{"id":809,"date":"2011-08-10T10:54:19","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T14:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=809"},"modified":"2011-08-10T10:54:19","modified_gmt":"2011-08-10T14:54:19","slug":"sources-for-tzimtzum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/08\/10\/sources-for-tzimtzum\/","title":{"rendered":"Sources for Tzimtzum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where did the notion of a Tzimtzum<\/em> originate? Many suggest it comes from a couple of renditions of the pre-cosmic condition as found in the Zohar (1:15a) and in Zohar Chadash<\/em> (V\u2019etchanan<\/em>, Kav<\/em> HaMiddah<\/em>). The latter more easily lends itself to that suggestion; and in fact Ramchal himself cites it as a reference [1].<\/p>\n

Some find a source for it in a parable in Ramak\u2019s Pardes<\/em> (4:9) [2]. But already Nachmanides cited the notion in his opening remarks of his comments to Sefer<\/em> Yetzirah<\/em> in the 13th<\/sup> Century, and Shem Tov Ibn Shem Tov spoke of it in the 15th<\/sup> Century.<\/p>\n

But the idea first presents itself in Shemot<\/em> Rabbah<\/em> to Exodus 25:10, where God was said to restrict and foreshorten (l’tzamtzaim<\/em>) His presence to a small specific area of the Tabernacle [3].<\/p>\n

It seems, though, that two other early sources allude to the need for a Tzimtzum <\/em>before there could be a creation: the idea that \u201cGod yearned for a home among the lower beings\u201d (Midrash<\/em> Tanchuma<\/em>, Naso<\/em> 16) which He obviously could not have had, had He not allowed for the environment that the lower beings would need; and the idea that God appeared in various \u201cguises\u201d at different times — as a warrior at the Red Sea, a sage at the giving of the Torah, etc. — depending on the needs of the time and circumstances (see Rashi to Exodus 20:2), which suggests that that He needed to assume the \u201cguise\u201d of a non-presence before the universe was created.<\/p>\n

That having been said, it\u2019s nonetheless true that it was Ari alone who made Tzimtzum<\/em> a major component of his explanation of things, and it\u2019s his understanding of it that calls for explanation and analysis.<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See his comments to Petach<\/em> 30 (beginning of section 2 there). But also see the 3rd<\/sup> comment in Ari\u2019s Derech<\/em> Emet<\/em> to Kav<\/em> HaMiddah<\/em>, and Eitz Chaim p. 11d.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See R\u2019 M.Y. Veinshtock\u2019s Shulchan HaMa\u2019arachot b\u2019Sitrei HaChochma<\/em> (Vol. 1 p. 133).<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gershom Scholem famously declared that Ari turned the Midrash\u2019s image on its head, for while the latter spoke of God narrowing and focusing His Presence into only one area, Ari referred to Tzimtsum<\/em> as a setting aside or moving away of God\u2019s presence. But the truth of the matter is that both refer to the unexpected \u201cplasticity\u201d of God\u2019s presence, if you will, which is the main point.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>(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":"

Where did the notion of a Tzimtzum originate? Many suggest it comes from a couple of renditions of the pre-cosmic condition as found in the Zohar (1:15a) and in Zohar Chadash (V\u2019etchanan, Kav HaMiddah). The latter more easily lends itself … 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-809","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\/809","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=809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}