R' Ashlag Ch. 39 (Part 1)

Chapter Thirty-Nine:

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________________

39.


1.

"Now that it has been explained that G-d created everything in order to bestow pleasure upon His creatures ... "
-- See Ch’s 6-7 about this, as well as about our having been created with a huge capacity to take-in, in order to accommodate all the pleasure that G-d wants to bestow on us.

" ... so that they could know Him and His greatness, and accept all the goodness and delight He’d prepared for them to the extent enunciated in the verse, "Is Ephraim (not) My precious son? Is he (not) a darling child? For whenever I speak about him I earnestly remember him and my innards are moved by him” (Jeremiah 31:19) ... "
-- See Ch. 33 where Rabbi Ashlag wrote that, “the satisfaction that G-d derives from granting His creatures pleasure depends on the extent to which they sense that it’s He who’s bestowing it and granting them that pleasure. For when they do, G-d regales with them much the way a father regales with his beloved child" about whom it’s said "Is Ephraim (not) My precious son? Is he (not) a darling child? ....”

" ... It’s obvious, then, that this intention doesn’t apply to the mineral (realm), or (even) to the great heavenly bodies like the earth, the moon, or the sun, however effulgent or immense (they are). And (it likewise doesn’t apply) to the vegetable or animal (realms either), since they aren’t even aware of others of their own species, and thus can’t sense G-dliness or His beneficence. (It) Only (applies to) humankind, since it (alone) becomes aware of others of its kind."

(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 from here
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). His new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available from Yashar Books.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"