{"id":822,"date":"2011-08-15T12:15:51","date_gmt":"2011-08-15T16:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=822"},"modified":"2011-08-15T12:15:51","modified_gmt":"2011-08-15T16:15:51","slug":"how-ari-and-ramchal-depicted-the-tzimtzum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/08\/15\/how-ari-and-ramchal-depicted-the-tzimtzum\/","title":{"rendered":"How Ari and Ramchal depicted the Tzimtzum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s how Ari described what he\u2019d envisioned about the state of things before creation, based on his close readings and deep knowledge of the traditional sources and on his own intuitive, prophetic grasp of things: \u201cBefore any emanations were emanated or creations were created, a most supreme, simple light filled the whole of existence. There was no vacant place, no aspect of empty space or void, but rather everything was filled by that simple, infinite light \u2026. (But) when it arose in His pure Will to create (the universe) \u2026 Ein<\/em> Sof<\/em> contracted Itself (i.e., it brought about a Tzimtzum<\/em>) at its midpoint, in the exact center of its light. And \u2026 It left a vacant space — an empty, hollow void\u201d within which everything could be created [1].<\/p>\n

Based on his readings and knowledge of Ari\u2019s and others\u2019 statement as well as on his own intuitive, prophetic grasp, Ramchal depicted it in his own terms. Obviously knowing that his readers already knew Ari\u2019s depiction he merely said in his comments to Petach<\/em> 24 that: \u201cIn terms of what was \u2018envisioned\u2019 (as opposed to its \u2018solution\u2019, to be discussed below), the Tzimtzum<\/em> appears in one place, while all around it is Ein<\/em> Sof\u201d<\/em>. But he expanded on that elsewhere and said, \u201cBefore the world was created, (while) \u2018He and His name were one\u2019 [2] (and nothing else existed) Ein<\/em> Sof<\/em> willed (creation) and (thus) constricted His light in order to create all of the created phenomena, (and thereby) gave them space (i.e., an independent environment in which to exist)\u2026 (while) Ein<\/em> Sof<\/em> (Itself still) surrounded the space from all sides\u201d (Klallot<\/em> HaIlan<\/em> 1:1).<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From The Tree of Life <\/em>by Donald Wilder Menzi and Zwe Padeh (Arizal Publications, Inc. NY, 2008) pp. 11-13 (with slight changes).<\/p>\n

[2] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pirkei D\u2019Rebbi Eliezer<\/em> 3.<\/p>\n

 <\/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":"

Here\u2019s how Ari described what he\u2019d envisioned about the state of things before creation, based on his close readings and deep knowledge of the traditional sources and on his own intuitive, prophetic grasp of things: \u201cBefore any emanations were emanated … 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-822","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\/822","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=822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}