Ma'amar HaGeulah (The Rectified World, Ch. 3)

Ma'amar HaGeulah

-- "The Great Redemption", a reworking of Ramchal's "Ma'amar HaGeulah"

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

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"The Great Redemption"

The Rectified World: Ch. 3

Up to now we'd learned that all wrongs will be made right in the course of the redemption (The Remembrance: Ch's 7, 10, 15); we've read about the battle between the forces of right and wrong, and pointed out the good that wrong does on a certain level (The Remembrance: Ch. 13); and it's been revealed to us that evil actually wanted to conjoin with good at a certain juncture, but did not (ibid.).

So, seeing how major a role right and wrong play in the cosmic order of things, it would help to get even more insight into the two. We'll now learn about the dynamics behind the struggles between good and evil for control of the world, how that struggle will finally come to an end, and how both the Shechina and the Jewish Nation will be rectified in the process.

Harkening back once again to the beginning of things (kabbalists often do that by the way, to make sure we see the big picture), Ramchal points out that "at first the Creator fashioned a side of holiness and a side of impurity", one in contradistinction to the other. And that "everything in this world hinges upon that fact" (para. 64). It thus becomes clear from this statement that both right and wrong play a purposeful role in the Greater Plan. So let's continue to delve into the relationship between the two.

We're told that "before the Shechina will shine" along the way to its rectification, "a single Luminary, which no other light could compare to in greatness and beauty (until then), will assume its place". And it will be termed “Peace” (para. 64). (That's not only to say that peace will reign from that point on, though that's true. "Peace" is also a name for the Sephirah of Yesod, to be discussed below, since it brokers peace between the upper and lower Sephirot.)

"All of creation ... will unite" thanks to the appearance of Peace, "and everything will enjoy a great degree of tranquility" as a consequence.

What will be the source of this Luminary's sudden importance (after all, Yesod was always there in the picture, albeit subdued), what will enable it to do the above, and what has all that to do with the ultimate rectification of the Shechina and the Jewish Nation? Without laying out the kabbalistic technicalities, suffice it to say that the great Luminary of Peace will assume its role as a consequence of the realignment of the Sephirot, and that itself will lead to the ultimate rectification.

But let's explain some details based on some earlier discussions. We'd discovered that while the ideal of order and hierarchy had been in place at the beginning, everything suddenly changed for the worse when the side of impurity rebelled against G-d. The Divine Flow diminished down here on earth as a result of that, and the Jewish Nation was weakened (The Exile: Ch. 7). The point is that all that will change with the Great Redemption, the subject under discussion.

For once everything is well on its way to being amended -- that is, once the Sephirot of Tipheret (the middle one), Malchut (the lowest one, synonymous with the Shechina), and Yesod (which sits between them) -- are joined together, the cosmic order will begin to be restored (The Exile: Ch. 10). And that's the point we're at now in the discussion.

There's only one hitch, though: the side of unholiness despises all this because peace is its undoing, so it will do everything it can to squelch it (para. 64), as we'll see.

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org

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

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