{"id":455,"date":"2011-02-24T16:19:39","date_gmt":"2011-02-24T20:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=455"},"modified":"2011-02-24T16:19:39","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T20:19:39","slug":"you-mean-its-all-a-metaphor-duh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/02\/24\/you-mean-its-all-a-metaphor-duh\/","title":{"rendered":"You mean it’s all a metaphor? Duh!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ramchal famously — and quite controversially — argued that Ari was speaking figuratively<\/em> when he spoke of the Sephirot<\/em> assuming round or linear shapes, of matters such as Tzimtzum<\/em>, Kav<\/em> \u201cstraight line\u201d), Reshimu<\/em> (\u201ca residue\u201d), Sh\u2019virat<\/em> HaKellim<\/em> (\u201cthe breaking of the vessels\u201d), Olam<\/em> Tikkun<\/em> (\u201cthe world of rectification\u201d), of terms for the Partzufim<\/em> like Abba<\/em> and Imma<\/em> (\u201cmother\u201d and \u201cfather\u201d), and much more [1].<\/p>\n

And part of his understanding we\u2019d assume is based on the out-and-out anthropomorphic nature of the language and imagery Ari used to depict these phenomena (as we indicated above).<\/p>\n

As most know, anthropomorphism is an old bone of contention. The term kaviyachol<\/em> (\u201cas if it could be said as such\u201d) was very often inserted in traditional sources in order to soften the effect of anthropomorphic depictions[2], Onkelos<\/em> translated anthropomorphic terminology symbolically, and many of the medieval sages also went out of their way to explain anthropomorphisms [3]. The problem was compounded, though, when it came to Kabbalistic terminology.<\/p>\n

In fact, an entire work was dedicated to debunking Kabbalistic imagery which was entitled Ari Noham<\/em> (\u201cA Lion Roars\u201d) by the 17th<\/sup> Century scholar R\u2019 Yehudah Ari of Modenah. Ramchal was thought to have written Ma\u2019amar<\/em> HaVichuach<\/em> as an argument against R\u2019 Yehudah Ari\u2019s work, but that doesn\u2019t seem to be the case [4]. An early 20th<\/sup> Century also spoke disparagingly of Kabbalistic anthropomorphisms and other issues raised by Kabbalah that\u2019s entitled Milchamot<\/em> Hashem<\/em> (\u201cThe Wars of the Lord\u201d) by R\u2019 Yichaya Kapach which was responded to, nearly point by point, in Emunat<\/em> Hashem<\/em> (\u201cFaith in God\u201d) [5].<\/p>\n

Our contention here though is that it can be said that Ramchal set out to explicate Kabbalistic imagery somewhat along the same lines that the earlier sages tried to explicate Biblical, Talmudic, and Midrashic imagery. For just as they underscored that the anthropomorphisms there aren\u2019t to be taken literally, Ramchal set out to underscore the same about Kabbalistic anthropomorphisms. And he used his understanding here of the fact that the Sephirot<\/em> could be \u201cenvisioned\u201d to begin to explicate that, as we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See the Gaon of Vilna’ comments to Iddrah<\/em> Rabbah<\/em> (beginning) about the metaphoric nature of Kabbalistic terminology and imagery. And see the letter of R\u2019 Avraham Simcha in the name of R\u2019 Chaim of Voloshin (as found in the Mavo<\/em> to Sefer Haklallim<\/em> p.236 R\u2019 Friedlander\u2019s edition) asserting that the Gaon believed that Ramchal knew the referent.<\/p>\n

[2] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Mechilta<\/em>, Yitro<\/em> 4 for example.<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Emunot<\/em> V\u2019De\u2019ot<\/em> starting at 1:10, Chovot<\/em> HaLevovot<\/em> 1:10, much of the first section of Moreh<\/em> Nevuchim<\/em>, etc.<\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See the work of R\u2019 Dovid Cohen (who was known as The Nazir<\/em>) entitled Kol<\/em> HaNevuah<\/em> pp. 278-279 note 407 for a full discussion of this.<\/p>\n

[5]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ibid. note 205.<\/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":"

Ramchal famously — and quite controversially — argued that Ari was speaking figuratively when he spoke of the Sephirot assuming round or linear shapes, of matters such as Tzimtzum, Kav \u201cstraight line\u201d), Reshimu (\u201ca residue\u201d), Sh\u2019virat HaKellim (\u201cthe breaking of … 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-455","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\/455","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=455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}