{"id":697,"date":"2011-06-16T12:04:23","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T16:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=697"},"modified":"2011-06-16T12:04:23","modified_gmt":"2011-06-16T16:04:23","slug":"more-on-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/06\/16\/more-on-words\/","title":{"rendered":"More on Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebbe Nachman agrees with RSZ\u2019s idea but adds a certain tantalizing element to it (see Likutei<\/em> Moharan<\/em> 1:64-3-4). He cites the verse, \u201cBy the word of the Lord were the heavens made\u201d (Psalms 33:6) as a proof of this phenomenon (which Ramchal himself cited in Petach<\/em> 18), and he likens speech there to Chochma<\/em> (both literally as wisdom and as the Sephira<\/em> by that name as we\u2019ll see) since it\u2019s also written, \u201cHow great are Your works, O Lord! You have made them all with Chochma<\/em>\u201d (Psalms 104:24).<\/p>\n

But he points out that there\u2019s a stage higher yet than Chochma<\/em>, which is silence, as when God counseled Moses to be silent rather than delve into the wisdom of His governance of the world (see Menachot<\/em> 29). That\u2019s to say that sometimes it\u2019s better to not question or speak, but rather to acquiesce to higher, even more arcane, unintelligible Divine wisdom.<\/p>\n

He thus asserts that while the letters do play a pivotal role in creation, they are certainly not primary: the Sephirot<\/em>, which are epitomized by Keter<\/em> which is utterly unfathomable, are.<\/p>\n

But notice, also, this point by R\u2019 Chaim of Volozhin (see Nephesh<\/em> HaChaim<\/em> 3:10). Also agreeing with RSZ\u2019s assertion, he nonetheless adds (without offering a specific source) that the Zohar equates God\u2019s speech with His very Self. Then he adds this element to the mix: \u201cIt\u2019s written about the World to Come that \u2018the glory of the Lord will be revealed (then), and all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord spoke\u2019 (Isaiah 40:5). That\u2019s to say that our understandings will be so purified then that we\u2019ll merit to physically catch sight of God\u2019s words as they appear throughout the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Not only that, he adds, but we\u2019ll actually \u201ccatch sight\u201d of God\u2019s presence itself then, when the verse \u201cyour Teacher will no longer be concealed from you, for your eyes will see your Teacher\u201d (Isaiah 30:20) will come true, given that we\u2019ll see God\u2019s words all over. This last point fits very nicely of course into Ramchal\u2019s whole theme of the ultimate revelation of God\u2019s Yichud [1].<\/p>\n

Note:<\/p>\n

[1] See Ramchal\u2019s reference to God\u2019s words playing a role in creation in Da\u2019at<\/em> Tevunot<\/em> 158, and also see Ramban\u2019s comments to Genesis 1:4 and 2:17.<\/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":"

Rebbe Nachman agrees with RSZ\u2019s idea but adds a certain tantalizing element to it (see Likutei Moharan 1:64-3-4). He cites the verse, \u201cBy the word of the Lord were the heavens made\u201d (Psalms 33:6) as a proof of this phenomenon … 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-697","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\/697","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=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}