"The Way of G-d" Part 4, Ch.9, Paragraph 3

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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This ends our exhaustive study of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto's "The Way of G-d". We'll backtrack and offer our author's introduction to the work next time (as we said we would at the very beginning). Then after a short break we'll start a new series based on another of Ramchal's works, "A Discourse on The Redemption", which we'll term "The Great Redemption". It will touch on some of the more esoteric aspects of the Messianic Era and offer a mystical eye-view on the redemption itself. Stay tuned.
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"The Way of G-d" Part 4, Ch.9, Paragraph 3

Sometimes though not only mundane things need to be more salted and peppered, inherently holy things need to be as well. For as Ramchal puts it, "the more we do to motivate ourselves to draw close to G-d", be it holy or mundane, "the more help we'll get from Him to do that".

That's why our sages enjoined us to recite a blessing before we perform various mitzvot. The blessing reads, "Blessed are You, G-d our L-rd, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us through His mitzvot, and commanded us to (do thus and such). "

Saying that has the mitzvah we're about to perform stand out in our minds and adds heft to it. After all, we cite G-d's name first thing in the blessing and thus remind ourselves Whom we're serving through the mitzvah. And we also concentrate on thanking G-d for singling us out as His emissaries in this world, and for enabling us to better our spiritual standing.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

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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.
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