R' Ashlag Ch. 11 (sect. 2)

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Ch. 11 (sect. 2)

"But once he engages in mitzvot from the age of thirteen on in order to please his Creator, he begins to refine his inborn ratzon l’kabel and to slowly transform it into a *ratzon l’kabel al m’nat l’hashpia* (i.e., a willingness to take in, in order to bestow). And that enables him to draw a holy soul downward from its root in the intentions behind creation, which passes through the system of holy worlds and engarbs itself in the individual (literally, “the body”). This is the period of repair (rather than ruin)."

"The individual then continues to climb various rungs of holiness of the Infinite’s intention's for creation, which then help him turn his ratzon l’kabel to a ratzon l’kabel al m’nat l’hashpia and to please his Creator rather than himself. And He thus gains an essential affinity with his Creator, since a ratzon l’kabel al m’nat l’hashpia is tantamount to out-and-out bestowance."

-- As R' Ashlag points out many times in his writings, mitzvot are depicted two different ways in the Zohar: as pieces of advice, or as deposits. He maintains that they're both, since they first *advise* us how to draw close to G-d (they say, "do this to draw close to Him, and avoid that to draw away from Him"), and then, once we take drawing close to G-d as the point of fulfilling mitzvot (rather than to accrue reward or for any other reason) they *deposit* G-d's Light in our being and we indeed draw close to Him.
-- Thus once a person begins to fulfill mitzvot from bar or bat mitzvah age and onward (in the course of the "period of repair") for the express purpose of pleasing and drawing close to G-d, he or she ceases to be self-centered and begins the long process of replacing his or her own self-serving desires with the desire to please G-d alone. Which is to say that the individual starts to transform his usual and quite normal willingness to only take-in to a willingness to take in, in order to give back in return.
-- Having started that process, he then merits a soul. But that calls for some explanation; for don't we all have souls?
-- As we'll find later on (starting in Ch. 34), there are five degrees of "soul". The lowest is the "nephesh", higher than that is the "ruach", higher yet is the "neshama" (the best-known term for the soul), higher yet is the "chaya", and then there's the "yechidah", which is the most sublime degree. As we'll find, one has to *earn* a neshama (to say nothing of a chaya and a yechidah), and one only comes to earn it by transforming his ratzon l’kabel to a ratzon l’kabel al m’nat l’hashpia.
-- Once one does that, he gains an affinity with G-d, who only bestows. Understand, though, that we humans aren't expected (or even encouraged) to achieve an out-and-out ratzon l'hasphia (a willingness to only bestow) and thus be G-dly; we're encouraged to achieve the aforementioned willingness to take in, in order to bestow, and once we do, then we will have become G-dly for all intents and purposes.

(c) 2004 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

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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".

R' Ashlag Ch. 11 (sect. 1)

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________________

Ch. 11 (sect. 1)

"The (supernal) worlds devolved downward (in intensity) to this physical world, which is the environment for both body and soul, and the period of (both) ruin and repair. The individual (literally, 'body'), who is the ratzon l’kabel (incarnate), is drawn down from his root in the thought of creation (in much the same way,) and passes through the defiled-worlds system, which is depicted as 'man (being) born a wild donkey' (Job 11:12). He remains subservient to that system for his first thirteen years old, which is the period of ruin (rather than repair)."

-- R’ Ashlag promised to explain what “defilement and the husks (were) all about” last time so as to spell out how they “could ... ever have been culled from and created by (G-d)”. That now continues.
-- We're taught here that the supernatural worlds “devolved downward”. Understand that the supernatural worlds are utterly unearthly, thus the phrase “devolve downward” is likely to confuse us. But we've always been granted to draw analogies between the upper realms and our own one, so we'll do that now.
-- The idea of the supernatural worlds devolving downward is analogous to what we experience when our plans become less and less abstract and more and more concrete the closer they get to fruition. Let's take the example of committees set up to accomplish a certain project. As most know, members of those sorts of committees enter the first meeting with a lot of ideas and expectations but precious little sum and substance. The further along the process goes, though, the more concrete the details become, until the original committee itself ceases to function and the project-come-alive is taken over by functionaries with all their gear and fittings.
-- As R’ Ashlag puts it, this world is where “the individual ... devolves downward from his root in the thought of creation and passes through the defiled worlds system” to dwell in the material world in much the same way. And he then depicts the material world as being “the period of (both) ruin and repair”. What he means to say is that what the physical world is at bottom is the stage upon which freewill plays itself out, which then allows for either spiritual ruin and debasement or repair and elevation (as we'll see).
-- We're then told that the individual then remains tied to unholiness for his first thirteen years” -- before his yetzer hatov appears; and that those thirteen years constitute “the period of ruin” because the individual has no hope yet for elevation since he hasn't yet been introduced to the mitzvah system that will provide him the means to elevate himself (as we'll see).

(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".