heaven\u201d (Berachot<\/em> 33b), which is to say that humankind is free to offer any sort of ethical response to whatever Heaven offers.<\/p>\n

(c) 2010 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":"

In point of fact, we matter very much in the functioning of the universe [1]. At bottom, we were created as free agents — as Ramchal put it in Petach 1, God \u201ccreated independent creatures possessing their own will\u201d [2] … 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-198","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\/198","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=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}