{"id":876,"date":"2011-09-20T08:49:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-20T12:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramchal.wordpress.com\/?p=876"},"modified":"2011-09-20T08:49:29","modified_gmt":"2011-09-20T12:49:29","slug":"a-bit-more-on-the-trace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/2011\/09\/20\/a-bit-more-on-the-trace\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bit More on the Trace"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trace functions as the source of the<\/strong> finite \u201cplace\u201d of all of existent phenomena<\/strong>, <\/strong>given that it allows them<\/strong> what they need to experience physical existence, which infinitude, <\/strong>i.e., <\/strong>God\u2019s own presence alone cannot<\/strong> (Petach<\/em> 26). That\u2019s to say that the environment we need to exist — with time, space, physicality, quantity, quality, as well as more physical phenomena like sunlight, oxygen and the like — could not exist in the stark presence of God\u2019s own being, before which everything is undone. There needed to be a more mortal- and even angel-and-the-like friendly environment. The trace is what provided for that; for while the Tzimtzum<\/em> allowed for the concealment of God\u2019s overarching and unbearable presence, there needed to be another environment in its place. And the trace allowed for just that.<\/p>\n

As Ramchal goes on to say, it\u2019s the \u201ctrace\u201d itself which everything that was to exist <\/strong>in the world has its roots in <\/strong>it. He then underscores the fact that the trace isn\u2019t an independent agent but rather one of God\u2019s tools (like the Sephirot<\/em>), and that He governs (i.e., controls) it the way a soul governs a body<\/strong>, with all the implications involved in that (Petach<\/em> 27).<\/p>\n

An obvious question at this point is, what role do the Sephirot play in the trace? Simply put, each Sephira<\/em> is a part of the trace <\/strong>(Petach<\/em> 29).<\/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":"

The trace functions as the source of the finite \u201cplace\u201d of all of existent phenomena, given that it allows them what they need to experience physical existence, which infinitude, i.e., God\u2019s own presence alone cannot (Petach 26). That\u2019s to say … 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-876","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\/876","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=876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/ramchal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}