{"id":532,"date":"2011-03-24T06:18:35","date_gmt":"2011-03-24T10:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=532"},"modified":"2011-03-24T06:18:35","modified_gmt":"2011-03-24T10:18:35","slug":"with-heart-and-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/03\/24\/with-heart-and-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"With heart and mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we pointed out above, though, Ramchal was of the opinion here that it\u2019s the intellect that enables one to overcome the yetzer harah<\/em> [1]. As he put it elsewhere as well, \u201crealizing the truth (of things by means of your intellect) strengthens the soul and distances it from the yetzer harah<\/em>, as there is nothing that makes the soul more susceptible to the yetzer<\/em> (harah<\/em>) than lack of knowledge\u201d (Derech Eitz Chaim<\/em>). In fact, he goes on to offer there that \u201cif one\u2019s knowledge was broad enough and stood (firmly enough) upon his heart, he\u2019d never sin<\/em>\u201d. Thus Ramchal seems to hold that it\u2019s the mind alone that resists the yetzer harah<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He does acknowledge elsewhere, though, the role that the emotions play in that process. He pointed out that \u201cthe more one reflects upon the exalted nature of God, the infinite nature of His perfection, and the great and unfathomable difference between His greatness and our lowliness, the more will he be filled with trembling and reverence before Him<\/em>\u201d. And that \u201cwhen one reflects as well upon the great goodness He has provided us with \u2026 an intense and powerful love will arise within you<\/em>, and you will want nothing but to attach yourself to Him\u201d and to avoid sin (Messilat Yesharim<\/em> Ch. 21).<\/p>\n

So he seems to be of the opinion that one can best resist the enticements of the yetzer harah<\/em> when both heart and mind are focused upon God and one\u2019s goal in life [2].<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Also see Derech Hashem<\/em> 1:4:6 which while cited earlier in explanation of the yetzer harah<\/em> also makes the point that man was \u201cplaced in this world to overcome his yetzer<\/em> (harah<\/em>) \u2026 by means of his intellect\u201d.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rabbi Yisrael Salanter (19th<\/sup> Century), the founder of the modern Mussar movement, stressed other phenomena including the chanting of pertinent verses and teachings about a particular sin one is tempted by in order to avoid it, or in order to foster a particular trait one is pursuing. His theory was that one thus \u201cmesmerizes\u201d himself that way and bolsters his fortitude from within (much the way reciting a national anthem reinforces one\u2019s love of country, reciting poetry and the like affirms one\u2019s emotions and convictions, and the like).<\/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":"

As we pointed out above, though, Ramchal was of the opinion here that it\u2019s the intellect that enables one to overcome the yetzer harah [1]. As he put it elsewhere as well, \u201crealizing the truth (of things by means 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-532","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\/532","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=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}