In short, this is what’s being said in this section (and note that Ramchal doesn’t introduce any extraneous themes here other than a quick one at the very beginning as we’ll see).<\/p>\n
The Sephirot<\/em> are meant to bring about physical phenomena, but they can only do that by means of the Hebrew letters, as “The Heavens were fashioned through God\u2019s word” (Psalms 33:6), which is to say, through the letters<\/em> that comprise God\u2019s words (Petach<\/em> 18).<\/p>\n There are exactly and exclusively twenty-two letter-orderings (Petach<\/em> 19).<\/p>\n These twenty-two letter-orderings form three separate columns: Chessed<\/em>, Din<\/em>, and Rachamim, <\/em>which is to say, right, left, and center. And they form various combinations that are represented as being <\/em>\u201cclosed\u201d and \u201ccompressed\u201d for example, or \u201copen\u201d and \u201cexpanded\u201d the latter of which is represented in the form of a \u201cline\u201d or a \u201cpoint\u201d (Petach<\/em> 20).<\/p>\n While the letters themselves are the main factors in bringing about actions the trope, vowels, and the \u201ccrowns\u201d that are attached to them all contribute in their own way (Petach<\/em> 21).<\/p>\n The ten Sephirot<\/em>, as well as the trope, vowels, \u201ccrowns\u201d and letters,\u00a0are all subsumed under the four letters of God\u2019s name as well as the four esoteric names and their combinations (Petach<\/em> 22).<\/p>\n It\u2019s in fact the Divine names that enable the Lights to bring about actions in the world, and the Torah is the sum total of all those names (Petach<\/em> 23).<\/p>\n We\u2019ll thus be focusing on<\/p>\n 1. The significance of the Hebrew letters;<\/p>\n 2. The \u201cwords\u201d used to create heaven and earth;<\/p>\n 3. The role of the right, left, and center columns as well as of the so-called \u201cclosed\u201d and \u201ccompressed\u201d, or \u201copen\u201d and \u201cexpanded\u201d, or \u201cline\u201d or \u201cpoint\u201d formations;<\/p>\n 4. The roles played by the trope, vowels, and \u201ccrowns\u201d;<\/p>\n 5. The makeup of the various Divine names;<\/p>\n 6. And the role of the Torah in activating things in the world.<\/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":" In short, this is what’s being said in this section (and note that Ramchal doesn’t introduce any extraneous themes here other than a quick one at the very beginning as we’ll see). The Sephirot are meant to bring about physical … Continue reading