"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 5)

"In Search of Spiritual Excellence"

-- A Reworking of Classical Mussar Texts

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman's series on www.torah.org
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"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 5)

Then ruminate about who and what you admire and venerate, and why; and what you'd do to reciprocate for his or her attention. For if someone important and admirable were to suddenly pay close attention to you, draw you close to him, and do you favors, you'd certainly love and admire him and do everything you possibly could to draw close to him and return the favor in full. "So, if that's how you'd behave toward some frail mortal," Ibn Pakudah points out, "then how much more so should you act that way toward G-d who loves you so" and who wants nothing more than to draw you close to Him.

But, what has us overlook that and to take G-d's generosity and love for granted? Our yetzer harah (our inborn pull toward the mundane). What would it take to overcome it? First, the realization that your yetzer harah always has something deleterious -- while tantalizing at the same time -- to say; and second, that it works by befuddling your thinking and persuading you to do absurd, destructive things you just *know* are wrong. Where do we go from there, then?

Ibn Pakudah suggests that we take this all very much to heart and to thus "awaken from our sleep" and "cast aside the curtain the yetzer harah has placed before our heart to separate us from the light of reason". After all, "the yetzer harah is like a spider-web woven over a window that (eventually) becomes so thick and dense that sunlight can't pass through it", i.e., it starts out weak and powerless but then lays one filament of rationalization upon another until it grows nearly as strong as the boldest truth. So beware, because if you're too nonchalant and indifferent to it when it first starts its machinations, "it will become stronger and withhold the light of reason from you (from that point on), making it even more difficult for you to banish it from your mind". So, "make every effort to bask in the light of wisdom" from the first, "and to sense the truth of these things in your heart".

Then dwell on the irony of how many plans we make for the future we know so little about. Just think about how much food we buy beforehand without knowing if we'll ever get to enjoy it, for example. Reflect upon the fact that we oftentimes "spend days preparing for a far away business trip and thinking about which products we'll sell there, how we'll travel, how much food and whom we'll take along, where we'll stay once we get there and the like", when if the truth be known, "we don't know what G–d has decreed for us or if we'll even live that long", Ibn Pakudah chides us soberly.

For, as he reminds us, we actually need to be prepared for quite another journey: we always need to "be ready for ... the long journey to the world from which there's no escape and which can't be avoided", the afterlife. So, "how can you ignore the world you're steadily heading to?" he remonstrates us, and yet always prepare for one ephemeral event or another. "Remember your (ultimate) destiny and plan for what you'll need for your stay in your final home" rather than plan for forays in this passing world.

Ibn Pakudah then goes deeper to core and focuses even more so on the daunting reality of death. "Be introspective about the length of your stay in this world" he says darkly, "and ponder the fact that your end is always in sight". Just "notice how suddenly, unwittingly, without warning and randomly others ... die. Notice too that there isn't a single month of the year when death doesn't come, nor is there a day of the month or an hour of the day when it can't". Notice too that death "doesn't necessarily come in old age rather than in middle–age, young adulthood, youth, childhood or infancy; for it can happen any time and any place", we're reminded.

But what's the advantage with dwelling upon death like that, which can be so saddening and debilitating? The truth is that "when you're introspective about life in this world, when you remember that many of your friends have already gone to the next world despite their hopes to keep their connection to this one, and when you realize that you don't necessarily deserve a longer life than they, you'll lower your expectations for the world, and start to prepare for your destiny", which is to say that you'll begin to put things into perspective and to concentrate on what matters most.

Then we're to dwell on our social life to see if we're indeed keeping things in perspective. And we're encouraged to set times aside to be alone, so as to think more about what matters and what doesn't. After all, consider all the drawbacks to regularly visiting with others for no particular reason. You'll find yourself in a situation in which you're forced to "listen to others' irrelevant chatter" we're told --"all their 'he said's' and 'it's been said's', and other such nonsense".

And besides, people tend to speak against each other and to "cite others' faults and insult them" when they get together socially. And as we all know, we ourselves tend to lie when we're with others, to "swear falsely and unnecessarily", to "exhibit arrogance, sarcasm and antagonism ... and to act flippantly", to "act like a hypocrite", to "strut about and exaggerate our knowledge and accomplishments" and more, when we're with others. "The point is," Ibn Pakudah says, is that "most transgressions ... are committed by people in pairs and in the company of others. But solitude and isolation save you from all that, and they're the most effective way to acquire good traits".

That's not to say that we're to never associate with others, because that's simply not the Jewish way, which is indeed rooted in healthy companionship and human interaction. For indeed, "befriending *generous* and *learned* people is infinitely better than isolation" as a rule. As usual, the solution lies in balance and in forethought -- in weighing the advantages of solitude against the disadvantages and vice versa, and in making wise choices.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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. 16 (sect. 1)

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Ch. 16

1.

"But don’t then raise the issue of our free choice being taken away from us, seeing that we’ll inevitably be perfected and experience the third era that already existed in the first. The point is this."

-- Human free choice is a fundamental of the Jewish Faith. And R' Ashlag is suggesting that we not bother thinking that what he'd said till now about the inevitability of our reaching the third era would seem to deny our freedom to choose to do wrong, which would seem to deny us a right to it (better known as a place in the World to Come). But let's explain free choice before we get into the conundrum. Rambam lays it out as follows:
-- “Every person has been granted the capacity to either incline himself in the direction of goodness and to be righteous, or, if he so chooses, in the direction of evil and be wicked .... That means to say that ... man, of his own volition, consciously and with his own mind, can distinguish between good and evil, and can do whatever he wants to do, either good or evil, without anyone stopping him. Don’t think that G-d decrees at birth whether a person is to be righteous or wicked; ... that simply isn’t so. In truth, everyone is capable of being as righteous as Moses, or as wicked as Jereboam; wise or obtuse, compassionate or cruel, miserly or generous, and the like. No one forces, decrees or draws a person in either direction. He alone, of his own volition consciously inclines himself in the direction he so chooses” (Hilchot Teshuva 5:1-2).
-- What that means to say, among other things, is that while all other things in the world are fixed and static in their essence, and the greater part of *our* being is itself fixed and static, too (i.e. our own personal biology, chemistry, and physics), our *ethical* stature is malleable and always in flux. After all, “everything is in the hands of Heaven but the fear of Heaven” (Megillah 25A), which means that G-d furnishes us with everything, but our ethical response to it is entirely up to us.
-- Now, we’re judged in the end as to whether we used our free choice for good ends. And we earn a place in the World to Come/the third era if we’re found to have done that (see Hilchot Teshuva 3:1, 7:1).
-- Yet much of what Rambam has said about the World to Come seems to fly in the face of what R’ Ashlag had said above. For Rambam implies that we don’t each necessarily earn a share in it. But we’ll now see, though, that everyone *will* in fact enter the World to Come/third era one way or another. So, are we free to make ethical choices (with all their concomitant consequences) or not? We are; but in unthought of ways, as we’ll see. For ...

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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".

"The Way of G-d", Ch. 5, Paragraph 4

RAMCHAL

-- A Reworking of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto's "The Way fo G-d"

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman's series on www.torah.org

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"The Way of G-d", Ch. 5, Paragraph 4

As any good writer, speaker, teacher, and actor knows, every word we utter -- and every gesture we make -- touches off something conscious or unconscious in our listeners. After all, each word has an outright meaning as well as a world of undertones and implications; and both are fecund with implications that always leave their mark.

Now, that's also true when we pray. Everything we say is "taken in", and things or circumstances are affected accordingly -- whether we know it or not. But just as your words have a greater impact upon someone you're very familiar with than on someone you're not, that's also true of your prayers. The closer to G-d you are and the more familiar you are with Him, the greater the impression your words leave with Him.

Knowing all that, our sages set out to formulate prayers that would foster the sort of effects that needed to come about. And they also encouraged us to draw as close to G-d in prayer as we can. That explains the hidden import of the words we use in formal prayer and all their practical halachic details and requirements.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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".

"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 4)

"In Search of Spiritual Excellence"

-- A Reworking of Classical Mussar Texts

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman's series on www.torah.org
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"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 4)

Next we're asked to ruminate about how far-reaching the attention G-d lavishes on us is. After all, He "observes us outside and in, watches over us and recalls everything we do and think, good or bad". Now, many would find that rather daunting or even off-putting, since most of us would cringe if even our family saw us inside and out. But those in search of spiritual excellence would find it comforting and would be bolstered by the intimacy with G-d that all that speaks of.

In any event, knowing now how close He is to our inner being all the time and the care He takes to see us for what we really are, shouldn't that impel us to take His Presence seriously and to try to better ourselves? After all, as Ibn Pakudah puts it, "if another *person* were paying attention to you and watching your every move, would you dare do anything that would offend him?" So, isn't that all the more so true in light of G-d's watching over us? And since we readily "adorn ourselves with our best finery when we come before kings, princes and leaders" shouldn't we "adorn ourselves before G–d both outside and in" when in His presence?

Reflect on this all the time, we're told, and some absolutely wonderful things will happen to you. "The Creator will always be with you in your mind, you'll perceive Him (all the time), and you'll always be in awe of Him and exalt Him". Not only that, but if you always keep G-d's presence in mind, He'll "undo your sadness, alleviate your fears, open the gates of the knowledge of Him for you, reveal the secrets of His wisdom to you, and he'll guide and manage you rather than leave you to your own devices".

On top of that, you'll learn to "see without eyes, hear without ears, speak without a tongue, sense without senses, and grasp things without having to resort to analogy", which is to say that you'll understand things for what they are and in an unfettered, clear way. You'll find youself "disagreeing with nothing nor preferring anything over what the Creator provided you with" knowing what you know; and you'll "direct your will to G–d's will and your love to the love of G–d; and you'll love what G–d loves, and be repulsed by what repulses Him", you'll be that aware of His presence.

We're next asked to reflect on whether we've been focusing our more creative energies on G-d or on our everyday needs instead, and we're presented with a parable to reflect on in the process. "Suppose a king were to give you money to spend a particular fashion, and that he warned you not to use it any other way", Ibn Pakudah proposes. Then suppose that "he let you know that he'll count it right in front of you at the end of the year, and that he wouldn't absolve you of any loss (you might have incurred)". That's to say, imagine you'd been given a fortune, told how to use it wisely, and that you'd have to account for what you did with it in the end, without any excuses.

We'll, you'd "certainly count the money assiduously yourself each and every month ... to know what's been spent and why. And you'd certainly be careful about the rest of it, you'd be aware of the amount of time left you, and you wouldn't dare allow yourself to come upon the day of reckoning without knowing what was left and what could be claimed against you" would you? So, take this analogy to heart, we're told, "and use it to determine if you're serving G–d well" -- if you'd taken the days allotted you and dedicated them to spiritual growth or not. "If you find that you'd been negligent," in fact, "then at least begin to take stock of yourself *from then on*", while there's still time. After all, "it's said that our days are scrolls upon which we're to record the things we'd like to be remembered for". So, now is the time to set the records straight.

Then just consider how self-sacrificing and impassioned you are when it comes to your career or other interests, as opposed to how lackadaisical and offhanded you are about your service to G-d. Why, aren't "your worldly thoughts your most inspired ones, and your material hopes and expectations your loftiest ones?" And isn't it also clear that "all your heart's desires and plans are worldly; ... that you only love people who are able to help you in material ways", and that "you'd only consider someone who can make them come true a true friend".

"Will you never wake up, brother?" Ibn Pakudah importunes us, and stop putting your heart and soul into your body and its needs alone. After all, "your body will only be with you for a while". You know, of course, that "it becomes sick when full and weak when hungry; and that if you cover it with too much clothing it becomes too warm, while if you leave it uncovered it suffers cold" it's that vulnerable. And "not only that, but its health, well being, and life and death itself isn't in your hands, but in the Creator's" anyway. So, concentrate on your lofty soul instead, and "act self–sacrificingly and eagerly to uphold it" the way you do when it comes to your body!

We're then advised to consider whether we do enough to reciprocate for all that G-d has done for us and continues to favor us with. And we're asked to most especially note the greatest favor G-d grants us day to day, aside from life itself: "the ability to comprehend Him and His Torah". For we have it within us to dwell on both G-d's overt *and* His covert, mystical presence in the world, as well as on what he expects of us in this world as he set it out for us in His Torah. We're thus abjured to then "align our deeds with our wisdom and our perceptions with our efforts", which is to say, to do what we know to be right. We do that best, we're told, by concentrating our time and energies on spiritual pursuits rather than on extraneous things, "for G–d gave man only as much strength as necessary to fulfill the Torah's and the world's requirements (altogether); so if you use your strength for things you can easily do without, it won't be there when you need it" to grow in your spirit.

And then we're advised not to "depend on, 'if-only's' and 'maybe's'" and to lapse into statements like, "If only I had X amount of money or wisdom I'd surely fulfil my obligations to G-d", or the like; for that's not true. And we're told to "consider life to be a gift of time which we'll eventually have to repay G-d for. For at bottom "the world is like a marketplace where people gather, then leave; where those who profit rejoice, and those who lose regret having come".

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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".

"The Way of G-d", Ch. 5, Paragraph 3

RAMCHAL

-- A Reworking of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto's "The Way fo G-d"

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman's series on www.torah.org

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"The Way of G-d", Ch. 5, Paragraph 3

Try to imagine *not* being able to reach out to G-d in prayer -- Heaven forbid! Just think of the sheer grief; of the dismal pitch-black, dreary loneliness, hopelessness, and earthiness of such a life!

But ever the Ultimate Benefactor that He is (see 1:2:1), G-d has indeed granted us the ability to approach Him in prayer, and to not only ask Him for spiritual fulfillment (which few of us take advantage of) but for all the worldly things we need, too.

Yet just consider the irony of prayer. For we stand in the shadows and the mire, addressing G-d Himself by name, when we engage in it. So it's important for us to recall that then; and also to understand that somehow, on a deep mystical level, we're actually being hoisted above our circumstances for a while and being allowed to have our say before Him (before being lowered down again for the tasks at hand).

In fact, these moments of rapport with G-d are reflected in some of the practical halachot (rules and rituals) of formal prayer. For we're specifically bidden not to interrupt our recitation of the Sh'mone Esrei prayer, which is the most important and potent one of them all, *because* we're standing in G-d's Presence then, and it would be "rude" to walk off (other than for dire reasons).

And that same reality explains why we're bidden to take three steps back when we complete the Sh'mone Esrei. For we're leaving G-d's presence then and are on our way "back to earth".

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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. 15 (sect's 4 & 5)

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Ch. 15

4.

"It also follows that the (existence of the) first era itself made it necessary for the two antithetical systems (i.e., the four worlds of holy-A.B.Y.A. and their counterpart, the four worlds of defiled-A.B.Y.A.) to exist in the second era, which then allows the body with its corrupt ratzon l’kabel to come about by means of the impure system (i.e., the four worlds of defiled-A.B.Y.A.). For all that enables us to rectify it. In fact, if there hadn't been a system of impure worlds, we wouldn’t have a ratzon l’kabel to rectify (in the first place) and to thus arrive at the third era, since one can’t repair something he doesn’t already have."

-- That is, were it not for the first and third eras, reality as we know it now, including our selves, our overarching willingness to take-in without giving back, and the dilemmas of the spirit all that entails couldn’t come about either. And we couldn’t overcome all that and bask in triumph in the face of a hard-won battle as we inevitably will. For how dare crow in victory when you’d been handed the metal on the sneak?

5.

"We needn’t ask, though, how the impure system could manage to exist (at all) in the first era (which is G-dly and utterly antithetical to it). For it’s the very existence of the first era that allows for the impure system, and for it to be sustained in that form in the course of the second era."

-- R’ Ashlag is now re-addressing the arcane question he’d touched on right before this of how evil could exist in G-d’s presence, which seems so contradictory (see Ch. 12). In short his answer is that evil only exists in the first era (albeit in an inchoate, latent state) because, again, it’s only thanks to the first era that the second one can exist, so if the first one didn’t contain that latent evil, we couldn’t expereince it -- and manage to overcome it -- in the second.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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".

"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 3)

"In Search of Spiritual Excellence"

-- A Reworking of Classical Mussar Texts

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman's series on www.torah.org
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"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 3)

The best way to "subsume your soul to G–d, to surrender it to Him; to exalt, praise and thank His name; and to cast all your burdens upon Him" on a daily basis is to pray, we're told at this point of the chapter, as Ibn Pakudah presents us with a short discourse on the subject.

The first thing to do when about to pray to G-d Almighty, he says, is to "divest yourself of everything of this world or the World to Come", which means to say, to aim for neither a worldly or otherworldly benefit from praying; and to "remove all distracting thoughts from your heart". Then after readying your body as well as your surroundings for an encounter with G-d also, you're to "realize Whom you are directing your prayers to, what you're asking of Him, and how to address Him". (In fact, we're advised to direct our heart toward G–d when we fulfill *any* mitzvah, not just that of praying.)

For if you don't do all that and merely recite the Hebrew words as if you were somehow engaging in a fetching mystical incantation rather than asking G-d Himself for help, you wouldn't be praying to Him so much as muttering to yourself. Besides, "prayers themselves are like a body, while your concentrations upon them is like a soul", we're told. "So when you pray with your tongue but you're really preoccupied with other things, your prayer is a body without a soul", which is to say that "your body is there but your heart is elsewhere".

We're also encouraged to "organize our prayers in our heart" before we begin, and to make sure they "agree with what we want to say, so that both we and they say the same thing". That is, we're to know what to ask for, prioritize our requests, ask for what we *really* need, and mean to have the prayer actually answered (which many people don't have in mind!).

Then Ibn Pakudah offers a fascinating insight. He portrays prayer as "a remarkable sign of G–d's faith in and reliance upon us!", because it's so powerful, and we have free reign to use it for good -- or for bad (G-d forbid). He likewise portrayed G-d as having "placed (prayer) in our care..." and as meaning it "to be hidden from everyone else." What that suggests is that we're to see prayer as a private conversation we'd have with G-d Almighty in which we'd cite names and circumstances, plead for things in detail, and ask for signs for when they were about to be answered. So we'd need to be trustworthy and wise enough to do that discreetly and lovingly.

Now, many people ask why we Jews have fixed prayers with ordered texts and set "scripts", so to speak (aside from the impromptu, spontaneous prays we're all encouraged to express). Concluding this discourse with that subject, Ibn Pakudah wisely offers that a fixed text is a gift from G-d. After all, it's hard to remember everything that it's important to ask for and express gratitude for "without well–kept notes"; so "our sages set down the things that most of us need and obviously depend upon G–d for, and which we'd be willing to surrender ourselves for, and made that the thrust of our fixed prayers." And we also have fixed prayers because "our thoughts are so changeable and ephemeral, and pass so quickly through our minds", so we'd need the help a prayer text offers.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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. 15 (sect. 3)

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Ch. 15

3.

"Now, that’s all the more so true if the second (i.e., the present) era were to be undone. For it’s the one in which we strive to accomplish everything that will come to fruition in the third era; in which we do everything that (either) repairs or impairs (the spiritual order of things); and in which we continue (to hone) the (different) levels of (our) souls. After all, how would the third era ever come about (if this one were somehow undone)? So we see that the third era needs the second one (as well)."

"And the same is true of the first era which is (already) in the Infinite and is where the perfection found in the third era (already) functions. It must conform to that (same principle); it too must demonstrate the (existence of the) second era -- as well as the third one in *all* its perfection."

-- Let’s draw an analogy to families in order to understand all this as best we can. It goes without saying that were it not for my grandparents I wouldn’t exist; yet it’s also true that if I (or my siblings and cousins) weren’t born, my grandparents might as well not have existed for all intents and purposes; since they would have been nothing more than a breeze blowing past a minor character in an epic drama, for all intents and purposes, since they’d have only come and gone (unless they’d have done something momentous in their lives, and would thus at least have been a character in the drama).
-- In much the same way, it stands to reason that if the first era (in which everything is bundled and set for delivery) hadn’t existed, then neither the second (in which the package is to be toyed with, probed, and used), nor the third (in which everything that was bundled is to finally be delivered, no worse for wear) could have existed. But it also stands to reason that if the second or third eras themselves didn’t exist, that the first one might as well not have existed either since it didn’t produce anything.
-- And besides, while the first and third eras (which are mirror images of each other and sort of alter egos) are utterly indispensable in the grand scheme, they still and all depend on the second era. For it -- the second era -- is the flowering of the kernel that is the first, and the blossoming of the fruit that is the third. So without it, the first and third will have been fallow and bone-dry.
-- It’s vital though to realize that that’s not to say that G-d depends on us as this might seem to imply -- and that without our efforts in era two His “plans” in era one and their manifestation in era three are doomed. It only means to say that His wishes for this world (and *not He Himself*) would have been stymied. But since the three eras are indeed utterly interdependent, and His plans and their manifestation are sure and inevitable, nothing we do or don’t do could affect that in the end.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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".

"The Way of G-d", Ch. 5, Paragraph 2

RAMCHAL

-- A Reworking of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto's "The Way fo G-d"

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman's series on www.torah.org

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"The Way of G-d", Ch. 5, Paragraph 2

What we'd said so far about prayer raises a thorny issue. If we're really enjoined by G-d to pray that every day's needs be fulfilled, then we're obviously forced to be very involved in the world. After all, we'd have to be aware of just what's needed, in what order and quantity, and of all the intricacies of the day. But that would seem to detract from our need to serve G-d and grow in our souls, which is so fundamental to our existence.

So let's explore how the two don't actually contradict each other. In the process we'll underscore an important Torah principle touching on how we're to be apart *from* the world while a part *of* it.

We're taught that G-d granted mankind reason and understanding enough to function in the world, and that He charged us to do just that in full. But G-d also expects us to do that as humans, with all the corresponding very earthly things that go along with that, rather than as angels. For we're *meant* to be earthly, and for some very good spiritual reasons (see 1:3:4, 1:4:4, and 2:2:1 above).

But there's always the danger that we might become too earthly, too comfortable with the world and forgetful of our mission. So G-d has us do things to avoid that.

(In fact, the Ba'al Shem Tov offered a wonderful parable for just that dilemma. He relates that there was once a king who had an only son whom the king wanted to be sure would be ready for his eventual royal duties. So the king had his son sent far, far away from the palace in order to fend for himself way out in the provinces. At first the prince dreaded the idea, he was deeply saddened by his surroundings when he got there, and raged against his fate. But then he started to acclimate to things and to find himself very much at home, and he eventually became completely distracted from the splendor of his past. Somehow or another he recalled his upbringing at a certain point, and he yearned to be with his father the king again, and to resume his own royal duties.

It's we -- actually our souls -- who are the prince, the Ba'al Shem Tov said, which is the moral of the story. We were taken from our Father's palace when we were born and placed in the outer provinces that are this world in order to ready ourselves on all levels for our royal mission. The important thing, he said, was to not feel too "at home" here, but rather to do what we have to do and to never lose sight of home and the King.)

One of the things G-d has us do in order to avoid over-concern with the world is to draw close to Him first in the thick of it all. And we do that by moving aside for the while from the terrible noise, praying to Him for help with everything we have to do, and following through on it. That way we can be very busy with and very much in the world on the one hand, while attached to and consciously dependent upon G-d at the same time on the other.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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".

"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 2)

"In Search of Spiritual Excellence"

-- A Reworking of Classical Mussar Texts

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman's series on www.torah.org
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"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 2)

We'd then be expected to take the covenant that each entity has with G-d Almighty, ourselves included, and to delve deep within to determine if we're adhering to our end of it. For just consider how true to their covenant all the world's inanimate and animate creatures are.

"Have you ever seen one of them sever its ties to G-d's service?" Ibn Pakudah asks, That's to say, has anyone ever seen one of them disobey G-d's orders, so to speak? After all, each and every creature and entity alike does exactly what it's supposed to, as it was designed to. In fact, the world couldn't go on if that weren't so.

Then we're to be introspective about our own loyalty, as to whether we're true to G-d or not. Can we be depended on to keep our covenant with Him and do what's expected of us, too?

Truth be known, all the variegated and complex systems that go into the workings of our being *also* do what's expected of them all the time (unless we're ill, G-d forbid -- which we'd do well to depict as a directive from G-d Almighty being followed by the body also, by the way). After all, if all our body-parts weren't doing what they were supposed to, our beings would be disjointed and our lives would be utterly out of control. Can our will and convictions be depended upon along just as much? That's what we're asked to consider deep within.

After all, just think of all the favors G-d grants us all the time. And consider how He always provides us with what we need most of all, and has granted us the mental and physical capacity and wherewithal to get along from there on.

Most of us recognize how much we have to be thankful for in that realm alone. But once we actually take note of G-d's "exceptional kindness toward us, body and soul", as Ibn Pakudah points out, and the fact that he does that *even though He observes us all the time and knows us inside and out* with all our failings; as soon as we realize that He grants us the ability to contradict Him (which would seem to go against His best interests); and when it becomes clear to us that He granted us the Torah in order to know what to do and what not to do -- we're to set body and soul toward pleasing G–d, drawing closer to Him, removing the foolishness that separates us from Him, and to loving Him and acquiescing to His will.

And then, along the same lines, we're to reflect upon whether or not we're directing our heart to G-d indeed. How do we do that? By first accepting His Oneness, as it was explained to us at the beginning of this work. Which is to say, by worshipping Him alone; never assuming He's like *anything* else -- physical or spiritual -- whatsoever; and by knowing that He's the one and only Creator and L-rd of the universe.

We're also to direct all of our actions toward getting closer to G-d rather than for praise, reward, or out of fear of others' reactions. After all, as Ibn Pakudah puts it, "notice how close friends act when one of them senses the other no longer cares for him. Or how an employer feels when his employee is no longer loyal to him! The spurned one becomes angry and ignores everything the other had ever done, even when the latter had worked so hard at it and was always open and aboveboard". So he suggests that the same goes -- and all the more so -- when it comes to our relationship to G-d, who knows us inside and out, as we said. As such, it would only make sense that we'd want to be as loyal to Him as we could, rather than duplicitous.

We're then encouraged to think about all the other ways we could be worshipping G-d which we may not be doing. (By the way, rather than draw a parallel with serving a king as Ibn Pakudah does, which we no longer resonate with, we'll use a more contemporary model.) After all, if the loftiest, most original, selfless, caring, and beneficent person you could even imagine -- someone you'd love to draw close to and to please -- were to ask you to do something that demanded a lot of you, would you spare any effort to do it? Not at all.

Why, if he asked you to think about something taxing for example, you'd set the whole of your being to the task. If he asked you to praise him or to acknowledge his kindness in writing, you'd write as elegantly, use as much metaphor, figure of speech, and hyperbole needed to in order to do it, and you wouldn't be put off. In fact, if you could, "you'd move heaven and earth and everything in it to enunciate your gratitude toward him and to praise him, and to express all the good feelings in your heart about him", as Ibn Pakudah says. His point is then, shouldn't we be doing the same when it comes to serving G–d?

Ibn Pakudah then goes off on a fascinating tangent which we'll begin next time, as we continue to explore our motivations and convictions.


(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

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AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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. 15 (sect.2)

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Ch. 15

2.

"So if for example the third era -- when the tsurah of receiving is overturned to one of bestowing -- were not to come about, it would necessarily follow that the first era couldn’t have come about in the Infinite’s Being either."

--We’d have expected R’ Ashlag to begin with the first era, but he starts instead with the third one, because that’s the one we have to look forward to, and the one we're to set our course by.

"For all the perfection contained there (in the first era) only came about because it’s due to exist in the third one; so it was as if it already functioned (there, in the first). In fact, all the perfection depicted in that (first) era is actually something of an image of the future one (projected) onto that (first) one. In any event, if the future (era) were to somehow be abolished, (the first one) couldn’t exist either. For it’s only because the third era is to exist that the first one did."

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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. 15 (sect. 1)

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Ch. 15

1.

"Now, when you reflect upon these three eras you discover that they’re fully and utterly interdependent; and so much so that if one were to somehow not exist, the others couldn't either"
-- To put it another way, it will be found, quite astonishingly, that if one of these eras in fact exists, then the two others *must* exist, too; for the three are *the* ingredients of the only dish there is. It thus follows then that if we who now experience the second era exist, then the first and third eras must exist, too.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). 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".