{"id":297,"date":"2011-01-03T07:32:49","date_gmt":"2011-01-03T11:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=297"},"modified":"2011-01-03T07:32:49","modified_gmt":"2011-01-03T11:32:49","slug":"constellations-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/01\/03\/constellations-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Constellations (4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s thanks to the stars and constellations that the various phenomena are \u201ccarried along through (the system of God\u2019s governance) and transformed\u201d from their spiritual essence to their eventual physical manifestations (Derech Hashem<\/em> 2:7:1). That means to say that the constellations function as a sort of way-station along the way from pure Godliness to utter materiality.<\/p>\n

But rather than being passive ports-of-call along the way if you will, they play very active roles in the governing process. For they actually have a lot of input into the various experiences and circumstances those material things will experience (Derech Hashem<\/em> 2:7:2; also see Ibid<\/em>. 1:5:3 and 2:1:2). In fact, we\u2019re taught that the physical phenomenon under their sway are also granted \u201cthe ability to continue to exist\u201d by the constellations (Derech Hashem<\/em> 2:7:1) — which is no mean feat to be sure [1].<\/p>\n

Understand that the constellations also touch upon humanity, not only inanimate objects; that\u2019s to say, we\u2019re all<\/em> personally and intimately effected by their input on some level or another (Derech Hashem<\/em> 2:7:3). Their function is one of the reasons why things sometimes seem unfair, and why \u201cbad things happen to the righteous and good things happen to the wrongful\u201d (Petach<\/em> 82).<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s because one\u2019s stellar influence (i.e., mazal<\/em>) isn\u2019t based on his or her moral standing but rather on \u201cwhat\u2019s intrinsically needed to perfect the world\u201d, which is to say it\u2019s rooted in God\u2019s ultimate intentions rather than our own selves. As such, \u00a0it \u201cdoesn\u2019t have anything to do with a person\u2019s free choice or his merits\u201d and \u201cit only functions in this world, and not in (relation to one\u2019s standing in) the world to come which is dependent on one\u2019s merits and deeds\u201d (Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em> 168) [2].<\/p>\n

But know as well that the influence of the constellations can be undone at any time if and when God deems that necessary (Derech Hashem<\/em> 2:7:3), and that we cannot depend on our knowledge of them to understand things about the world despite their vital role here (Derech Hashem<\/em> 2:7:4).<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s see the connection between the Sephirot<\/em>, constellations. and angels.<\/p>\n

——————————————————-<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This touches on the whole subject of Divine Providence, which will be discussed in Petachim<\/em> 13, 114 below; in Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em> 136,190; and at length in the entire second section of Derech Hashem<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Klallim Rishonim<\/em> 34 where this and more is explained at length Kabbalistically and theologically, and where it touches upon things discussed in Petachim<\/em> 85-89 below. Also see more esoteric references to this in Petachim<\/em> 105, 111, 114 below.<\/p>\n

(c) 2011 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":"

It\u2019s thanks to the stars and constellations that the various phenomena are \u201ccarried along through (the system of God\u2019s governance) and transformed\u201d from their spiritual essence to their eventual physical manifestations (Derech Hashem 2:7:1). That means to say that the … 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-297","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\/297","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=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}