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

"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 8)

Then we're to dwell on how often we lay all our hopes and dreams on the few, lean years we're given in this world rather than on the eternity that can be ours. "Try to extract the love of this world from your heart" we're advised, "and replace it with a love of the world to come". For not a single one of us can love both life in the here-and-now and life in Heaven's bosom. But that's not to say that we're to abandon the here-and-now entirely, G-d forbid, as we'll see.

The best way to live, we're taught, is to discipline our drives, use our faculties to concentrate on G-d's Torah, and reject the raw and brutish. Yet we're also to enjoy "healthful, appetizing foods and drinks, ... and (to) be sensitive to what's good for us and what we need". For the point needs to be made (again and again) that we're not to abandon the physical or to despise it -- just to not spoil our bodies silly. And to balance the body's appetites with the soul's.

For "if you mean to improve your body by paying attention to it alone, you're bound to overlook the betterment of your soul; while if you mean to keep your soul alive by paying attention to *it* alone, then you're bound to overlook your body's needs". So, "pay attention and be sensitive to the body and don't neglect what's important for it", but provide your soul with the nourishment it needs, too.

We're then asked to dwell on how seriously we take the fact that we stand in G-d's presence all the time. After all, we tend to disregard Him despite His supreme sovereignty, while we'd never disregard a powerful and prestigious mortal we were standing in front of. But our values are skewed, for what person with any wisdom whatsoever doesn't "realize how unable a king (or anyone else of authority and power) is to fully enforce his decrees, how slow he is to recompense, how remote he is from (his charges), how unable he is to notice them and how thoroughly preoccupied he is with his own affairs to care about them?" unlike G-d who's omnipotent, just, immanent, omnipresent, and compassionate.

So, Ibn Pakudah challenges us to truly become aware of G-d's presence in our lives. After all, "how long can a person rebel against Him" by avoiding Him, "when he knows that G-d is watching over ... him, outside and in?".

Now touching on a subject most of us don't really bear well, Ibn Pakudah then suggests we reflect upon how we contend with trials and tribulations. And he suggests that we somehow learn to "happily accept things as being from G–d, and (to) resign ourselves willingly to G–d's judgment" rather than resent them. But he then offers that we're also only to "resign ourselves to things *when it's appropriate to*", which is surprising, since we'd have expected him to say that we're to resign ourselves to *every* circumstance. So, let's explore his point here.

He contends that there are different sorts of resignation to sad circumstances, and that it's important to know the difference. For there are instances in which we draw closer to G-d by submitting ourselves to those sorts of sad circumstances, and others in which we draw *away* from Him by doing that.

For sometimes we suffer as a consequence of our misdeeds. And if we simply resign ourselves to *those* sorts of trials and tribulations, then we're bound to draw away from G-d. After all, if we're comfortable with what goes wrong with us because we've strayed from G-d, we're hardly likely to do what it takes to draw close to Him.

Yet other times we suffer in order to be challenged to grow (since pain either toughens and strengthens or it wears-down and weakens, depending on your reaction to it). If we *honestly* determine that that's why we're suffering rather than for our misdeeds (which calls for a lot of introspection), then we're advised to indeed resign to that reality. Since both the transcendence we'd have achieved and our resignation to G-d's will itself will elevate us in the end.

(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 Way of G-d", Ch. 6, Para's 3 & 4

RAMCHAL

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

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

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"The Way of G-d", Ch. 6, Para's 3 & 4

But take heart, for there's indeed a way to undo the forces of unholiness that continue to stand their ground in the morning, and to thus greet the daylight with new spiritual vigor.

And though it comes down to the seemingly simple act of handwashing (albeit with a difference), know that this process has been transmitted to us by the Torah and its sages every bit as much as the apparently grander and more solemn ritualistic things we do. The truth be known, though, our morning handwashing comforms to the sort of ablutions that were done in the Holy Temple by the High Priest and others, but that's besides our point.

Thus we proceed to pour water over our right hand, then our left, and back again, three times in a row. And that purifies them and undoes the last vestige of the forces of unholiness left behind on our fingers.

(Many explain, by the way, that the reason why the night's unholiness stays attached to our fingers, of all places, is because the fingers are the outermost ends of our body, which is itself the outermost end of our soul.)

And once our hands are thus cleansed, our whole body becomes ritually clean, and the universe itself is cleansed of the nightime unholiness on an esoteric level, since we're a microcosm of it. This recondite cleansing process also comes into play the other times we cleanse ourselves (as we do after using the bathroom, for example), but on a lower level. For in each instance we not only remove dirt and grime, we also dislodge a lot of the grit and goop of unholiness, and can thus draw closer to G-d.

(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. 17

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Ch. 17

1.

“With all this in mind we can now respond to our third inquiry".

-- See 1:4.

“For we’d raised the point (there) that when we consider ourselves closely we find ourselves to be as tainted and lowly as can be. Yet (conversely) when we consider our Creator, we (surmise that we) should actually be of the highest order, as only befits (creations of) such a Creator whom no one is more exalted than. After all, it’s only natural (to assume) that a perfect Being (like Himself) would (only) produce perfect beings”.

-- So, why aren’t we perfect?

“But now we can understand why.”

-- For the truth of the matter is ...

“Our body (i.e., our person), with all its meaningless exigencies and trappings, isn’t our real body (person)! (After all, how could it be, since) our real, eternal, and perfect body (person) has already existed in the Infinite’s Being in the first era, where it (has already) assumed the perfect tsurah of bestowance (due it) in the destined third era, where it’s (already) in essential affinity with the Infinite One.”

-- That is, the people we are today, with all our foibles and missteps, woes and pratfalls, are not who we are at bottom. For our real selves are *already* subsumed in the Infinite’s Being and is already without its uniquely human ratzon l’kabel, know it or not. Of course, R’ Ashlag’s aim is to indeed *have us* know that, and to thus embrace the inevitable on our own by assuming a life of Torah and mitzvah observance.

-- But wouldn’t it be reasonable to argue that we really shouldn’t be made to endure the second era after all, in light of the acridness of the struggle and the agony of the obstacles? No, we’re told; for ...

2.

“Our situation in the first era (when we’re already subsumed in the Infinite’s Being) requires us to be conferred in the second era with our husk of a body (person) with its corrupt and flawed selfish ratzon l’kabel which separates us from G-d *so as to rectify it* and to (thus) genuinely experience our eternal body (person) in the third era (on our own)".

"So we really shouldn’t object. Since (we *have* to experience the second era, because) we can only serve G-d in a mortal body (which we only have then), as one can’t repair something he doesn’t already have (see 15:4)”.

-- As such, there’s really no good reason to dismiss the second era, since it’s the only context in which we can purposefully and willfully serve G-d of our own volition, and undo our own very human blemishes when we have them to undo. For we haven’t any in the first era and won’t have them any longer in the third, so “if not now, then when?”.

-- Despite that, the fact remains that ...

“We’re indeed *already* in the (sort of) perfected state that’s appropriate for (entities created by) the perfect Creator; and yet G-d has (indeed) also placed us in our situation in the second era (despite that, for the reasons we indicated)”.

“So, our (present) body (person) doesn’t (actually) blemish us whatsoever, since it’s doomed to die and be undone, and it’s (in fact) only with us for the time it takes to be undone and to assume its eternal (perfect) state.”

(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 7)

"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 7)

We're then advised to take stock of how we interact with others and how our actions affect them. And we're implored to be altruistic and compassionate, and to strive for selfless communal service.

Ibn Pakudah tries to convince us of that by evoking a scenario that lays his point out. He speaks of "people who were traveling together to a far–away land upon a steep path, who had to spend many nights in camp together. Though there were few in number, each one had many animals bearing heavy loads which he had to load and unload by himself". The lot of them became exhausted by the end and barely managed to accomplish their goal. Why? -- because "they were at odds with one another and couldn't agree on a single plan, and because each one was only concerned for himself". What they should have done, we're told, was to have shared the burden. For indeed, "if they'd only have helped each other load and unload; if they'd only have been concerned with the well–being of the group as a whole and with an easing of the general burden (rather than with their own needs); and if they'd only have helped and assisted each other equally, they'd have succeeded". But they didn't.

Ibn Pakudah then goes on to add that it's our own self-absorption as well as our excesses that's our undoing in the end; and it's the reason "why the world bears down on its inhabitants so ... and why so much labor and effort is needed". For few of us are satisfied with what we have, and we all tend to "complain and cry because (we) demand luxuries".

"If people would only be satisfied with the essentials" Ibn Pakudah underscores, and "if they'd only try to improve everyone else's well–being and share in their common concerns, they'd conquer the world and have more than they ever wanted from it". But we don't, and not only "do (we) not help each other, (we) actually hinder each other, stand in each other's way and dilute each other's abilities", and as a consequence "no one gets what he wants" in the end.

We're then asked to allow ourselves to stand in stunned wonder at the marvel that is the world, and to speculate with fresh eyes about everything -- "from the smallest to the largest (things); ... about the attributes of the heavenly bodies; about the cycles of the sun, moon, constellations and stars; about rainfall and wind; about the birth of the infant from the womb; and about what's even more wondrous, subtle, obvious yet mysterious among the Creator's wonders, attesting to His utter wisdom and ability: His great governance, all–encompassing compassion and mercy, and His mighty guidance of the world".

But, who hasn't noticed much of that before? we might protest; and how many times can you see the same thing and not grow jaded? But Ibn Pakudah would castigate us for having such thoughts and he'd warn us "not to allow (our) constant awareness of those things and (our) being acclimated to them delude (us) into not being astonished by them or reflecting upon them".

He cautions us not to be blase about everyday wonders like "the flow of streams and the gushing forth of water ... day and night, non–stop", and to not only be moved by more dramatic things like "an eclipse of the sun or moon, lightning, thunder, an earthquake, hurricanes and the like". As such, we're told to study and reflect upon the sort of conventional wonders all around "as if (we'd) never seen them before" by acting as if "(we) were blind before (we) saw them, and (our) eyes have only just now opened".

Much along the same lines we're also advised to look anew at our "ideas about G–d and His Torah, about the sayings of the earlier masters, about the parables of the sages, and about various themes in prayer that (we) have known about since school" and to "not be satisfied with solutions (we) arrived at of things early on ... or with complex explanations (we) were faced with when (we) first began to study".

It would be far wiser to "look more deeply into G–d's Torah and the books of His prophets ... as if (we) had never read them before" by concentrating anew on the words, ideas, and challenges; and to "stop acting the way (we) did as a child" when we first encountered these immortal truths. "Don't settle for what was clear to you when you began studying" he says, "but demand of yourself that you study like a beginner" instead. And don't dare imagine that "what you learned back then couldn't possibly have changed", for while the words and themes certainly haven't, we ourselves surely have changed, and it would be foolish to rehash and rely upon the thinking of a ten year old our whole lives long.

(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 Way of G-d", Ch. 6, Paragraph 2

RAMCHAL

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

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

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"The Way of G-d", Ch. 6, Paragraph 2

Two very recondite things befall us in the night. For one thing, the forces of unholiness and spiritual impurity we spoke of scatter about and cover us over then, despite the fact that we're fast asleep and have nothing to do with it. (Though of course, in general terms, the more worldly and wrongful a person is, the thicker the "blanket" of unholiness overlaying him.)

The other thing is the fact that our immortal souls soar upward to Heaven while we're sleeping, as we pointed out early on (3:1:6). That obviously doesn't imply that we die when we sleep (thanks to the fact that our animating spirit is still fully with us then). It's just to say that we experience a *touch* of death ("a sixtieth" part of it, we're taught). And so we're more vulnerable then and open to foul play or even assault by the forces of unholiness. For indeed, for the most part we're merely bodies, and largely impure ones at that, at night; until we awaken, our immortal souls return, and the forces of G-dliness are reinvigorated in the world.

But a small bit of the night's precariousness remains behind in the morning, on our fingernails. For something of the noxious spirit that had sat upon our entire person in the night is still there -- and only there -- after we awake.

So the first element of our daily religious sequence entails what's referred to as "morning ablutions", i.e., specific ways of washing our hands ritually; and all in order to remove the night's impurities.

(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".

Addendum

Notice that I added a couple of paragraphs at the end of my comments to R' Ashlag's first paragraph in Ch. 16, sect. 2.
It starts with, "There’s yet another point to be made about this, though..." And I think it's an important addition.

"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 6)

"In Search of Spiritual Excellence"

-- A Reworking of Classical Mussar Texts

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

"The Duties of the Heart" Gate 8, Ch. 3 (Part 6)

It would also do us well to reflect upon all the potential that G-d has handed humankind as well as all our failures to achieve that potential, and to determine where *we ourselves* stand on that line. For G-d has indeed granted humankind many, many abilities; like the ability to control our physical circumstances, to study His Torah as well as the mysteries of His universe outright in order to know Him and His plans for us, to address Him in prayer, and so much more. But there's no denying the fact that He's also granted us the ability to plummet downward by disregarding all that, and worse.

Yet sometimes we become so struck by our own possibilities that we ignore our flaws and shortcomings -- and we forget G-d's overarching transcendence in the face of human potential, too. After all, it's we who need Him; He doesn't need us, no matter what heights we might hit. And so we're told to "pity the great crown He placed upon us" -- the position G-d sees us achieving, as well as "the venerable position He has placed us in, in this world" and "the great reward awaiting us in the world to come", and to humbly "commit ourselves to Divine service and gratitude" in light of our failings.

We're then counseled to take all our good fortune to heart. For, all our personal pain and hardships not withstanding, most of us have been fortunate enough to have been spared a lot of the terrors and afflictions that much of the world suffers-- "all the diseases people are prone to, as well as misfortunes and woe like imprisonment, hunger, thirst, cold, heat, poisoning, attacks by wild animals, leprosy, insanity, deterioration of the senses, and the like". And why have we been spared all that? Certainly not because we manifestly deserve that mercy, but as a direct result of G-d's love for us.

And we're then told to set aside the time to actively and deeply "reflect upon how often the Creator has tested humankind ... and has nonetheless spared us them". Realize that indeed and you'll find yourself being more grateful all the time for what you have, and you'll hurry to devote yourself to fulfilling G-d's needs rather than your own.

It would then serve us well to concentrate on how we spend our money, and on whether we spend it charitably or not. After all, our money isn't really ours to keep for good; it's more like a "deposit left with us for as long as G-d wishes it to be, which He'll eventually pass along to someone else". If we'd only realize that, we're told, we'd be fearless in the face of the many misfortunes time can come our way, "we'll be grateful to G–d and praise Him if the money remains with us" after all, and we'll learn how to "resign ourselves to our fate and to accept G-d's decree if we lose the money". And as a result, it will be easy for us to use our money in the service of G–d, to do other good things with it, and to eventually return it to its rightful Owner.

The next thing to dwell upon is just how much time and energy you expend in any given day on drawing close to G-d, and on how much you're willing to enlarge and extend yourself in that area. Are you ready to do more than you're now accustomed to, or to do it more eagerly and with more alacrity? Ibn Pakudah even suggests we take it upon ourselves at a certain point to "do more than (we) seem capable" or comfortable "doing right now". But how do we ever come to do that? By getting to the point where we "long for it in our heart, always have it in mind, and where we ask G–d wholeheartedly and faithfully to help" us in it.

"Persist in that", we're assured, "and G-d will grant you your wishes, and open up the gates of knowledge of Him". He'll likewise "strengthen your mind and body, and enable you to fulfill the mitzvot that are now beyond your reach, step by step".

Ibn Pakudah then offers us a fascinating analogy which we could all draw invaluable lessons from. After all, he reasons, "when you begin learning a skill" for example, "you start out doing as much of it as you can then" and no more, which is far less than you *can* actually do, as you'll eventually see for yourself. And you then work at it consistently till you get to the point where you become more and more proficient at it, and G-d begins to reveal the craft's "underlying principles and rules (to you)", and you then "start to make assumptions (about what to do and not do in your projects) that no one had ever taught you" as you move along. Which is to say, you'd start to engage in a series of inspired tinkerings without any expectations but with rich rewards.

The same elements are at play when it comes to our Divine service, we're assured. For the goal is to fully and *skillfully* (to use our analogy) fulfill the duties of the heart we'd been alluding to all along in this work, since our "service to G–d depends on (them), and because they're the very foundation of the Torah". But one only comes to concentrate on the heart-based mitzvot after having first "distanced himself from most of his animal desires, controlled his nature", and learned to "keep his movements in check". The way to do *that*, we're told, is to first concentrate upon fulfilling the physical mitzvot, which foster that sort of inner fortitude.

Thus, by concentrating on "the physical mitzvot as best you can" with the same sort of inspired sense of tinkering, if you will, you'll eventually find that "G–d will open the gate of spiritual progress for you" and that you'll eventually manage to "achieve more than you'd ordinarily have been able to, and that you'll (come to) serve G-d *both* bodily and spiritually, outwardly and inwardly" -- through both physical and heart-based mitzvot.

For, "when you try to hurry and earnestly do as much as you can" on your own, G–d eventually "helps you do the things that are beyond your capacity".

(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 Way of G-d", Ch. 6, Paragraph 1

RAMCHAL

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

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

__________________________________________________

"The Way of G-d", Ch. 6, Paragraph 1

There's a good reason why nighttime is so eerie to many (and tantalizing to others). For it's the time of day when the side of unholiness holds sway and its cohorts can scurry about with some abandon. That's also why most people tend to stay safe indoors at night, as if sensing the hazards (and also why others specifically stay outside, for some impious reasons). But all that changes with daylight, when the side of unholiness is no longer allowed to have its way. Needless to say, this entire phenomenon is rooted in the rules and functions of the transcendent forces we'd cited early on (see 1:5:3).

But while this is true in broad terms, in point of fact the side of unholiness is especially active the *first* half of the night. For the forces of G-dliness first begin to reign -- albeit tentatively -- from about midnight until daybreak, when the side of unholiness begins to lose its hold and to slither away.

Now, all this is aside from the changes that the forces of unholiness and of G-dliness undergo in response to our actions.

For as we'd indicated, everything we do has positive and negative repercussions, and has things shift about from G-dliness to unholiness. Nonetheless, the sort of movement we'd depicted of these forces above is independent of that and comes about in the course of each day and night as part of the natural order of things. The sort of wide-ranging ebb and flow from evil to good and back again that we set off by our actions, on the other hand, can't be fixed to any time of day. And they carry a lot more weight.

It's just that, much the way that our lungs take air in and let it out automatically while we're free to intentionally reverse the process, G-dliness and unholiness interplay on an automatic and an intentional level too. That is, nighttime itself facilitates unholiness most especially, while daytime facilitates G-dliness and allows us all more of an opportunity to subdue unholiness. But we can always change the course of things on our own whenever we elect to.

We'll soon see what all this has to do with our daily religious life.

(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. 16 (sects. 2 & 3)

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Ch. 16

2.

"G-d readied two ways for us here in the course of the second (i.e., the present) era to reach the third one. One is the path of Torah observance and the other is the path of tribulations, which (while daunting nonetheless enables us to) cleanse the body (of its dross), and (thus) forces us to transform our ratzon l’kabel into a willingness to bestow and to attach ourselves onto G-d’s Being".

-- That is, we’re free to choose the *path we want to take to place in the World to Come*, which we’ll all inevitably arrive at. For we can choose the longer way that’s actually shorter, or the shorter way that’s actually longer. But let’s explain.
-- We’re taught (in Eruvin 53b) that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah once reported that he’d “once been on a journey when (he) noticed a little boy sitting at a cross-road”. He asked the boy which road he should take to get to town, and the boy offered that “this particular road is short-- but long” while the other one is “long-- but short”.
-- Rabbi Yehoshua decided to take the apparently short road. He discovered after a while, though, that the boy was right. Because the apparently short road was blocked and thus really was a *long* one; and that the apparently long road was actually a *short* one because there were no impediments. This story suggests a number of things, but the point most applicable to our subject is this.
-- Each one of us could either live a life of relative moral restraint based on higher values or one of moral *un*restraint and license (or a combination of the two, which is the most popular choice of all). That is, we could either follow the mitzvah-system, or the dictates of our ratzon l’kabel.
-- The wise would determine, though, that while a life of license seems to be a readier, more direct path to happiness and satisfaction, it will actually prove to be a very long, convoluted, and *painful* one. For it will result in tribulations. And that while the mitzvah-system seems to inhibit our happiness and thwart our interests, it will actually prove to be the greatest, most delicious and “heavenly” shortcut of all to the ultimate human goal, since it would enable us to avoid the tribulations involved in the other choice.
-- But know that the suffering one undergoes for having chosen the ostensibly shorter path to happiness isn’t the sort of vengeful, priggish slap across the face we might take it to be. R’ Ashlag depicts it instead as a means of cleansing the body of the dross of the ratzon l’kabel which then allows us to attach onto G-d’s presence (thus making it akin to the pain we’d willingly -- albeit hesitantly -- be willing to suffer in order to scrub off some very deeply embedded dirt that exasperates our beloved).
-- There’s yet another point to be made about this, though. Life becomes clearer at its end, when we start to sense where we’ve succeeded or failed.
-- As such, some old people in ill health simply want to die, and they say as much. They feel they have nothing to live for, and that they’re nothing but dry lumber. Now, few elderly, ill observant Jews say that, and fewer-yet elderly, ill observant and *learned* Jews say it. For they know that they can serve G-d as long as they’re alive (if only on a pallid and wan level), which gives each moment meaning and pith.
-- They (and their families) thus come to know that without the richness and call of Torah and mitzvot in one’s life all there is, is the bitter and gnawing, trying reality of meaninglessness indeed. And they come to realize how true that had been all along, though they've only come to see it so clearly at the end. They know that life comes down to a choice between Torah and tribulation. And their knowledge of that isn’t abstract, but *learned*; indeed, rather than being rooted in pat theology, it’s grounded in having finally caught sight of life at its end.

"For as our sages put it, (it’s as if G-d said to the Jewish Nation) 'If you repent (i.e., if you eventually adapt the mitzvah system), fine; but if you don’t, I’ll (eventually) place a king like (the evil) Haman over you who’ll force you to repent (i.e., to adapt the mitzvah system after all)'".

-- That is, we're free to adopt the mitzvah system on our own, either from the first or in retrospect as an act or repentance, or it's alternative (tribulation) will be thrust upon us instead; there's simply no third option.

"And as they likewise said of the verse (that speaks of the redemption), 'I G-d will hasten it -- in its time' (Isaiah 9:22): (the curious discord between the idea of G-d 'hasten(ing) it' on the one hand and only allowing it to come about 'in its time' on the other comes to this) 'If they’re worthy (i.e., if we follow the mitzvah system), I’ll ‘hasten it’; but if not, it will come ‘in its time’ (i.e., after a lot of tribulation)".

"What that means to say is that if we become worthy (of redemption) by following the first path of observing Torah and mitzvot, we’ll speed up our reparation and thus won’t have (to suffer) harsh and bitter tribulations, or bear all the time it would take to be compelled to better ourselves."

"On the other hand, though, if we don’t (take that path, the redemption will come despite us, but only) 'in its time'. That is, only after tribulations -- which includes the punishment that souls suffer in Gehinom. For those tribulations will complete our reparations, and we’ll thus experience the age of reparation (i.e., the third era/World to Come) despite ourselves."

3.

"In any event, the rectification -- the third era -- will surely come about since it must, for the existence of the first era demands that. Thus the only choice we have is the one between the path of tribulations and the path of Torah and mitzvot."

"We’ve now thus demonstrated how all three eras of the soul are interconnected and necessitate one another".

-- Yet as we'll soon discover, there's a lot more to clear up vis a vis all the questions we raised at the very beginning of of our efforts. Once we do all that, though, we'll finally discuss the Zohar itself (which is the subject of this work after all).

(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 5

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 5

Unbeknownst to many, there'd once been an august and majestic sanctuary in ancient Jerusalem that served as the epicenter of our religious life: the Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple). From it shone the rich, munificent light of G-d's presence; and the great and colossal drama of universal perfection played itself out there.

But it was desecrated then destroyed through a series of unholy attacks (in 70 C.E.), and our people were strewn about as a consequence without it to inspire us. The gist of what we suffer *to this day*, both materially and spiritually, is rooted in that gruesome series of events.

A lot could be said of course about all this, but that's beyond the scope of our concerns here -- except on one level. For the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash also affected our daily prayers in some very fundamental ways, as we'll soon see.

Now, everything we've said to here about the most important of our formal prayers, the Sh'mone Esrei (as well as about Sh'ma Yisroel), has touched on what we can accomplish while reciting it and what we can draw from it. We haven't yet discussed the role it plays in the context of our day-to-day devotions. And, to go back to what we cited above, we also haven't touched on how it reflects and *substitutes for* the daily service in the Holy Temple. So we'll take the opportunity in the next chapter to delve into all that as well as into a lot of other devotional mitzvot.

(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".