R' Ashlag Ch. 10

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________________

Ch. 10

1.

"Now we can begin to understand (the dynamic behind) our fourth inquiry as to how it was possible for the chariot of defilement and husks, which is so utterly and completely apart from Him, to emerge from G-d’s Holiness; and how it could be that He supports and sustains it. But we'd first have to understand what defilement and the husks are all about."

-- See our opening remarks about all this in 3:1.

"Just know that our ratzon l’kabel -- which is the essence of our souls, the reason we indicated for their being created, and the means by which they're prepared to accept everything incorporated in the thought of creation -- won't remain in the soul in that form forever. Because if it did, our souls would be separated from G-d forevermore, inasmuch as such a discrepancy of tsurot (unavoidably) separates them from Him."

-- R' Ashlag's vital point here is that while our ratzon l’kabel is eminently purposeful and of *ultimate importance* for our functions in this universe, it's still-and-all "temporary" and will become unfixed when the universe is undone in The End of Days, as it must be.

-- This is a rather shocking idea to those of us who can't quite understand how anything as fundamental to the human situation as the ratzon l’kabel is said to be could *ever* be undone. For it's commonly held that while any and all worldly circumstances can change, human nature is immutable (as if it were G-d's own). After all, they reason, doesn't world literature prove that! Aren't we the same piteous fools and venerable sages the Phoneticians and early Chinese were? Won't we always be? But human nature will indeed change -- forever and radically so. And, ironically, while *at present* human deeds and moods vary all the time with changes of circumstance while basic human nature doesn't, when the greatest change of circumstance possible occurs, human deeds and moods will slowly become undone and human nature will be utterly refashioned.

-- What makes this point so consequential is that our ratzon l’kabel -- our G-d-given ability to take in all that G-d, the Ultimate Benefactor, has provided us with -- was granted us purposefully. For were we not willing to accept what G-d offers us, then His plans for the cosmos would be thwarted on some level. Nonetheless, since our taking-in does undo our relationship to G-d -- which is the *only* thing that will endure in the end, bar none -- our ratzon l’kabel will and must terminate in the end. But for a vital and G-dly reason, as we'll see.

2.

"So in order to repair this division implanted in our soul's vessel -- i.e., our ratzon l’kabel -- after G-d created the worlds He separated them into two systems, in keeping with the mystical import of the statement that “G-d made the one as well as the other” (Ecclesiastes 7:14)."

-- This verse implies that everything but G-d Himself has its equal and opposite counterpart in the universe; its "doubleganger".

"The two systems comprise the four worlds of holy-A.B.Y.A., and their counterpart, the four worlds of defiled-A.B.Y.A."

-- A.B.Y.A. is an acronym for A-tzilut, B-eria, Y-etzirah, and A-siyah, the four Kabbalistic supernal "worlds" or planes of existence, in descending order of significance and potency. Holy- and defiled-A.B.Y.A. are thus two utterly antithetical parallel universes, with one (holy-A.B.Y.A.) being rooted in the willingness to bestow and the other (defiled-A.B.Y.A.) in the willingness to accept. The two divisions are significant because ...

"G-d instilled the ratzon l’hashpia (the willingness to bestow) into the worlds of holy-A.B.Y.A. and withdrew the ratzon l’kabel from them, and placed it into the defiled-A.B.Y.A., which explains why we've become separated from G-d and all the holy realms."

-- The "willingness to bestow" is all-good and G-dly, since "G-d is all-good and benevolent" (1:5) and His sole "intention when He created the world was to bestow pleasure upon His creatures" (7:1). And it's thus the antithesis of the ratzon l’kabel. Our aim is to aspire to bestowance and to undo the ratzon l’kabel in the process, as we'll learn later on.

3.

"That's why the husks are referred to as 'the dead' and why wrongdoers are attracted to them. For our sages indicated that all wrongdoers are termed 'dead' even in their lifetimes (Berachot 18B)."

-- That means to say that the husks are as "dead" (i.e., severed from G-d's presence) as their offshoot, wrong, since they dwell in an unG-dly universe.

"Because the ratzon l’kabel that has been implanted in them is diametrically opposite in tsurah to G-d's Holiness, which thus separates them from the “the Life of all Lives” (G-d) and utterly severs them from Him. For He wants only to bestow rather than to accept while the husks want only to accept for their own sake rather than bestow, and there's no greater disparity than that. For as you already know, 'distance' in the spiritual sense starts with some sort of disparity of tsurah and culminates in an utter disparity, which is the ultimate degree of 'distance' (i.e., estrangement)."

(c) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )

********************************
Get your own copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” by logging onto http://www.aronson.com/jbookstore/ and typing in "The Gates of Repentance".
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has translated and commented upon "The Gates of Repentance", "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). And his new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available from Judaica Press.
His works are available in bookstores and in various locations on the Web.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled "Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal".

An Update

Let me offer this, at the beginning of a truly crisp Elul morning on the East Coast.

I'll go back to offering R' Ashlag's work on a fairly regular basis. My condensation of Da'at Tevunot will be slower-coming, based on my own work on the subject.

I also hope to provide some suprises in the future, iy"H.

Condensation of Ch. 8 of Rambam's "Eight Chapters"

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

A CONDENSATION OF CH. 8 OF RAMBAM'S "EIGHT CHAPTERS"

1. While you might be predisposed to a virtue or flaw from birth and thus find it easier to act one way or another, no one is ever born inherently lofty or flawed. Yet anyone can learn how to counter his disposition.

2. This is said to underscore the fact that you’re free to act any way you see fit. Though you might be predisposed toward things, you’re nonetheless never compelled to do anything. Otherwise mitzvot would be worthless, since you wouldn’t be free to do or not do whatever you wanted; education would be for naught, since you couldn’t help but do one thing or another; reward or punishment would be unfair, since you couldn’t help but live out your “fate”; and it would be worthless to take precautions or make preparations.

3. The truth is that you’re granted the freedom to act as you see fit, and nothing impels you one way or the other. As a consequence, your actions are judged, you are to study matters, and taking precautions makes sense.

4. Some people think certain things are “meant to be”, like whom a person will marry and whether a person will rob or not. But that’s not so, since those things touch upon mitzvot and sins, and are thus subject to your free will.

5. The only things you can’t choose to affect are certain natural phenomena, like your height, the weather, and the like. Hence, since you’re otherwise free, you should mourn for your sins, which you committed of your own volition, and repent for them.

6. Other natural phenomena like gravity, the laws of nature, and the like (not touching upon your own actions) are also beyond your control. Their effects were implanted from creation, and they thus follow the course laid out for them then, rather then act out of Divine compulsion moment by moment, as some think. As such, your natural ability to act on your own without anything compelling you to was implanted from creation, too. God consequently provided mankind with instructions as to how to be good, and it’s your responsibility to be as virtuous as you can, since you’re free to.

7. Sometimes, though, the Torah seems to suggest that God compels bad behavior, as when He informed Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved by the Egyptians, and when He told Moses that some Jews would serve idols after entering Canaan. But those were simply statements of fact, not direct assignments to particular Egyptians or Jews. For each individual acted as he saw fit in the circumstances. Otherwise, any warnings against profaning the Sabbath and serving idols would mean that some people would necessarily profane the Sabbath and serve idols. Still and all the idea that God “fortified Pharaoh’s heart” is problematic.

8. But in point of fact, what Pharaoh and his court did wrong from the start-- and of their own volition-- was to oppress a foreign nation (Israel) in their midst for no reason. God punished them for that by disallowing them to repent, which then set the stage for their not setting the Jewish Nation free, and for their being punished.

9. It’s important to realize that this, too, is an instance of God’s wise and just ways. For there are times when God punishes us for our misdeeds and rewards us for our good deeds here, in this world (either physically or monetarily); other times when He does so in The World to Come but not here (by preventing us from repenting); and yet other times when He does so in both. Nonetheless, we haven’t the capacity to understand why one person is punished one way and another, another way. Pharaoh’s punishment also served as a sign to everyone that God can utterly withhold a person’s freedom to act a certain way.

10. There were several other instances in which God abrogated a person’s ability to repent, including the one involving King Sichon of Cheshbon (cf. Deuteronomy 2:30), one encompassing the entire Jewish Nation at a certain point (cf. Isaiah 6:10), and one involving certain heretics (cf. 1 Kings 18:37). Nonetheless as a rule, unless God punishes you by taking away your free will, you yourself choose either to acquire virtues or settle for flaws. So take it upon yourself to acquire those virtues; for only you can impel yourself to.

11. We’ll now explain God’s foreknowledge in light of our freedom of choice. “Since God already knows whether a person will be righteous or not beforehand” some argue, “then that person has to be righteous or not in the end.” But that’s based on a basic misunderstanding of the idea of God “knowing”. God doesn’t know the way we do, so we can’t speak about His knowledge in terms of His “coming” to know something after a while. God’s knowledge is a veritable part of His Being. Otherwise, He’d have to have acquired a piece of knowledge; and that piece of knowledge would have to have existed from the very beginning for Him to have had acquired it afterwards. And that would mean that there were several entities before anything was created (i.e., God, His knowledge, and all the other traits attributed to him), which is absurd.

12. Nonetheless, we can’t fathom God’s Being or His knowledge, whatsoever. All we know is that He “knows” and He “exists”. Understand, though, that your behavior is in your hands alone, and God never compels you to behave one way or the other.

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Condensation of Ch. 7 of Rambam's "Eight Chapters"

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

A CONDENSATION OF CH. 7 OF RAMBAM'S "EIGHT CHAPTERS"

1. There have always been qualitative differences between prophets. Some were said to “see” God from behind several screens, others from behind just a few, while Moses was said to have “seen” Him from behind a single, diaphanous one. The difference between them is based upon the principle that every intellectual or personal flaw a person suffers from, and each sin he commits, acts as a barrier between God and himself.

2. Nonetheless, a person couldn’t become a prophet until he’d achieved all of the intellectual virtues and most of the more significant personal ones, like contentment and the ability to let reason rule over impulse. In fact, though, we find that Solomon, David, Elijah, Samuel and Jacob each suffered from one personal flaw or another.

3. Some personal flaws (like anger, sorrow, and anxiety) can actually withhold prophecy for a time, until they’re corrected.

4. When Moses realized that he’d achieved personal and intellectual perfection, he asked to comprehend God. But God wouldn’t allow him to, because he was still-in-all a mortal being, which proved to be the only barrier separating him from God. No other prophet ever compared to him.

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Condensation of Ch. 6 of Rambam's "Eight Chapters"

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

A CONDENSATION OF CH. 6 OF RAMBAM'S "EIGHT CHAPTERS"

1. According to the philosophers, one who subdues his yetzer harah does good when he’s not inclined to and suffers in the process. While an “eminent” person does good because he’s naturally inclined to. And they concluded that the “eminent” person is thus loftier. The Torah seems to agree, in fact.

2. But the sages disagreed. They declared that one who longs to sin but doesn’t is loftier than one who doesn’t long to; and that the greater the struggle, the greater the reward. They even charged us not to deny that struggle.

3. Now while the two perspectives seem to contradict each other, they actually don’t. Because what the philosophers saw as bad are things everyone agrees are-- like murder, theft, robbery, abuse, and the like. And indeed, anyone inclined toward any of them is flawed. While the things the sages referred to as “bad” were deeds one wouldn’t ordinarily see as such-- like eating milk and meat together, wearing shatnez, and the like. The sages’ point is that since the latter sorts of deeds are mandated by the Torah, as such, the person who’d observe them would be loftier than someone who wouldn’t.

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Condensation of Ch. 5 of Rambam's "Eight Chapters"

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

A CONDENSATION OF CH. 5 OF RAMBAM'S "EIGHT CHAPTERS"

1. Aside from subordinating your personal capacities the ways spoken of before, strive to comprehend God as much as you can; make that your life’s goal; and do whatever you do purposefully and with it in mind.

2. As such, strive for what’s edifying; and if it happens to be gratifying, too, then so be it. Unless you want to enjoy gratifying or attractive things for your health, or to be well enough to acquire knowledge. You’d also do well to accrue money only in order to own uplifting things, to maintain your well-being, and to extend your life long enough to comprehend God. In point of fact, the field of medicine affords a person the opportunity to grow intellectually and personally, to know God, and to comprehend what true bliss is.

3. The sort of person who’d go about eating satisfying but harmful foods is no different than an animal. For a true human-- a person of reason-- would only do things that would edify him and keep him healthy. But he wouldn’t make health itself his goal; for that’s no different than pursuing any other form of self-indulgence. He’d try to stay healthy in order to pursue personal and intellectual virtues without encumbrance.

4. The same goes for studying non-Torah subjects. Do it as long as those studies bring you closer to your ultimate goal. But only study things like geometry, engineering and the like, since they sharpen your mind enough to discriminate between valid and invalid theorems, which will help you understand God. And when you speak, speak about wisdom and personal virtues, and against wrongdoing.

5. You’d tend to do and say much less if you make comprehending God your goal in life; and the only reason you’d relax and occupy yourself with extraneous things would be to stay healthy and have a clear mind.

6. But the sort of individual who’d use all his personal capacities toward understanding God; who’d only occupy himself with things that would themselves be virtuous or foster a virtue; who’d measure each action to determine if it would lead to that end or not-- is nearly on par with the prophets. In point of fact, though, that’s exactly what God requires of each one of us!

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Condensation of Ch. 4 of Rambam's "Eight Chapters"

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

A CONDENSATION OF CH. 4 OF RAMBAM'S "EIGHT CHAPTERS"

1. “Good” deeds lie midway between two extreme ones, “virtuous” dispositions lie midway between two extreme dispositions, and specific dispositions tend to foster specific deeds.

2.. Temperance, for example, (which is a balanced trait) would be a product of a virtuous disposition and would be good; while indulgence and asceticism (temperance’s two polar opposite extremes) would be bad. The same goes for other balanced vs. extreme traits like generosity, as opposed to stinginess and extravagance; courage, as opposed to daring and cowardice; simple happiness, as opposed to brashness and dullness; humility, as opposed to arrogance and meekness; earnestness, as opposed to boastfulness and humbleness; contentment, as opposed to indulgence and sloth; composure, as opposed to wrath and indifference; shamefacedness, as opposed to audacity and bashfulness, and the like.

3. People often mistakenly consider character extremes to be good. They might consider daring people to be brave; indifferent people to be tolerant; lazy people to be content; lethargic people to be temperate; and they might admire extravagant and boastful people. But that’s wrong, because we’re to strive for balance in our behavior. Nonetheless, it’s important to understand that virtues and flaws only affix themselves onto us when we repeat the behavior patterns associated with them again and again.

4. Since no one is born with an inherently and utterly virtuous or flawed character, it’s important to tend to your character much the way you’d tend to your body when it goes off kilter. For when the body’s indeed off kilter we reverse its course until it returns to a state of equilibrium, where we then allow it to stay. We should do that when it comes to our character as well. So if you’re self-abnegating, for example, we’d encourage you to be profligate until you’d have expunged the trait of self-abnegation, then we’d encourage you to allow yourself some amenities in the end. While if you were profligate, we’d encourage you to be somewhat self-abnegating, but we wouldn’t encourage you to go to the other extreme (profligation) quite as much in the process as we had if you’d been self-abnegating.

5. As such, since it’s easier going from profligacy to merely allowing yourself some amenities than from utter self-denial to profligacy, just as it’s easier going from asceticism to temperance than from indulgence to temperance-- we’d thus have an indulgent person behave ascetically longer than we’d have an ascetic be indulgent in the process of rectifying their personalities; we’d have a cowardly person act daringly longer than we’d have a daring person act cowardly; and we’d have a meek person be boastful longer than we’d have a boastful person act meekly.

6. The pious, however, wouldn’t always strive for equal balance. They’d tend toward one extreme or another, depending on circumstances, in order to safeguard themselves against sin. They’d be somewhat more ascetic than temperate; somewhat more daring rather than courageous; somewhat more earnest than boastful; somewhat more humble than meek, etc. Some pious individuals even fasted, awoke in the middle of the night to pray and study, avoided meat and wine, and the like, but only for the sake of their moral well-being when those around them were corrupt, and they feared being adversely affected.

7. Now, when fools who knew nothing of why they were doing that saw those pious individuals acting that way, they set out to do the same, assuming that that was how a person would draw close to God. But rather than doing good, they were actually doing harm.

8. For the Torah means for us to live a normal life: to eat, drink, and have relations as permitted, in moderation; to live in society, and to wear standard clothing. It frowns upon extremes, and encourages us to achieve intellectual and personal virtues.

9. Hence, if you’re foolish enough to believe that you should deny yourself all pleasure in order to discipline yourself, you’re wrong. For what the Torah meant for us to do was to systematically withdraw from indulgence in order to implant the traits of temperance, generosity, and shamefacedness, as well as to discourage anger and bashfulness.

10. So, always favor balanced actions over extreme ones, other than to heal yourself. And be introspective and self-aware. Be like the man who sensed he was becoming ill who then remained alert to his condition all the time, and made sure it wasn’t deteriorating, who’d avoid anything that would do him harm and favor things that would make him well. Which is to say, try to rectify your flaws, for none of us are without them.

11. In fact, even Moses wasn’t without his flaws. He became angry at one point and referred to the Jewish Nation as “rebels” when they weren’t. He thus profaned God’s name and set a bad example for everyone (since they watched his every move and listened to everything he said, in order to learn from him), and he had them draw false conclusions about God’s intentions.

12. So, always judge your own actions and strive for balance in them, and you’ll be a person of high caliber, you’ll draw close to God, satisfy His wishes, and thus serve God the best of ways.

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Condensation of Ch. 3 of Rambam's "Eight Chapters"

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

A CONDENSATION OF CH. 3 OF RAMBAM'S "EIGHT CHAPTERS"

1. A “healthy” nephesh always does goodly, benevolent, and comely things, while an “unhealthy” one always does bad, harmful and disgraceful things. Now, just as someone whose senses are off kilter would confuse bitter with sweet and pleasant with unpleasant, and may even crave harmful things-- someone whose nephesh is off kilter would likewise confuse bad actions with good ones, and would pursue harmful goals.

2. So, just as you’d go to a doctor if you were ill who’d then tell you what to do, what to avoid, and what to take to be well, you should likewise go to a “doctor” of the nephesh when your nephesh is ill, who’d tell you what to do and what not to do to be well. Nonetheless if your nephesh is ill without your knowing, or if you know it’s ill but you refuse to submit to treatment, then like the patient who continues to do whatever he pleases rather than submit to treatment, you, too, will surely die.

3. Those who do realize their nephesh is ill but don’t submit to treatment will go about pursuing pleasure to no avail. They’d be wise to seek counsel from a sage rather than fumble about in the darkness.

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Condensation of Ch. 2 of Rambam's "Eight Chapters"

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

A CONDENSATION OF CH. 2 OF RAMBAM'S "EIGHT CHAPTERS"

1. The sins and mitzvot enunciated in the Torah only apply to your senses and emotions. Not to your digestive system or imagination. And they apply to your intellect when it comes to convictions, rather than to behavior.

2. There are two sorts of personal virtues and flaws: intellectual and character-based ones. Intellectual virtues (which are obviously relevant to your intellect) include wisdom, reason, and purity of mind; while intellectual flaws are their opposite.

3. Character virtues or flaws are relevant to your emotions, which your senses merely serve. Such virtues include temperance, generosity, justice, patience, humility, good-will, courage, sensitivity, and others. And flaws entail the minimizing or exaggerating of any one of them. But neither your digestive system nor your imagination play any part in character.

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Condensation of Ch. 1 of Rambam's 'Eight Chapters"

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

A CONDENSATION OF CH. 1 OF RAMBAM'S "EIGHT CHAPTERS"

1. Though the human nephesh has several functions and capacities, it’s nonetheless a single entity.

2. Since improving character amounts to healing the nephesh, it’s important to understand the nephesh the way a doctor understands the body. We’ll thus begin by discussing its five capacities: the digestive system, the senses, the imagination, the emotions, and the intellect.

3. Though the human and animal nephesh seem to share various functions because identical terms are used to describe both, they’re actually different. And we’ll be limiting our discussion to the human nephesh.

4. The human digestive system encompasses ingestion, retention, digestion per se, excretion of waste, growth, procreation, and metabolism; the senses encompass seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching; the imagination encompasses the capacity to retain impressions of experiences and to compare and contrast them, as well as to combine things within one’s experience with things out of it, and to concoct impossible combinations of things; the emotions encompass the capacity to crave something or reject it, as well as to actually express personal and emotional proclivities through the different parts of the body; and the intellect encompasses the capacity to reason, speculate, acquire knowledge, and to differentiate between good and bad forms of behavior within the realm of the practical and the speculative.

5. Know that your nephesh is a sort of “matter” whose “form” is your ability to reason. If your nephesh never achieves its form, then its potential to do that would have been for naught. But that and other such themes is beyond our discussion of character, so we won’t delve into them.

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Condensation of Rambam's Introduction to "Eight Chapters"

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________


Rambam offers a plethora of original and captivating insights in each and every chapter of this work; and many of them are quite foreign to us, to boot. The reader might thus find him- or herself lost in the mire sometimes and unable to follow the argument at any one time. We therefore offer this synopsis in the hopes that it will help facilitate the process, and that it will also provide an easy way to review the material en toto.

A CONDENSATION of RAMBAM'S INTRODUCTION TO "EIGHT CHAPTERS"

1. As he said he would, Rambam set out to comment on Pirke Avot. But since Pirke Avot isn’t easy to understand despite appearances, since not everyone can abide by what it offers, and since it touches upon such important, ultimate issues, Rambam decided to provide us with these eight chapters as an over-all introduction to Pirke Avot.

2. Our sages assured us that anyone who lives by the words of Pirke Avot will achieve piety. Now since piety is a spiritual rank that’s determined by our character, and since it’s just below prophecy and leads directly to it, Rambam set out to explain that all here, too.

3. Rambam doesn’t claim to have originated any of the ideas here. He acknowledges that they were taken from the words of our sages, from philosophers, and from others whom he’ll often quote from verbatim without citing in order to explain the many things hidden away in Pirke Avot.

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Translator's Intro. to "Eight Chapters" (Part 2)

_____________________________________
This is part of my upcoming translation
of Rambam's "Eight Chapters", to be
published shortly by Judaica Press.

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

Translator's Intro. (Part 2)

When I first decided to translate and comment upon this dynamic work, I was immediately taken aback by the enormity of the task. Like the author of The Duties of the Heart, Bachya Ibn Pakudah, said about himself in his introduction to that book, I too felt ill-equipped for the task, and wondered if “I was burdening myself with something that would only demonstrate my limitations” and was “over stepping my bounds”.

But as Ibn Pakudah put it, I knew full well that “many good ideas were rejected because of fear”, so I too “forced myself to endure the writing of this book and to explain its subject as clearly and vividly as I could.”

So I drew from others’ works, including from Rabbi Yoseph Kapach’s new translation from the original Arabic to Hebrew along with notes (which serves as our primary text), Rabbi Yitzchak Shilat’s later translation into Hebrew with notes, Professor Joseph Gorfinkle’s 1912 translation into English with notes, and Rabbi Mordechai Rabinowitz’s notes to his Rambam L’Am edition. But the notions contained herein are my own, and aren’t to be saddle upon the backs of these scholars; for I mainly made use of their syntactic and contextual insights, and most especially of the wealth of Rambam’s other writings they directed me to in my own research.

I took certain liberties with the text, including changing third person to second in many instances (for reasons of style), and I subdivided the chapters on my own for ease of reference.

It became clear that I had to offer a lot of notes to clarify Rambam’s meaning and illustrate my point that his message is essential for us in our own day and age. Yet I didn’t want to daunt the reader with having to wade through so many notes in a relatively short work. So it occurred to me to present each chapter as it is (which I provided explanatory prologues to, for clarity’s sake) to allow the reader to take Rambam’s words in. Then I offered the text again with my notes to explain the many difficulties. I also provided a synopsis of the original text itself at the end for review.

Several of the more difficult ideas called for a longer, more technical explanation; and certain themes presented in The Eight Chapters that were presented in Rambam’s earlier and later works called for comparison and contrast to what’s said here. So I provided the reader with supplementary notes.

Lastly, I provided a translation of Rambam’s comments to Pirke Avot (as well as of Pirke Avot itself). But know that Rambam's text of Pirke Avot differed at times from the ones we're familar with, and that the numbering system he used is also at variance with many of ours.

I thank God Almighty for allowing me the strength, time, resources, and all else it took to produce this work.

I also thank my beloved wife, Sara, for her comments, insight, encouragement, and life-partnership; and our children, Nechama, Aryeh and Dina.

(C) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Translator's Intro. to "Eight Chapters" (Part 1)

_____________________________________

Interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons?
Please contact me at feldman@torah.org
_____________________________________

Translator's Introduction (Part 1)

Anyone of a sensitive and inquisitive nature has to be overwhelmed in our day and age-- overwhelmed by the richness of ourselves, others, and of the world at large we’ve come to be exposed to.

After all, we now know ourselves to be bustling, elbowing, and boisterous hallways of thoughts and emotions, processes and reactions who spend whole lifetimes in the company of others just like us. Can anyone blame us then for being skittish and easily distracted?

Consider as well the fact that we now know that the lot of us are mere rivulets in a resounding, mammoth universe. Thus it comes as no surprise why a sensitive soul would find him- or herself awash in data, feelings, and thoughts, and would need direction.

Reflect as well upon the fact that while it’s clear that we simply can’t take it all in, it’s also clear that we’d forfeit far too much if we didn’t take in enough... and we’re simply done for.


It seems the only solution is to somehow or another narrow things down; determine what matters most, what matters less so, and what really doesn’t matter; and to concentrate on the first especially, the second less so, and the third not at all (if we can help it).

That’s where The Eight Chapters comes in.

For it’s my contention that Rambam has provided us herein with a list of priorities outright, a veritable “guide for the overwhelmed” of any epoch in time, including our own. In that it’s here that he engages in an early effort to set order to the grand scheme of things so that we might know what to concentrate upon in the face of it all.

Later works expanded upon many of the themes offered here. But it was here, in The Eight Chapters, that Rambam addressed the very most vital existential issues we’d all do well to concentrate on, including: just who we are, at bottom; what’s expected of us as Jews specifically, as well as all human beings; how we’re to serve God in the world; etc.

And he took this opportunity to delve into all that at this point in his writings because, as we’ll find, The Eight Chapters serves as Rambam’s introduction to his comments to Pirke Avot (“The Ethics of the Fathers”). And much of all this is touched upon there.

Pirke Avot is usually taken to be a rather straightforward setting out of many of the moral ideals our sages held out for us all. Yet as Rambam points out in his introduction to this work, Pirke Avot is clearly something far deeper than that, far more engaging. For our sages said that whoever wanted to be pious would have to live by its words (Babba Kama 30A).

We’re struck by that, and many questions spring up as a consequence. What exactly is piety? Does it come down to other-worldliness, religious zealotry, monkishness, and the like? Can one live in the modern world and be pious? Is there a characteristically Jewish brand of piety or is it a generic type? Are there degrees higher yet than piety? Why would anyone want to be pious?

To begin with, we’ll learn that piety touches upon self-perfection (among other things).

But what’s that all about? Any discussion about self-perfection would certainly have to be preceded by an analysis of the “self” itself. What are we, in fact? Are we each a melange of separate independent parts? Or is each individual a “unified field” of sorts defining the cluster of all of his or her parts?

And are we really so in control of our beings that we can perfect ourselves? Aren’t there extenuating circumstances and other things out of our control, like our inborn natures? Is there such a thing as “predestination”, in light of the fact that an All-knowing God would certainly know beforehand if I’m to be good or bad, and could thus force me to act one way or the other?

If we imply that we’re capable of perfecting ourselves, we must now be imperfect. But, how so? What’s right about us, and what’s not? And how do we ever improve ourselves?

Then back to piety. If, as it turns out it does, piety involves going beyond “the letter of the law” and extending one’s religious reach, then can one ever go too far? Does piety imply blind and artless faith?

All that having been said, what are we ultimately meant to do in this world? And what do we do with “the rest of our day”, if you will, i.e., how do we live in the world and fulfill our God-given mission at the same time?

What role does the mitzvah system play in all that? Are we to concentrate most especially upon personal growth, and to only backhandedly adhere to the mitzvot?

The subject of prophecy arises at several points in this work, in connection with piety. What differentiates the pious from prophets? Did Jewish prophets differ from non-Jewish ones, and how so? And if, as we know, Moses was the greatest of prophets, what made him so great? How does that affect my own spiritual station?

Hence we see that The Eight Chapters touches upon certain deep and vital existential questions if would do us all well to concentrate on if we’re ever to live a life of content and challenge, growth and spiritual excellence.

Undoubtedly the most vital existential questions of them all touch upon our relationship to God. And Rambam goes into detail about that here, as well.

He answers questions like, How does one in fact draw close to God in a human context? What exactly does “drawing close to” or “knowing” God entail? What separates us from God in the first place? And, if God is indeed All-Mighty, then how can I ever draw close to or separate myself from Him-- or do anything at all!-- on my own?

(c) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

My Newest Book

I'm very happy to report that Judaica Press
will soon be issuing my translation of Rambam's
"Sh'mone Perakim" ("The Eight Chapters").

It's my pleasure to offer snipets of it here, in
serialized form. We'll start off with my own
introduction and go on from there to my condensation
to each chapter.

Anyone interested in dedicating this work in
loving memory of someone or for other reasons
should contact me at feldman@torah.org

R' Ashlag Ch. 9

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________________

Ch. 9

1.

"Hence, it’s a change of tsurah that 'hews' (things apart) on a spiritual level the way an ax hews two material objects; and it’s the difference between their tsurot that determines their 'distance'."

"From this we can see that when the aforementioned willingness to accept pleasure was implanted in our souls -- which doesn’t exist in the Creator; after all, from whom can He receive? -- that very change of tsurah in our souls 'hewed' us from G-d’s essence the way an ax hews a stone from its mountain."

"And that change of tsurah consequently transformed our souls from the order of Creator into that of creations."

-- R' Ashlag is saying (and quite clearly so) that were it not for the fact that our souls were granted the "ratzon l'kabel", there'd be nothing to differentiate them from G-d! But make no mistake about it, that's not to say that you and I are actually G-d "except for this one small detail", because that's simply not true.

-- You and I, as we experience ourselves in and present ourselves to the world, are nothing other than manifestations of a unique conduit of the ratzon l'kabel. Our unfathomable essence in its pristine state, on the other hand -- our soul -- was actually subsumed in G-d's Being before the ratzon l'kabel came into being, and was thus at one with His indivisible Self. But the fact is that it expereinced something utterly transformative which G-d's Being didn't expereince, i.e., that it became willing and able to accept rather than only bestow, set our souls as apart from Him as any two things could be, and allowed one to remain Creator and the other to be a seperate created entity. Our souls would still be conjoined with Him had the ratzon l'kabel not come into being, but since it did (and purposefully so) we're no longer a part of the great Divine Mix.

2.

"That not withstanding, everything our souls derives from G-d’s light is still-and-all culled directly from His Essence and is 'yesh' from 'yesh'."

-- This is a rather arcane point. First off, "light" itself represents anything bestowed on us from G-d. It's an expression of the idea of endlessly and effortlessly issuing forth things from the core of one's being the way the sun issues forth sunlight.

-- Next, the statement that something is bestowed upon us from "G-d's light" means to say that it comes only indirectly from G-d (i.e., from His light rather than from Himself). R' Ashlag's ironic statement that it's "still-and-all culled directly from His Essence" means to say that though it's indeed thus coming to us through an intermediary, it's still from G-d Himself at bottom, much the way a recorded message from a friend is still a "direct" message from him.

-- Yesh ("something [you could put your fingers on]") refers to a tangible material entity as opposed to "ain" ("nothing [you could put your fingers on]"), which refers to an inchoate nonmaterial entity. G-d is by definition utterly "ain" (which is of course not to deny His existence but rather to eschew any physicality on His part). Thus, whatever is bestowed from Him is "merely" actual and derives from G-d's light which is also "merely" actual (since it's a product of G-d Himself rather than Himself).

-- The gist of it the matter is that everything that we accept through the medium of our ratzon l'kabel is only indirectly from G-d, and the act of accepting itself *dis*connects and differentiates us from Him.

"It thus follows that any G-dly light that our souls accept into their vessels (i.e., within our willingness to accept things) is itself indistinguishable from G-d’s very Essence, because our souls receive it 'directly' from His Essence, as 'yesh' from 'yesh'."

-- "Light", as we said, represents anything bestowed on us from G-d, which we accept into our "vessel", i.e., our "selves", which we termed before as "manifestations of a unique conduit of the ratzon l'kabel". The point is that anything material that we accept is still-and-all directly from G-d, even though our having accepted it set us apart from Him.

3.

"So, again, the only difference between our souls and G-d’s Essence is the fact that our souls are a 'part' of it. For the amount of light our souls accept into their vessels (i.e., within our willingness to accept things) has already been differentiated from G-d, since it came about by the change of tsurah known as the willingness to accept which then made it a 'part', as a consequence of which it went from a 'whole' to a 'part'."

"So once more, the only difference between them (i.e., our souls and G-d’s Essence) is that one is the 'whole' and the other is a 'part', like a stone hewn from a mountain."

"Reflect upon (the ramifications of) this carefully, for it’s impossible to expand upon it, it’s so sublime."


(c) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )

********************************
Get your own copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” by logging onto http://www.aronson.com/jbookstore/ and typing in "The Gates of Repentance".
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has translated and commented upon "The Gates of Repentance", "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). And his new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available from Judaica Press.
His works are available in bookstores and in various locations on the Web.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled "Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal".

A Condensation of Tanya (Conclusion)

A CONDENSATION OF RABBI SHNEUR ZALMAN'S "TANYA"
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
_______________________________________________

CONCLUSION: Ch's 51-53

1. Rabbi Shneur Zalman ends Tanya with an erudite discussion of the place of the Divine Presence here in this world, after first emanating from and passing through the upper realms. And in the process he explains how G-d "restricted" His Presence to the Holy Temple in antiquity and yet managed to nourish the entire world (which it still does).

2. He does it by comparing the Divine Presence here in the world with the soul in the body. For just as the soul "dwells" primarily in the brain yet nurtures the entire body at the same time, organ by organ -- so too is the universe in its entirety nurtured by the Divine Presence that dwells primarily in the upper realms and emanates outward to the world.

3. In fact, he points out that each of the upper realms has its own "Holy of Holies" (which is analogous in its own way to the one in the Holy Temple) in which the Divine Presence dwells and emanates outward throughout that realm.

4. RSZ then explicates the means by which G-d's exalted Presence resided in the first and second Holy Temples, and thus dwelt in the material world in the process. And he underscores the fact that despite the irony of G-d's Presence dwelling there and thus in this world, it still-and-all shines more profoundly and powerfully here than in the upper realms.

5. Hence it's important to know that "all that G-d Almighty has to dwell in since the Holy Temple has been destroyed are the four-square amot of halacha" since it's there that G-d dwells, and it's thus imperative that we study Torah so to allow for a dwellingplace for G-d in this world. It's likewise imperative that we do that is such a way that our animalistic sprit is humbly subsumed to G-d's Presence so as to turn darkness to Divine light.

(c) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )

********************************
Get your own copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” by logging onto http://www.aronson.com/jbookstore/ and typing in "The Gates of Repentance".
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has translated and commented upon "The Gates of Repentance", "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). And his new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available from Judaica Press.
His works are available in bookstores and in various locations on the Web.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled "Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal".