{"id":308,"date":"2011-01-06T12:49:08","date_gmt":"2011-01-06T16:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=308"},"modified":"2011-01-06T12:49:08","modified_gmt":"2011-01-06T16:49:08","slug":"ramchal-on-the-sephirot-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/01\/06\/ramchal-on-the-sephirot-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramchal on the Sephirot (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the metaphor we cited last time, as set out in Klallei Ma\u2019amar HaChochma<\/em>. Ramchal asks us to imagine \u201ca sage who came to a particular community and who, for some reason, didn\u2019t want to be known to be as wise as he truly was but to be taken as just like the others instead. So he\u2019d speak and interact with them in ways that would guarantee that he wasn\u2019t recognized (as a sage) or lauded for wanting to live among them. And he adapted whatever he said or did toward that end accordingly\u201d.<\/p>\n

His point is that that\u2019s how we\u2019re to conceptualize God\u2019s interactions with us via the Sephirot<\/em>. For like the sage\u2019s assumed persona which hides his actual personality, God likewise assumes a \u201cpersona\u201d when He interacts with the world which covers over His own \u201cpersonality\u201d. For, He \u201ctalks to us\u201d and \u201cacts like us\u201d by functioning within space and time by means of the Sephirot<\/em> which can do that (among other things) [1].<\/p>\n

The implications, of course, are that while some think the Sephirot<\/em> are actually God, they\u2019re woefully mistaken and have fallen for appearances; also that the wise will always catch sight of God in the world by looking behind the \u201cpersona\u201d and noting the Sage\u2019s personality [2].<\/p>\n

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Notes:<\/p>\n

[1] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Here\u2019s the point at which we can discuss a seldom spoken of characteristic of Klach Pitchei Chochma<\/em>, its wordiness and over-analytical style, which has turned many away from it. The style was undoubtedly affected by Ramchal\u2019s study of formal logic (see his Sefer<\/em> HaHigayon<\/em>) but it does not sit well with modern sensibilities or tastes. We\u2019ll take pains to avoid that throughout this work, but we\u2019ll take this opportunity to illustrate it by presenting nearly the whole of what Ramchal offered in this wonderful metaphor which we contend he over-explained. Here is what\u2019s said immediately after the metaphor is offered with our explanations and remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, if we were to analyze this sage\u2019s situation just then, we\u2019d first need to determine what he really was; second, what he seemed<\/em> to be to those around him; third, what he wanted to accomplish by being (i.e., by appearing<\/em> to be) of that stature; fourth, how his being considered that way agreed with and helped accomplish his goal; and fifth, how what he said and did agreed with his general principle and how they managed to accomplish that. But to do that correctly, we\u2019d need to evoke all sorts of physical and sensory-based images, and to treat those images as separate phenomena so as to understand them on their own and together.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is, we\u2019d need to think of the sage\u2019s assumed persona as a sort of cloak<\/em> over-covering his real one, or a \u201cbody\u201d over-covering his \u201csoul\u201d or real self.<\/p>\n

Then we\u2019d need to describe \u201cwhat brought this false impression about, and how it did that\u201d, and whether it came about \u201cbecause the sage wanted it to, or because it was inevitable\u201d. We\u2019d have to \u201canalyze the various elements of the false impression\u201d and to break that down further yet and to see how the parts all work together. Then we\u2019d have to determine \u201chow those (smaller) elements connected to the entire false impression, and then how all the various parts and the entire false impression relate to the desired end\u201d of convincing the people that the sage wasn\u2019t a sage in fact\u201d.<\/p>\n

He then offers this vitally important part of the equation: \u201cIn truth,\u201d despite the very many elements involved in the process, \u201cthis doesn\u2019t represent a large number of phenomena\u201d since it\u2019s really only a breakdown of one thing — the sage\u2019s wish to misrepresent himself; and it doesn\u2019t suggest \u201ca change in the person of the sage himself\u201d, as he\u2019s the same person whether he\u2019s being himself or hiding his qualities. All it does is show that \u201chis persona was altered to the degree he wanted it to be in the eyes of the people, and in order to accomplish what he set out to\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to this parable you can understand the Sephirot<\/em>\u201d Ramchal now offers. \u201cGod Himself as He truly is, is never revealed (i.e., He never presents Himself) to humankind outright,\u201d he says, \u201cHe is only revealed (i.e., He only presents Himself) to the degree He wants to be, and for a particular purpose which He has in mind\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ramchal now offers that in order to go ahead with our explanation of how God interacts with the world through this parable, \u201cwe\u2019d now need to analyze (the difference between) His true Being and the way He reveals (i.e., presents) Himself. We\u2019ll treat them as if they were two separate phenomena (for analytical purposes) and we\u2019ll thus declare that God Himself is \u2018sequestered\u2019 within the way He wishes to reveal Himself (i.e., His true Being is over-covered by the persona He wishes to present).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d term the revelation itself (i.e., the persona that God assumed) \u2018Emanated (i.e., Separated) Light\u2019 and its component parts we\u2019d term Sephirot<\/em>. We\u2019d speak of them as if they were separate phenomena which were nonetheless inter-related and connected, and we\u2019d set out to determine the purpose of the whole of them and of each one, their causes and effects of each, and each one\u2019s precedents and antecedents —\u00a0 as we would do with all sensory-based phenomena (that we\u2019d analyze in order to understand).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d term God\u2019s actual Self Ein Sof<\/em> and say that Ein Sof<\/em> was sequestered and can be discerned within the Sephirot<\/em>\u201d just as the sage himself is over-covered by the persona he assumes, though his true personality can be detected within it if one looks deeply.<\/p>\n

He now begins to focus on the Sephirot<\/em> themselves and says that \u201cIf we were analyze the relationship between the Sephirot<\/em> and creation, between the various Sephirot <\/em>themselves to each other, and between the Sephirot<\/em> and Ein Sof<\/em>, then (we\u2019d offer that) none of this represents a change in Him\u201d — meaning, the fact that there are Sephirot<\/em> doesn\u2019t indicate a change God\u2019s own personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor if, as we indicated, an individual (who assumes a persona that\u2019s not a true reflection of himself) can be discerned (within the persona nonetheless) doesn\u2019t experience change (i.e., his essential personality doesn\u2019t change just because he assumes that persona), that\u2019s all the more so true of God, who is Omnipotent and can (thus) do whatever He wants without any constraints\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ramchal then concludes by saying that we should explain God\u2019s governance by means of the Sephirot<\/em> in light of this metaphor (as we did above).<\/p>\n

[2] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To use another metaphor, the Sephirot<\/em> can be seen as the \u201cgloves\u201d that God \u201cwears\u201d while interacting with this world. Because of them He seems to have \u201chands\u201d just as we do and to be like us, since we can see the outline of His \u201chands\u201d within the gloves. Yet unbeknownst to us He doesn\u2019t have hands whatsoever; and in fact, He\u2019s doing the \u201ctask at hand\u201d an entirely different way that has nothing to do with hands.<\/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":"

Here\u2019s the metaphor we cited last time, as set out in Klallei Ma\u2019amar HaChochma. Ramchal asks us to imagine \u201ca sage who came to a particular community and who, for some reason, didn\u2019t want to be known to be as … 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-308","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\/308","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=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}