{"id":507,"date":"2011-03-14T10:37:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T14:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=507"},"modified":"2011-03-14T10:37:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-14T14:37:00","slug":"sephirot-partzufim-and-the-letters-of-gods-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/03\/14\/sephirot-partzufim-and-the-letters-of-gods-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Sephirot, Partzufim, and the Letters of God\u2019s Names"},"content":{"rendered":"

There have been three areas of concentration among the earlier and later Kabbalists as we\u2019d said: the Sephirot<\/em>, the Partzufim<\/em>, and the letters of the Aleph-Bet<\/em> and their role in the Names of God. Ramchal has been concentrating upon the Sephirot<\/em> until now and will continue to do so here in this section (which, as its title \u201cThe Essential Elements of Sephirot<\/em> and their Governance\u201d indicates, will lay out the makeup and role of the Sephirot<\/em>), but he\u2019ll also begin to discuss the Partzufim <\/em>in <\/em>this section\u2019s final Petach<\/em>, where he points out that there are Sephirot<\/em><\/strong> (to be considered) and Partzufim<\/em><\/strong>. He\u2019ll then begin to concentrate upon the mystical implications of the various names of God in the next section. So let\u2019s trace the movement from one area of concentration to the other.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019d indicated, the earlier Kabbalists <\/em>focused on the Sephirot<\/em>. They include the authors of Sefer Yetzirah<\/em> who spoke of them right off the bat (along with a discussion of the letters), of Masechet<\/em> Atzilut<\/em> (which first displayed their names at its end, as well as the names of the Worlds at its beginning), of Sefer Bahir<\/em> (who cited their names in 141-146), as well as the earlier masters such as Ramban, Ra\u2019avad, R\u2019 Yitzchak Sagi Nahor, R\u2019 Azriel, R\u2019 Meir Ibn Gabbai, R\u2019 Yoseph Gikitilia, Rabbeinu Bacahai, R\u2019 Racanti, the author of Ma\u2019arechet Elohut<\/em>, and the bulk of the Zohar. And Ramak spent the preponderance of his time on an analysis of the Sephirot<\/em> too (though he did touch upon the Partzufim<\/em> later on, as we said in note 7 of Section Three).<\/p>\n

It was Ari who first merited delving into the Partzufim<\/em> in great detail. He drew upon some of the more esoteric sections of the Zohar for his depictions, including Iddra Rabba<\/em> (\u201cThe Greater Assembly\u201d), Iddra Zutta<\/em> (\u201cThe Lesser Assembly\u201d), and Sifre deTzeniuta<\/em> (\u201cThe Book of Concealment\u201d) [1].<\/p>\n

As he laid them out, the Sephira<\/em> of Keter<\/em> is analogous to the Partzuf<\/em> entitled Adam Kadmon<\/em> (which we cited earlier and will discuss below, too) and to Erich Anpin<\/em> (\u201cThe Greater Countenance\u201d); the Sephirot<\/em> of Chochma<\/em> and Binah<\/em> are analogous to the Partzufim<\/em> termed Abba<\/em> and Imma<\/em>; the Partzuf<\/em> termed Zeir<\/em> Anpin<\/em> (\u201cLesser Countenance\u201d) is analogous to the six \u201cextremities\u201d or \u201climits\u201d better known as the Sephirot<\/em> of Chessed<\/em>, Gevurah<\/em>, Tipheret<\/em>, Netzach<\/em>, Hod<\/em> and Yesod<\/em>; and the Partzuf<\/em> of Nukveh<\/em> is analogous to Sephira<\/em> of Malchut<\/em>. There are other names for the Partzufim<\/em> and other analogies which will also be discussed.<\/p>\n

What concerns us now is the fact that all of this is very carefully and purposefully \u201carranged in a specific order\u201d (Ramchal\u2019s comment to Petach<\/em> 9) as we\u2019d cited at the end of the previous section. So we\u2019ll now delve into Ramchal\u2019s concern with sequence.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/p>\n

[1] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See note 3 to section 3.<\/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

There have been three areas of concentration among the earlier and later Kabbalists as we\u2019d said: the Sephirot<\/em>, the Partzufim<\/em>, and the letters of the Aleph-Bet<\/em> and their role in the Names of God. Ramchal has been concentrating upon the Sephirot<\/em> until now and will continue to do so here in this section (which, as its title \u201cThe Essential Elements of Sephirot<\/em> and their Governance\u201d indicates, will lay out the makeup and role of the Sephirot<\/em>), but he\u2019ll also begin to discuss the Partzufim <\/em>in <\/em>this section\u2019s final Petach<\/em>, where he points out that there are Sephirot<\/em><\/strong> (to be considered) and Partzufim<\/em><\/strong>. He\u2019ll then begin to concentrate upon the mystical implications of the various names of God in the next section. So let\u2019s trace the movement from one area of concentration to the other.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019d indicated, the earlier Kabbalists <\/em>focused on the Sephirot<\/em>. They include the authors of Sefer Yetzirah<\/em> who spoke of them right off the bat (along with a discussion of the letters), of Masechet<\/em> Atzilut<\/em> (which first displayed their names at its end, as well as the names of the Worlds at its beginning), of Sefer Bahir<\/em> (who cited their names in 141-146), as well as the earlier masters such as Ramban, Ra\u2019avad, R\u2019 Yitzchak Sagi Nahor, R\u2019 Azriel, R\u2019 Meir Ibn Gabbai, R\u2019 Yoseph Gikitilia, Rabbeinu Bacahai, R\u2019 Racanti, the author of Ma\u2019arechet Elohut<\/em>, and the bulk of the Zohar. And Ramak spent the preponderance of his time on an analysis of the Sephirot<\/em> too (though he did touch upon the Partzufim<\/em> later on, as we said in note 7 of Section Three).<\/p>\n

It was Ari who first merited delving into the Partzufim<\/em> in great detail. He drew upon some of the more esoteric sections of the Zohar for his depictions, including Iddra Rabba<\/em> (\u201cThe Greater Assembly\u201d), Iddra Zutta<\/em> (\u201cThe Lesser Assembly\u201d), and Sifre deTzeniuta<\/em> (\u201cThe Book of Concealment\u201d) [1].<\/p>\n

As he laid them out, the Sephira<\/em> of Keter<\/em> is analogous to the Partzuf<\/em> entitled Adam Kadmon<\/em> (which we cited earlier and will discuss below, too) and to Erich Anpin<\/em> (\u201cThe Greater Countenance\u201d); the Sephirot<\/em> of Chochma<\/em> and Binah<\/em> are analogous to the Partzufim<\/em> termed Abba<\/em> and Imma<\/em>; the Partzuf<\/em> termed Zeir<\/em> Anpin<\/em> (\u201cLesser Countenance\u201d) is analogous to the six \u201cextremities\u201d or \u201climits\u201d better known as the Sephirot<\/em> of Chessed<\/em>, Gevurah<\/em>, Tipheret<\/em>, Netzach<\/em>, Hod<\/em> and Yesod<\/em>; and the Partzuf<\/em> of Nukveh<\/em> is analogous to Sephira<\/em> of Malchut<\/em>. There are other names for the Partzufim<\/em> and other analogies which will also be discussed.<\/p>\n

What concerns us now is the fact that all of this is very carefully and purposefully \u201carranged in a specific order\u201d (Ramchal\u2019s comment to Petach<\/em> 9) as we\u2019d cited at the end of the previous section. So we\u2019ll now delve into Ramchal\u2019s concern with sequence.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/p>\n

[1] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See note 3 to section 3.<\/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":"

There have been three areas of concentration among the earlier and later Kabbalists as we\u2019d said: the Sephirot, the Partzufim, and the letters of the Aleph-Bet and their role in the Names of God. Ramchal has been concentrating upon 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-507","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\/507","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=507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}