Tanya Ch. 15

... has been reworked and completed, and can be found at ...

Sefer Tanya

Tanya Ch. 15 (Part 3)

“Nearly Everybody”: The Inner Life and Struggles of the Jewish Soul

(Based on “Tanya: Collected Discourses of R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi”)

by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________

Ch. 15

3.

So again, the verse isn't speaking of different sorts of tzaddikim in fact so much as different sorts of benonim: those who actively and conscientiously “serve G-d” and those “who don’t serve Him" all that much. That's not to say that the latter doesn't serve G-d whatsoever, since that would deem him an out-and-out rasha. It’s just that he’s the sort of benoni who wouldn't have to have served G-d -- wouldn’t have to have fought against his impulses and dedicated them to the service of G-d, that is -- assiduously, purposefully, and with great effort, because he never had to battle his yetzer harah all that much to maintain his benoni-state.

Why? Because he’d be the sort of person whose yetzer harah doesn’t threaten his spiritual standing in one instance or another, so there’d be little to resist. But let's explain.

Someone who's bookish by nature, for example, and thus more serious and studious would find it easy to study Torah a lot. So, he could readily be a serious Torah scholar, and thus couldn't really be accredited with having done very much to achieve that status [5].

The same would be true of someone who's naturally austere or melancholic and thus wouldn’t need to resist any untoward thoughts or actions (see Sanhedrin 39B); or of someone who has always been rather sober or non-indulgent from birth, who'd thus find it easy to become serious and G-d-fearing enough not to sin (without having to depend on certain more taxing means, like dwelling upon G-d’s greatness, all that much) [6].

Or he may only need to depend on the love that’s secreted in all our hearts’ (see ch's 18, 19, and 44) in order to love G-d out-and-out, and to cling to Him by fulfilling His mitzvot, and wouldn’t have to strive to love Him [7].

That would also go, by the way, for someone who worked very hard to train himself to study Torah regularly and consistently, though he didn’t tend toward bookishness from birth. For he, too, would only need to draw on his inborn love of G-d to serve Him rather than foster that sensation -- unless he decides to go beyond his usual limit [8].

The ultimate point here then is that while few of us can be tzaddikim, the rest of us can indeed be benonim, and that the harder the struggle we’d need to suffer to maintain our status, the higher our degree of benoni-hood.
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Notes:

[5] Understand of course that there’d be other corners in his life that would require effort and actual service, since he may not have been born with a natural resistance as far as they’re concerned.

Nonetheless, he’d only be engaging in things that tend toward piety because they came easily to him, and not because he yearned to draw close to G-d. His actions also aren’t a result of his having overcome his animalistic spirit, but rather a product of that spirit (Biur Tanya).

[6] It’s pointed out that someone who's a scholar and avid reader by nature who studies Torah when he could very easily study and read a world of other material instead is certainly to be praised for his choices, since his decision is no doubt rooted in a love of G-d (Maskil L’Eitan).

It follows then that someone’s who’s austere and could also deny others’ their pleasures but doesn’t, someone melancholic who might not even try to serve G-d joyfully and good-naturedly (see Deuteronomy 28:47, and 1:2 above) but manages to, and the sober or non-indulgent who would be hard pressed to enjoy the Holy Days who nevertheless overcome their natures are all to be praised.

The idea is that everyone has his or her proclivities; what we’re asked to do is to use everything we’re given in the service of G-d, and to not settle on native gifts but rather to challenge them.

[7] Once again we see just how vital the notion of meditating upon G-d’s greatness, and of coming to love and cling onto Him are in our service to G-d.

[8] The same is true of someone who’d been well-educated as a young person; he too could be said to have been primed for this one good trait, and couldn’t really be praised for just following through on the fine job his teacher had done (see Maskil L’Eitan).

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued and can be ordered 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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

Da'at Tevunot (Section 1, Chapter 9)

... can be found at ...

Toras Ramchal

Ma'amar HaGeulah (The Rectified World, Ch. 5)

Ma'amar HaGeulah

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

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

__________________________________________________

"The Great Redemption"

The Rectified World: Ch. 5

This has been a very, very long and arduous exile for us indeed, which hasn't escaped anyone's attention. In fact, the idea that our people have seemingly been left to its own devices for all these many years has caused people to doubt G-d's plans for us. The more cynical have taunted, "Their G-d must be asleep!" (Esther Rabbah 7:12), and we ourselves have asked Him plaintively, “Why do You stand so far away, G-d? Will You hide Yourself in times of trouble (like this)?” (Psalms 10:1), because we've almost lost hope. And those sorts of attitudes tend to embolden the side of unholiness (para. 72).

But just as we're told that “G-d looked upon the people of Israel and ... knew (their plight)” (Exodus 2:25) at a crucial point in the first exile, He'll certainly do the same for us (ibid.). But with a distinct difference that's aside from the ones we've learned about until now.

"I still have to explain a certain mystery" Ramchal adds here in relation to what will set this final redemption apart from that first one. It's the fact that the greatest event to come about in the days of the Moshiach "will be the emendation of the body" (para. 74). Which is to say that the universe will be so rich with radiance then that even what had been earthy, mundane, and ordinary would teem with holiness. In fact, "much of the world’s emendation" itself will depend on "this ... very important principle". "After all," Ramchal adds rather matter-of-factly and cryptically, "wasn’t the soul sent to this world to emend the body?" (ibid.).

So he starts to lay-out the relationship of the body and the soul in this world to help us understand the significance of all this. We learn that "the body had been corrupted by Adam’s sin" in the Garden of Eden, and that all the other losses and downfalls that humankind has experienced since then has "followed in its wake". Ramchal adds though (and quite frustratingly), that "since these things are (already) known to those who know the truth," and "inasmuch as I spoke about it a lot elsewhere, I won’t delve into it at length here" (Ibid.). So let's take a quick look at some of what he'd already said about this.

As he'd explained at length in "The Way of G-d" (Part 1, Ch. 3) and elsewhere, humankind was originally to have been an equal mix of the spiritual (soul) and the material (body), and had Adam and Eve not eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, the soul would have dominated the body forever and ever, and humanity would have achieved perfection in short order. For spirit would have so purified matter that the two would have partaken of the ultimate reward right in this world.

But the damage was done, and the body was charged to endure death while the soul was made to separate from it in the Afterlife as a consequence. As a result of the Great Redemption, though, body and soul will be rejoined (in the course of the Resurrection of the Dead, which will follow the Great Redemption), and all will be primed for the ultimate perfection (in The World to Come, which will follow the Resurrection of the Dead).

It's in the course of The World to Come then that the soul -- which would have been emended already to a great degree in the Afterlife and The Resurrection -- will come to fruition and will emend the body and thus fulfill its raison d'être in this world, as Ramchal said above.

Ramchal explains the subtle and transcendent process of body-emendation elsewhere in great detail (see Da'at Tevunot, para's 88-95), but suffice it to say for our purposes that all of that will begin to occur in the course of the Great Redemption.

(c) 2007 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 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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

As it stands now ...

We've reached the point now in Sefer Tanya that I'd already gotten to in my studies till now. So what I'd been able to do has been to just set it down and send it out here. I'll have to hit the books again to go on, so the installments will be coming far more slowly.

That will be true of my work on Da'at Tevunos, too, soon enough: till now I've worked up to Ch. 15, but after that I'll have to hit the books again, which will slow that project up once we get there.

I continue to work on "Eight Chapters" and "The Great Redemption" for www.torah.org, so those pieces should come in order. In fact, "The Great Redemption" will be finished soon, when I'll offer another Ramchal work for that series, and no, it won't be Da'at Tevunos.

I'm stalled on the Rav Ashlag site but might very get back to it in the interim.

Thanks for staying, Yaakov

Tanya Ch. 15 (Parts 1 & 2)

“Nearly Everybody”: The Inner Life and Struggles of the Jewish Soul

(Based on “Tanya: Collected Discourses of R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi”)

by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________

Ch. 15

1.


We've spent the last several chapters defining a benoni and contrasting him with a rasha and a tzaddik. But we're going to go beyond that from this point on and begin explaining how a benoni -- how each one of us -- is to serve G-d, knowing what we do now about a benoni's potentials and limitations (see Biur Tanya).

It will become clear from here on that at bottom the benoni's life is one of ever-faithful, ever-fresh, forever on-going acts of Divine service. But not only is that so, but he'd also be expected to grow level by level without ever stopping either (Biur Tanya), much the way a professional in any field would need to keep advancing in his craft if he's ever to reach his full potential.

In any event, let's first try to illustrate just what sets one benoni apart from the others in his "profession"; what makes one more successful than another in his Divine service. And we'll do that by explaining a curious verse that will illustrate it for us.

2.

We're told that there’ll come a time when we’ll see for ourselves “the difference between a tzaddik, a rasha, one who serves G-d, and one who doesn’t serve Him” (Malachi 3:18). But that's odd, because it seems to differentiate between a tzaddik and “one who serves G-d”, which we wouldn’t expect; and a rasha and someone who doesn’t serve Him, which seems self-evident. RSZ’s point will be that there’s a distinct difference between tzaddikim and those who serve G-d (as he understands the latter) [1].

According to RSZ, “one who serves G-d” is someone who does so on an ongoing basis [2], who's always battling his yetzer harah, forever trying to expunge it from his being, and always making sure that he never thinks, utters, or does anything wrong [3]. That's to say that “one who serves G-d” is the benoni par excellence. For as we’ve come to learn by now, a benoni isn’t a tzaddik. Hence, as RSZ understands it, the verse is underscoring the difference between a tzaddik and a benoni.

For a tzaddik would be termed “a (fully accomplished) servant of G-d” rather than someone who’s continuously working at serving Him, in that he’s impeccable in his service to G-d and a bona fide servant of Him. (Much the way a full-fledged, consumate Talmudist is an out-and-out “Talmudic scholar” rather than a “student of Talmud”). For the tzaddik would have already won his war against the yetzer harah and have fully expunged it from his being [4].

But as we'll see, there'll prove to be real distinctions between people who "merely", so to speak, serve G-d on an ongoing basis.

__________________________________________
Notes:

[1] The Talmudic statement upon which this entire chapter is based is the following one. We’ll present it entirely here and explain only the beginning, then we’ll explain it in full further on in the chapter.

Once again, the verse cited reads “ you will ... see the difference between a tzaddik, a rasha, one who serves G-d, and one who doesn’t serve Him”. Like us, the Talmudic scholar Bar Hehe wondered about the wording of the verse, and he asks:

“[But isn’t] a tzaddik equivalent to ‘one who serves G-d’ and isn’t a rasha equivalent to ‘one who doesn’t serve Him’?”

So, why doesn’t the verse just read, “you will ... see the difference between a tzaddik and a rasha”?

The reply to this question will prove to be the premise upon which the rest of the chapter will be based.

“[Hillel] responded thusly: ‘one who serves G-d’ and ‘one who doesn’t serve Him’ *both* refer to the utterly righteous; but an utterly righteous individual who reviews his chapter [i.e., the chapter of Mishna he’s concentrating upon] a 100 times can’t be compared to one who reviews it 101 times.”

“Said [Bar Hehe]: But can it be that because of one [more review of the same chapter] that [an utterly righteous individual] is called ‘one who doesn’t serve G-d?

“[Hillel] responded: “Yes, go and determine that [for yourself] from [what’s commonly practiced in] the mule-drivers market. For [mule-drivers agree to transport goods for a distance of] 10 parasangs for 1 zuz, but [only agree to transport goods a distance of] 11 parasangs for 2 zuz (Chagiga 9b).

[2] I.e., RSZ takes the term “serves” to represent the present-continuous case, as if to say that he’s someone who serves and serves, and continues to serve G-d (because he has to, since unlike a tzaddik he hadn’t perfected his service, as we’ll see).

[3] Interestingly, the Hebrew term for "serves" in the verse, oved, can imply reworking something over and over again until it becomes utterly new, much the way we'd rework or tan hides until they become parchment, for example. It can also imply softening something and making it pliable (Likut Perushim, footnote 1). As such, that would come to alert us to the fact that we'd need to rework and redo ourselves if we're ever to become benonim; and to soften our "heart of stone" and make it a "heart of flesh" (see Jeremiah 11:19-20).

In fact, even utter tzaddikim have to always change their routines and grow greater and greater; and the truth be known, a tzaddik who doesn't do that is lower is said to be lower to a degree than a benoni who does in fact change and grow (Maskil L’Eitan).

[4] That's not to say that tzaddikim don't grow, for they certainly do (see previous note and Berachot 64A). It's just that since they're no longer preoccupied with the yetzer harah they're free to pursue growth in Torah and mitzvah observance in purer, unimpeded ways (Biur Tanya).

Indeed, it's remarkable how much ground we lose *just trying not to fall back* when we're still subject to the promptings of the yetzer harah.

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued and can be ordered 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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

Da'at Tevunot (Section 1, Chapter 8)

... can be found at ...

Toras Ramchal

"Eight Chapters" (Chapter Six, Part 5)

“Spiritual Excellence” with Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Our Current Text: Moshe Maimonides's (Rambam's) “Eight Chapters”

-- Rabbi Feldman's on going series for Torah.org

**********************************************************

"Eight Chapters"

Chapter Six (Part 5)

G-d cares for nothing better, we're taught, than that we draw close to Him again in repentance if we'd turned away. Now, while we'd logically be expected to do it for that stunning, loving reason alone, the truth is that most of us want to know what it entails beforehand, and then (to use a crass but all-but universal sentiment) what's in it for us if we do. We'll touch upon both here, though in reverse order.

It's vitally important to know first off that "repentance is great". And why -- because "it brings a person closer to G-d", as Rambam puts it (H. T. 7:6). For, "even if you were a wrongdoer your whole life but you repented in the end, then all of your wrongdoing would go unnoticed" as a consequence (Ibid. 1:3).

In fact repenting draws us close to G-d on two levels. Here in this world, by allowing us a deep sense of soul-satisfaction, a surer feeling of being in G-d's presence, and more. And on an otherworldly level, it ensures us a place in the World to Come, which is "a form of life without death" that is all "pleasantry and goodness" (Ibid. 8:2), where the righteous "sit with ... crowns on their heads and bask in the radiance of the Divine Presence" (Ibid.).

Don't mistakenly think, by the way, that those in the World to Come "eat and drink good foods, ... dress in (fine) embroidered clothing, dwell in a (house) of ivory, use utensils of gold and silver" or the like, as some imagine. Know instead that, "the great goodness that the soul experiences in the World To Come" is so sublime that "it's beyond our worldly comprehension" (Ibid. 8:6). In fact, we can no more fathom the pleasure of the World to Come than the blind can know the glow and nuance of color or the deaf can sense the hum and ring of sound (see Peirush l'Perek Cheilik). For "no one can know its greatness, beauty, and essence other than the Holy One, Blessed Be He" (H.T. 8:7).

Now, as to the actual process of repenting, there are a number of elements involved to simple, conventional repentance. We're to first of all verbally admit our error to G-d (Ibid. 1:1) and to the person we'd offended (Ibid. 2:9), if that's the case; second, to simply stop committing the sin and take it upon ourselves to never commit it again (Ibid. 2:2); and third, to regret having committed it in the first place (Ibid. 2:2).

There are some more demanding things you could do, Rambam points out, like "cry out to G-d constantly and pleadingly; give charity according to (your) means; keep far away from what (you) transgressed against; change (your) name, as if to say, 'I am someone else; I am not the person who did those things'; change all (your) ways for the good and toward the path of righteousness; and exile (yourself), since exile atones for sins by making (you) submissive, humble and low-spirited" (Ibid. 2:4). But they're not essential.

Finally, you'll know if you'd truly transformed yourself in the end if you're faced with the chance to commit the same sin again, but you don't -- and not because someone was watching or because you were physical incapable of doing it, but simply because you'd truly repented (Ibid. 2:1).

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Project Genesis

(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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

Tanya Ch. 14

... has been completed and can be found at ...

Sefer Tanya

Tanya Ch. 14 (Parts 4 & 5)

“Nearly Everybody”: The Inner Life and Struggles of the Jewish Soul

(Based on “Tanya: Collected Discourses of R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi”)

by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________

Ch. 14

4.

Now we can understand another curiosity from chapter 1 -- the apparent redundancy of the vow our soul is told to take before we’re born to be a tzaddik and to also not be a rasha (Niddah 30B). After all, if it will be a tzaddik, it won't be a rasha by definition, so why would we have to stipulate both?

The point is that since not everyone can be a tzaddik and has the wherewithal to choose to truly delight in G-d's Presence, or to actually despise wrong, then we're told to vow to at least not be a rasha, but be a benoni [9]. And our having vowed to do that will give us the extra impetus and determination to succeed at that (Biur Tanya), at the very least on a subliminal level.

For, again, we have it within us to make the right ethical choices and to take control of our impulses and yetzer harah enough to not be a rasha moment after moment by "simply" not doing anything forbidden and doing everything we should (most especially to study Torah, which is the ultimate and best mitzvah [Pirke Avot 6:3]).

5.

Nonetheless, we're to at least set aside time and find ways to *come to* despise wrong on one level or another. How? By applying the advice of our sages. They recommend at one point, for example, that we picture someone we're attracted to on a lascivious level or anything else earthly we're attracted to as being “a pot of dung”, in order to be thrown off and avoid temptation (Shabbat 152A).

What that means to say is that we're to set aside time to reflect dispassionately on the actual raw, roughhewn, and unpretty make-up of things that we're to avoid, and to take that thought to heart. For after all, the deliciousness of a fine meal is nothing more than the interplay of red, saliva-ridden glands with a compost of mashed food that will inevitably wind up as waste-matter, despite how alluring it is at the moment.

Indeed, if you're wise you can't help but see the inevitable in the present moment (see Pirke Avot 4:1) and realize that all such things will ultimately rot and turn to dust and ash -- while the very opposite is true of the sublime experience of delighting and rejoicing in G-d's Presence, which is truly, copiously luscious; utterly, all-encompassingly gripping; and richly, richly satisfying. And we can only come to the latter perspective by pondering G-d's infinite greatness as best we can. which the benoni is required to do as well (Maskil L'Eitan), not only the tzaddik.

And though we know full well -- if we’re honest with ourselves -- that we’ll never actually arrive at the point where we truly despise wrong so much as *think* we do or *act as if* we do, still and all we’re to do whatever we can to fulfill our vow to be a tzaddik on that level at least [10] and G-d will do what He deems best.

Besides, when you do something regularly, the habit itself starts to take over and to become second nature to you; and in the end, "routine (will) rule" (Sefer Mivchar HaP'nimim) and you'll indeed act as if you felt the way you seemed to be feeling. In point of fact, "second natures" are often actually stronger than "first", inborn natures (Likut Perushim, Maareh Mekomot, p. 262) [11].

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Notes:

[9] In fact it could be said that *the* essential difference between a tzaddik and a benoni is that while a benoni doesn't want to do wrong any more than a tzaddik does, he's still and all persuaded to sometimes, while the tzaddik simply despises wrong and wants absolutely no part of it (Likutei Biurim).

We could liken the difference between the two to the difference between someone who could be persuaded to drink alcohol or not (depending on circumstances and social pressures) who thus might end up becoming an alcoholic or not, and someone who simply hates the taste, effects, etc., of alcohol and wouldn't think of drinking it, who'd never be an alcoholic.

[10] We might posit that by doing that we'd at least achieve the level of tzaddik depicted in 1:2 -- one "mostly free of sin", as cited it Hilchot Teshuva 3:1.

[11] This concept will be expanded upon in the next chapter, where more of the methodology is laid out.

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued and can be ordered 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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

Tanya Ch. 14 (Part 3)

“Nearly Everybody”: The Inner Life and Struggles of the Jewish Soul

(Based on “Tanya: Collected Discourses of R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi”)

by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________

Ch. 14


3.


When it comes to literally hating wrongdoing (see 13:5) though, we can't possibly simply "decide" to do that; we'd first have to foster the sort of great and mighty love of G-d known as the “love of delights” which the righteous bask in, in the World to Come (see 9:4 and Ch. 27) and sometimes even in life [7].

But not everybody can arrive at that degree of love, let alone *bask* in the "love of delights" as tzaddikim do, since it itself is a reward granted to those who strive for it, as is explained elsewhere (See Chinuch Kattan, Iggeret HaKodesh 18) [8].

In fact, our inability to just decide to hate wrongdoing explains why Job pointed out that G-d "created the ox with cloven hooves and ... the donkey with whole hooves ... " and likewise "created tzaddikim and rashaim" (9:7, see Babba Batra 16A and Ch. 1 in the original). What Job's point was that just as an animal can't decide to be born other than how it is, we likewise can't aspire to be tzaddikim unless G-d grants us that make-up.

The same was intimated for all intents and purpose in the Tikkunei Zohar’s statement that, “there are many orders and sorts of souls within the Jewish Nation: pious individuals, mighty ones who overpower their yetzer harahs, masters of Torah, prophets, ... tzaddikim, etc.” (1B). That's meant to indicate that just as not everyone has the capacity to master Torah or be a prophet no matter how much he might want to, not everyone can be a tzaddik either.

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Notes:

[7] Our sages referred to that as “seeing your (eternal) world while (yet) alive” (Berachot 17A).

[8] Moshe Chaim Luzzatto referred to this phenomenon (which he termed the state of "holiness") as being, "a twofold matter: (which) begins in effort and ends in recompense; and (which) begins in striving and ends in being given as a gift .... because it's impossible for a human to place himself in this state which -- because he is in truth physical, and flesh and blood-- is so difficult for him. All you can do is make the effort of seeking the true knowledge, and try to constantly give thought to the sanctification of your actions. Ultimately, G-d alone can direct you in this, the path you would like to follow, and can have His holiness dwell upon you and sanctify you" (Messilat Yesharim, Ch. 26).

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued and can be ordered 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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

Da'at Tevunot (Section 1, Chapter 7)

... can be found at ...

Toras Ramchal

Ma'amar HaGeulah (The Rectified World, Ch. 4)

Ma'amar HaGeulah

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

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

__________________________________________________

"The Great Redemption"

The Rectified World: Ch. 4

As we said, the side of impurity hates the whole idea of the forces of goodness reconnecting with each other and bringing about peace, and it does whatever it can to undo that. But it has its limitations -- thankfully. In fact, limitations and constrictions (as well as disorder) lie at the heart of unholiness, as we'll see and as we already learned (The Rectified World Ch. 1).

In any event and despite impurity's opposition, "everything will continue on with great happiness and love as the holy groupings grow stronger and establish their rule", because "they’ll be joined in their roots" (para. 64). That's to say that everything in the cosmos will be "home" again, so to speak, together again, and in place. And there'll be a great sense of joy, satisfaction, and sure growth as a consequence. For on even the highest, sublimest levels there's no place like "home" in the end.

But as we indicated, the forces of impurity will stew in anger over that, since "impurity is just the opposite". Rather than thrive when all parts are together again, it does best when there's separation and discord, and when "there’s no love, brotherhood, or unity ... whatsoever." "In fact," Ramchal adds, "only rifts and quarrels come about when (the forces of impurity) gather", much the way a dysfunctional family of immense and foreboding proportion would act. So, "wherever the peace of holiness is found, a war of impurity is found as well" to thwart it (Ibid.).

Fortunately though, and by Divine plan of course, "when holiness is at full strength", universal harmony "becomes much stronger", and "all of creation enjoys rest and tranquility" (para. 65). But that will be stopped for a while "when the husk darkens" the world, though it won't be stopped forever. An ironically “peaceful sword” (see Ta'anit 22B) will emerge when impurity grows too strong which will "overpower it and destroy it". "Everything will be tranquil and at rest" once again (para. 65), and "the world will be emended in great perfection" (para. 66).

Let's get back to the idea offered above that limitation, constrictions, and disorder lie at the heart of unholiness though, because it touches upon a fundamental truism about life. As Ramchal puts it, "Everything has boundaries from which it never deviates"; in fact, "boundaries are (so) important, (that) creation couldn’t exist without them" (para. 66). After all, if there weren't boundaries and order, and everything sort of sloshed into everything else instead, then in the end there'd be nothing left but a terrible pool of pandemonium. On the other hand, though, if everything was fixed in place forever and not allowed to free-float from time to time, then the cosmos would be stiff and lifeless. So there has to be a perfect balance of the two.

Now, because all that impurity wants to do "is to hold back the good", it "bolsters itself so as to shut off the light (of holiness)" and to have it "breach its boundaries" and come undone. That obviously threatens the balance we spoke of. But "in the end of days, when everything will return to a great (state of) emendation, those breaches will be undone" and there'll be order again. Nonetheless, holiness's boundaries "will be widened", and "all the Luminaries (i.e., the Sephirot) will draw very much closer to each other .... and there won’t be so much of a need for boundaries", since the Luminaries will have be drawn together just so (Ibid.). And that will result in the perfect blend needed.

At that point "the Luminaries will accomplish their tasks nearly all at once", the "capacity for peace would have become strong and joined everything into a single unit" as a result, and "the Luminaries will all work as one" (Ibid.) and in perfect harmony. "All the luminaries will shine very brightly" then (para. 67), in fact they'll "be as strong as they’d been before once the redemption comes about", they'll "irradiate revelation upon revelation, light after light, and the light will be very great and intense" (para. 69), and as the prophet put it, "G-d’s redeemed will return ... to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads ... and (all) sorrow and sighing will flee” (Isaiah 35:10) (para. 67).

We'll now touch upon the final esoteric themes Ramchal brings up to end this work.

(c) 2007 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 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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

Tanya Ch. 14 (Part 2)

“Nearly Everybody”: The Inner Life and Struggles of the Jewish Soul

(Based on “Tanya: Collected Discourses of R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi”)

by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________

Ch. 14


2.

We can also achieve it because we needn't actually despise wrongdoing viscerally to be a benoni, or love G-d instinctively and intensely, which few of us actually do -- though there are times when we can, too, as when we pray or recite "Sh'ma Yisrael" with fervor, for example, when we celebrate Shabbat and Yom Tov in full, and at other auspicious moments of personal elevation, as has been pointed out.

"All" we'd have to do to become a benoni -- which is of course no small feat -- would be to never again do, say, or think anything wrong.

For while we haven't all that much control over what we despise and what we love, we *have* all been granted the freedom to make the right moral choices and to go against our own impulses if we want to [1]. Indeed, whenever we long for one material thing or another that's either out-and-out wrongful or just superfluous (see Ch. 7), all we'd need to do would be to distract ourselves from it altogether and we'd overcome the temptation [2].

Now, one way to do that, we're taught here, is to engage in the following inner-dialogue (loosely translated).

“You know, I don't want to be a rasha even for a minute! After all, who’d ever want to be disconnected from G-d Almighty by sinning (see Iggeret Hateshuva Ch. 5). I want to cling onto G-d with the whole of my being by fulfilling, verbalizing, and dwelling upon His Torah and mitzvot, and by drawing upon the love for Him that's just naturally sequestered in every Jew's heart [3]. After all, if even the simplest of Jews can give his life to Sanctity G-d's Name [4], I'm certainly no less capable of that than he!”

In fact, there are only a couple of reasons why anyone in his right mind would set out to do something that would make him a rasha. Either because he'd gone out of his mind and come to be possessed by the sort of temporary insanity the sages termed the “spirit of folly” (Sotah 3A; see Ch's 19, 24 below) [5], and imagined that he'd still be a good Jew despite his sin; or because he'd come to be completely out of touch with the native love for G-d in his Jewish heart (see Ch's 24-25) [6].

In any event, “I don't want to be a fool like that” the inner-dialogue would continue, “... I don't want to reject the truth that way!". For we can in fact manage to avoid doing that.

____________________________________________________________
Notes:

[1] As Rambam writes in Hilchot Teshuva (5:1), “Permission has been granted everyone 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 .... Of his own volition man can consciously and on his own distinguish between good and evil, and do whatever he wants to do, either good or evil, without anyone stopping him". (Recall of course that being "righteous" or "wicked" here hasn't very much to do with being either a tzaddik or rasha per se, as was discussed in 1:2.)

The subject at hand is human “free will” versus ”Divine compulsion” -- that is, whether we're free to do as we see fit, or if G-d (so to speak) transports us from place to place of His own volition, has us do what He wants us to, then carries us along to our next mission, despite ourselves. It contends with the question of how free we are to act out on our own wills; or put another way: where G-d's will end and our's begins; where our will ends and G-d's begin.

Rambam seems to say quite firmly here that man is utterly free to act on his own. For as he says later on in Hilchot Teshuva, “everyone has been granted the capacity to do anything in the human sphere ... he'd like to do” (5:3), “(G-d) want(s) man to be free and to have the ability to act any way he wants, without any deterrents or instigators, of his own G-d-given volition” (5:4), and "man's actions are in his own hands, ... G-d neither instigates or preordains what he's to do” (5:5).

Apparently, then, man is "as free as a bird”-- able to do what he wants, when he wants, as he wants. But, doesn't Rambam himself raise the question later on as to how anyone could do “anything he wants and be allowed to act any way he cares to?” and how, “anything in the world (can) be done without the permission or against the will of the Creator? For isn't it written, ‘All that G-d wants done in heaven or on earth is done’ (Psalms 135:6)?”

But it seems to come to this: Man *isn’t* as free as a bird. In fact, no matter how hard he tries, or how much he’s determined to, he could never fly on his own. Nor could he live to two-hundred, or survive without the ability to breathe (at least without artificial means), etc., etc. And G-d Almighty *does* manifest and express His will all the time, which by definition, is utterly and uniquely invincible and unstoppable.

Still and all, though, man is completely free in one area and domain -- in his moral decisions. As we're taught, “Everything's in the hands of Heaven -- except the fear of Heaven” (Berachot 33B), and only that. That's to say that while G-d Almighty instigates all things and all actions, my moral reactions to them is in my hands and left to me alone.

As such, we have absolute control over our moral decisions -- over how we react to all that G-d presents us with. But that's all we have control over. Everything, but everything else is under the direct and constant rule of G-d Almighty alone.

[2] Of course we could partake of our permitted but superflous desires for more altruistic reasons, but we'd need to be aware of whether we're fooling ourselves into thinking we're doing that when we aren't (Maskil L'Eitan; see Hilchot De'ot Ch. 3), the way we'd need to be sure we're not fooling ourselves about our spiritual standing either (see 13:3 above and note 5 there).

Also see Moshe Chaim Luzzatto’s statement to the effect that “the yetzer harah ... knows that if you were to concentrate upon your ways for just an instant you would certainly repent of them, and a strong regret would grow within you” automatically, as he implies, “that would lead you to utterly abandon your sins” right there and then (The Path of the Just Ch. 2).

3] This concept will be explained later on in the work, but for now let it be said that this love is just naturally sequestered in each and every Jewish heart, without exception; it's rooted in the interconnection between the Jewish soul and G-d's being; it's beyond reason and isn't predicated on anything we do, though it can be prompted by reflection; it isn't undone by our preoccupation with worldly concerns or our sins; and it's what drives us to attach ourselves unto G-d's being and to even sacrifice our lives for His sake, when that's called for, as we'll see later on (Maskil L’Eitan).

[4] ... if forced to (see Ch's 18 and 19 below).

[5] One way to know if we'd become temporarily insane, we're told, would be to determine for ourselves if we'd begun to grant the world and its delights more substance than they're worth and taken them to be more satisfying than they are; and if we'd begun to spurn G-d's presence in the face of them (see Maskil L’Eitan).

Also see Sichot HaRan (#6), where Rebbe Nachman of Breslov likened the yetzer harah to someone running about through a crowd with a hand held tightly shut, giddily asking everyone what they thought he might be hiding, whom everyone then chased after because they imagined his hand contained the very thing they wanted most, and who were all terribly disappointed to discover that his hand had been empty all along.

[6] And so we're taught that the only point at which we can actually stop ourselves outright from falling sway to the "spirit of folly" is the very moment it first occurs to us to commit a particular sin. All we'd have to do then would be to distract ourselves. But once it had gone past that point and traveled along our thought-and-impulse processes all would be lost for all intents and purposes, because we hadn't distracted ourselves. For the "spirit of folly" would have taken over (Likutei Biurim, in the name of R' Chaim Vitale).

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued and can be ordered 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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

Tanya Ch. 14 (Part 1)

“Nearly Everybody”: The Inner Life and Struggles of the Jewish Soul

(Based on “Tanya: Collected Discourses of R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi”)

by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________

Ch. 14


1.

We’re nearly finished with this second part of the book that has laid-out the diversity of inner beings, so let’s clear up a number of other quandaries found in the very first chapter. We’ll begin, though, by offering a word-for-word translation of a very important, compelling statement RSZ makes at the very beginning of this chapter (which we referred to in the previous one).

It reads, “The quality of benoni-ism is everyone's (to be had), it's one that everyone strives for; (and indeed,) everyone can become a benoni at any time”.

Let's bypass the idea in the middle of this complex sentence that benoni-ism is a quality that “everyone strives for" just now and concentrate instead on the point that “the quality of benoni-ism is everyone's (to be had)” and that “everyone can become a benoni at any time”.

What that means to say is that while few of us could ever hope to become a tzaddik, each one of us *can* become a benoni, regardless of our history, despite our makeup, and in an instant. We'd just need to truly repent for our sins and decide there and then never again to do, say, or think anything we're not to (see comment 2 to Ch. 12).

After all, benoni-ism is “very near-at-hand to you -- in your mouth and in your heart -- so that you can do (i.e., achieve) it” (Deuteronomy 30:14), as has been stressed. And that's so because, as the middle section of our quote points out, it's the quality that “everyone strives for” -- or should, at least (Maskil L'Eitan) -- since on some level each one of us wants to draw close to G-d.

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued and can be ordered 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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"

Da'at Tevunot (Section 1, Chapter 6)

... can be found at ...

Toras Ramchal

"Eight Chapters" (Chapter Six, Part 4)

“Spiritual Excellence” with Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Our Current Text: Moshe Maimonides's (Rambam's) “Eight Chapters”

-- Rabbi Feldman's on going series for Torah.org

**********************************************************

"Eight Chapters"

Chapter Six (Part 4)

[As we said, the material we'll be covering from now to the end of this chapter isn't contained in "Eight Chapters"; we'll be citing Rambam's remarks in Hilchot Teshuva.]

There's a single hidden, deep, very private element in our being that enables each one of us to choose between doing good or wrongful things: our free will. We'd discussed it before (in Ch. 2) and we'll come to it again further on (in Ch. 8) in other contexts, but it's important to understand it in the following one. As Rambam puts it, "In truth, everyone is capable of being as righteous as Moses or as wicked as Jereboam" (H.T. 5:2). That is, we have it within us to be as great or as lowly as we ourselves choose to be, thanks to our free will.

Indeed, "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" (Ibid.). And as such, "it follows that a sinner alone brings harm upon himself", no one else (Ibid.). The point is that since we're answerable to no one else's proddings if we sin and do harm, we'd need to take self in hand and repent if we'd gone off.

Just realize how great repenting is, though. For, "the very person who, just yesterday, was completely separated from the G-d of Israel" because he'd turned his back on Him defiantly, "who would cry out and go unheeded ... who would do mitzvot, and have them rent from his hands" because of his bad choices, who'd then turn around and change his way "is now attached to G-d" instead. Indeed, "his cries are answered immediately" instead, "and (all of) his mitzvot are received easily and happily ... and are even yearned for!" (H.T. 7:7) because he'd repented.

That being so, we should find out just how to regain our spiritual standing and repent. But not so fast. Because there are quite a number of things we'd have to tend to before we could even start to repent. For as Rambam tells it, "There are twenty-four things that (are likely to) thwart repentance" (H.T. 4:1); and as any sensitive soul knows, most of us tend to lapse into some of them all the time. So let's see what they come to.

Among several others, what holds us back from repenting includes being in the habit of (in Rambam's words) "causing many to sin, inclining someone away from the path of goodness onto the path of wrongdoing (ibid.)", "isolating yourself from the community, arguing against the words of the sages, mocking the mitzvot (or) one's teachers, hating criticism" (H.T. 4:2), "cursing the multitude" (H.T. 4:3), "using another's personal failings to one's own advantage, casting aspersions upon people with good reputations" (H.T. 4:4), as well as "tale bearing, slandering, being hot tempered, arousing evil thoughts, and associating with wicked people" (H.T. 4:5).

Not only is that true, but we're to always bear in mind that we're not to repent "for concrete transgressions, like promiscuity, robbery, or theft, alone." For "just as a person has to repent for those sorts of sins," Rambam says emphatically, we also have to repent for unbecoming personal traits like "anger, hostility, envy, sarcasm, the pursuit of wealth or glory, the pursuit of food, etc." (H.T. 7:3). So there's clearly a lot to do.

But let's turn next to the ultimate reward due those who thus draw close to G-d indeed, and the actual process of repenting.

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Project Genesis

(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.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"