{"id":399,"date":"2011-02-06T08:05:07","date_gmt":"2011-02-06T12:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=399"},"modified":"2011-02-06T08:05:07","modified_gmt":"2011-02-06T12:05:07","slug":"t-minus-one-and-counting-before-creation-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/02\/06\/t-minus-one-and-counting-before-creation-2\/","title":{"rendered":"“T minus one and counting”: Before creation (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The essential problem, which has been stated in many different ways, is this: How could finite, differentiated, and fault-ridden things derive from the one perfect God? As it\u2019s worded in R\u2019 Meir Ibn Gabbai\u2019s Avodat HaKodesh<\/em> (1:18, 16th<\/sup> Century) that \u201cno two opposites could be connected without an intermediary\u201d, the question then becomes, what exactly is that intermediary or series of intermediaries?<\/p>\n

Many of the ancients spoke of a series of \u201cemanations\u201d descending down- and outward from God\u2019s being and growing more and more unlike Him in the process. R\u2019 Shlomo Ibn Gabirol (11th<\/sup> Century) for example likened them to streams emanating from a river, to light beams emitting by the sun, etc. (M\u2019kor Chayim<\/em>). Rambam noted his and others\u2019 remarks and argued for and against certain elements (Moreh Nevuchim<\/em> 2:12). He even cited the following verses as evidence for the veracity of the analogies: \u201cMy people \u2026 have forsaken Me, the spring of living waters<\/em>\u201d (Jeremiah 2:13), and \u201cFor with You is the source of life<\/em>; in Your light we will see light<\/em>\u201d (Psalms 36:10) [1].<\/p>\n

But there had to have been a \u201cbreak\u201d somewhere along the line — a point at which things utterly and radically changed and turned mortal and ungodly — a \u201cskip\u201d or \u201cjump\u201d [2]. Otherwise the universe could never have been created; so, what was it?<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The astute reader will note of course that the term \u201cthe source of life\u201d cited in the last verse is the translation and undoubtedly the source of Ibn Gabirol\u2019s M\u2019kor Chayim.<\/em><\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See R\u2019 Schneur Zalman\u2019s Likutei Torah<\/em> 4, 46c.<\/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":"

The essential problem, which has been stated in many different ways, is this: How could finite, differentiated, and fault-ridden things derive from the one perfect God? As it\u2019s worded in R\u2019 Meir Ibn Gabbai\u2019s Avodat HaKodesh (1:18, 16th Century) that … 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-399","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\/399","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=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}