{"id":852,"date":"2011-09-12T11:12:18","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T15:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=852"},"modified":"2011-09-12T11:12:18","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T15:12:18","slug":"wrong-evil-and-injustice-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/09\/12\/wrong-evil-and-injustice-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Wrong, Evil, and Injustice (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ramchal\u2019s depictions of rah<\/em>, which is termed the yetzer<\/em> harah<\/em> (\u201cthe inclination to do wrong\u201d) when it touches on our personal relationship to it, speaks to its two aspects: as the embodiment of \u201cthe other side\u201d<\/strong>, i.e., the utter and unredeemable opposite of Godliness; and, contrarily, as the laudable and redeemable mechanism that will allow for God’s Yichud<\/em> <\/strong>to be seen <\/strong>and for everything \u2026 to return<\/strong> to its ultimate perfection.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We find clear analogies to that bilateral depiction of it in the non-Kabbalistic tradition which speaks of rah<\/em> as \u201cthe greatest thief of all\u201d (Pesichta<\/em> Rabbati<\/em> 32b), and as the only phenomenon that God Himself deems evil (Kiddushin<\/em> 30b) and wishes He hadn\u2019t created (Breishit<\/em> Rabbah<\/em>, Breishit<\/em> 27:4), on the one hand; and as the one thing that enables humankind and society to grow and flourish in this world (Breishit<\/em> Rabbah<\/em>, Breishit<\/em> 9:7) on the other, based on its worldly allurements.<\/p>\n

The Zohar is also of two minds when it comes to rah<\/em>. It discusses its other-sideness a number of times, as when it speaks of the ten \u201ccrowns\u201d of holiness (i.e., the ten holy Sephirot<\/em>) as opposed to the ten \u201ccrowns of uncleanness\u201d ( see 3, p. 41b, 70a) which are depicted as ten \u201cmonsters\u201d that lurk in ten rivers (see 2, pp. 34a-35b), and when it refers to the configuration of \u201cWorthless Man\u201d as opposed to \u201cPrimordial Man\u201d or Adam<\/em> Kadmon<\/em> (see 2, pp. 242b-244b). But it also speaks of rah<\/em> as a servant acceding to its master\u2019s orders so as to fulfill the latter\u2019s agenda (see 1, pp. 146b-147a; 2, 34a; 3, p. 172b) [1].<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s explore how Ramchal explains the source of rah<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/p>\n

[1] See Moreh<\/em> Nevuchim<\/em> 3:12 for Rambam\u2019s rationalist view of rah<\/em>.<\/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":"

Ramchal\u2019s depictions of rah, which is termed the yetzer harah (\u201cthe inclination to do wrong\u201d) when it touches on our personal relationship to it, speaks to its two aspects: as the embodiment of \u201cthe other side\u201d, i.e., the utter and … 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-852","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\/852","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=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}