Tanya Ch. 17 (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. 17


2.

But RSZ takes the term “so that you can do it” in the statement “the matter is very near-at-hand to you … so that you can do it” as alluding to the native love for G-d that lies deep and nameless in our hearts, and which can lead us to actually do mitzvot [5]. His point is that while this sort of love isn’t open and aboveboard or passionate, it would still-and-all be genuine and could be used to prompt us to do good things (Biur Tanya).

He also means to underscore that the ability to cultivate that sort of love is indeed “very near-at-hand” and easy for anybody to do. For while we aren’t all in command of our emotions, so we can’t elicit just any feeling we’d like to, we do though have it within us to focus our minds on whatever we care to, and to not think about what we don’t want to or shouldn’t (see Biur Tanya) [6]. Since our wills control our minds (Likutei Biurim).

His suggestion thus comes to this: reflect deeply and at length upon G-d’s actual greatness, and a sense of love of Him will automatically arise in your heart and you’ll want to cling to Him by fulfilling His mitzvot and studying His Torah as a matter of course. For our minds control our hearts by nature, which then controls our actions (see 12:4 and Ch. 51 below).

For if we’d fully concentrate upon G-d’s greatness, it would occur to us that observing G-d’s mitzvot is our raison d’etre at bottom. After all, aren’t we bidden to “observe all the mitzvot, statutes, and judgments, that I (G-d) command you this day” (Deuteronomy 7:11) meaning in this world (see Eruvin 22A) [7]?
_________________________________________________________________

Notes:

[5] It’s as if he’d translate the phrase “so that you can do it”, “since you can activate it”, i.e., you can easily enough activate the love in your heart so as to help you fulfill mitzvot.

[6] See 12:4 above, and note 8 there. Refer to what was said in the previous chapter about our inborn love.

[7] The object of loving G‑d doesn’t just come to fostering such a love itself, but rather using it as a means of fulfilling G-d’s mitzvot, for what matters most in this world is actually doing concrete things (Shiurim b’Sefer Tanya). That's to say that while the love of G-d is a lofty, magical thing it’s nonetheless a selfish urge often enough; and at bottom we’re asked to subsume our desires to His will.

(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"

"Fundamentals of the Jewish Faith" (Ch. 2, Part 2)

"Fundamentals of the Jewish Faith"
An adaptation of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto’s Ma’amar HaIkkurim
-- Rabbi Yaakov Feldman's series on www.torah.org
__________________________________________________

"Fundamentals of the Jewish Faith"
Chapter Two: The Spiritual World (Part 2)


Everything in our experience is comprised of borders. Each and every thing begins at a certain point and only extends as far as its margins will allow. That’s why I’m not you and you’re not me. For I begin *here* while you begin *there*, and if I went on from my *here* to your *there*, you and I would meld, we’d each lose definition, and many things about us would start to get vague.

I’d wonder, for example, if it was I who was feeling happy or you; if my sneezing deserved your *gesuntheit*, or if you were getting a cold, and so forth. It goes further yet, though. Would my childhood memories be partly yours, or are they all my own, with you there as a constant observer? Would you have to come along as a matter of course if I decided to travel, etc.?

It touches on many other things in our experience, too, including our senses. We’d really be thrown if our ability to hear somehow or another combined with our ability to see for example. Or if we managed to smell things as we touched them. The point of the matter is that all of that is out of our experience since it’s outside the realm of this physical world. (Nonetheless see Exodus 20:15, where we’re told that “all the people *saw the thunder* ... *and the sound of the Shofar*” when the Torah was revealed at Mount Sinai, which only comes to underscore the supernatural nature of the event.)

Nevertheless, understand that without borders there’d be no sense or reason in the world; we simply wouldn’t know what’s what. And so it’s safe to say that borders help mold our beings, define our life, and form the basis of the physical world.

Yet there are phenomena that don’t have set borders; that are beyond the confines of space and time, physicality, and definition. They inhabit the spiritual realm. And it has a reality of its own.

(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. 17 (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. 17

1.

Realizing by now where we fit within the rasha-benoni-tzaddik continuum and knowing as well how we can become benoni’im and bolster our benoni-ism [1], we’re in a position to start elucidating the verse that serves as Tanya’s motto, “For the matter” -- drawing close to G-d -- “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).

But the truth be known, it just doesn’t seem valid to say that getting close to G-d is easy and “very near-at-hand”, despite the fact that the verse says it is, and notwithstanding the fact that everything enunciated in the Torah is said to be true for all of us and throughout time [2]. For we often don’t find it easy to upend our emotions and love G-d instead of all the things we tend to love in this world.

And though it’s in fact written, “And now, O Israel, what does G-d your L-rd ask of you but to fear G-d your L-rd …” (Deuteronomy 10:12), didn’t our sages themselves pointedly ask, “Is fear (of G-d) such a simple thing?” (Berachot 33B), let alone love of G-d [3]? And didn’t they indicate as well that only the very few tzaddikim that there are in the world at any one time can control their hearts (Breishit Rabbah 34:10, Zohar 3:290B) -- not benoni’im, and certainly not rashaim [4]?

__________________________________________________________________

Notes:

[1] Especially after knowing that even our inborn fear and love of G‑d helps to bolster our observance (Shiurim beSefer HaTanya).

[2] As Tanya Mevuar points out, the idea that Torah is relevant to all of us across the borad and throughout the generations is stated in several places, including: Rambam’s Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 9:1 Hilchot Teshuva 3:8; Hilchot Malachim 11:3 (at end); and Perek Chellek, Yesod 9. Also see Taz to Y.D. 74:4, Rav’s Shulchan Orach 2:2 (at end), and Ch. 25 below.

[3] For while both fear and love are inborn, fear comes upon you suddenly and severely, and usually only asks you to stay in place or run away for a while, while love demands effort and great change (see Biur Tanya). It’s also true that while you can be afraid of things you haven’t any real knowledge of and are in fact more likely to be afraid of such things, you really can’t love things you’re not aware of (see Likutei Biurim).

[4] So, how can the Torah indicate that the love of G‑d is very easy to come by, which would signify that our hearts are under our control and that we could easily love Him rather than all sorts of material things (Shiurim beSefer HaTanya)?

(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"

Kitzur Ashlag 3

Based on paragraphs 4 and 5:

Ashlag contends that we can only answer the sorts of existential questions he’d raised by “look(ing) at the culmination of things … at the ultimate goal of creation”.

Now, some would differ and suggest that there were no goals; that G-d simply created. Ashlag argues against that, though, given “no one other than a madman does anything without a particular goal in mind”. He concedes the fact that while some “acknowledge that G-d indeed created the universe” they nonetheless “also claim that He then left it to its own device” since it would be beneath “so exalted a Creator to keep watch over such as they”, given we’re so lowly.

But Ashlag assert that the only reason why we’re lowly is because we allowed ourselves to be so, not because G-d chose that role for us. G-d allowed us free choice, and that it’s we who opted for meanness and lowliness sometimes. After all, he maintains, “how could we ever imagine” G-d “purposefully setting out to create beings who'd be as tormented and tried their whole lives as we are, who'd then utterly abandon them and not even bother to look after them or help them besides?”

It follows then that “we’re truly good and noble creatures (at bottom), and of inestimable worth -- as worthy as one would expect our Producer to have made.” So once again we’d do well to look at what G-d had in mind when He created the cosmos

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

"Eight Chapters" (Ch. 8, Part 1)

“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

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"Eight Chapters"

Chapter Eight (Part 1)

“It’s no more possible to be born either inherently lofty or flawed” Rambam declares in this final chapter, “than it is to be born instinctively adept at a trade.” What he’s doing is underscoring the point he’d made earlier on that we’re all born with an ethical clean slate and free to be as righteous or wrongful as we care to (see Ch’s 2 and 6 above). For just as we’d have to learn to be a doctor, lawyer, rabbi, etc., we’d also have to be taught how to act cruelly or kindly, inconsiderately or sensitively, and the like. None of that is instinctive.

Now, while that’s true, there’s still no denying the fact, Rambam acknowledges, that it’s “possible to be predisposed to a particular virtue or fault, and to find it easier to do certain things than others”. And so some people are more studious by nature and thus find it easy to sit still for hours at a time to study Torah, while others are more active and could go to great lengths to help others. Nonetheless, that same studious person could spend hours reading heretical things, while the active individual could apply his or energies towards doing harm.

The point is then that despite our inborn proclivities, we’d each have to decide (with or without others’ input and influence) how to apply our instincts. Since neither makeup nor penchant automatically leads to righteous or wrongful outcomes.

But it goes deeper yet. For don’t forget that we’re expected to be even-tempered; so we’d have to channel our moods, too. Thus if you’re hot-headed by nature, for example, you’d be expected to channel that into the sort of bravery that’s called for to save lives, for example, rather than allow yourself to slip into irrational anger or cruelty.

Nevertheless the bottom line is that we’re all morally clean from the first -- no one is impelled to be either righteous or wrongful. And that we can channel our inclinations.

Understand that this is a radical statement about self-mastery and personal power, since it implies that we can control ourselves and needn’t acquiesce to the idea that we’re “doomed” to this or that, as so many think. But we’ll get back to this latter idea soon enough.

(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"

Kitzur Ashlag 2

From paragraphs 2 and 3:

Before answering the questions he’d raised, Ashlag thought it important to pose others.

1) “How could anyone imagine a completely original creation -- something utterly new-sprung that hadn’t already been incorporated in G-d's Being from the first -- when it’s obvious to any thinking person that everything was originally incorporated in His Being? After all, isn’t it apparent that whoever means to give something can only give it if he himself already has it?”

2) “If you contend that He’s omnipotent so He could certainly have created something out of sheer nothingness, which is to say, something that didn’t already exist in His Being -- then what is this ‘thing’ that we’d determine wasn’t found in Him originally but was created out of sheer nothingness?”

3) “The kabbalists say that the human soul is a ‘part of G-d’, the only difference between them being that G-d is the ‘whole’ while the soul is a ‘part’. And they equate the two to a rock hewn from a mountain, with the only difference between them being that one is the ‘whole’ and the other is a ‘piece’.”

4) But that raises another point: “a stone that’s hewn from a mountain had to have been hewn by an axe made for the express purpose of separating the ‘piece’ from the ‘whole’. But could anyone ever imagine hewing a separate ‘part’ of G-d, i.e., a soul, which would then be considered a part of His very Essence?”

5) That then suggests another inquiry: since “the chariot of the other side and the husks” -- the side of wrong and evil -- “are utterly and completely removed from G-d’s holiness -- then how could they ever have been culled from and created by Him, let alone allowed to go on?”

6) Yet another question is suggested: “since the human body is … doomed to die and be buried from the outset, and since the Zohar says that the soul can't ascend to its place in the Garden of Eden until the body decomposes and disintegrates, then why would the body need to be resurrected” anyway in the End of Days? “Couldn't the Creator have delighted our souls without (our having to go through) resurrection?” he asks.

7) Along the same lines he then adds, “even more baffling is our sages’ statement that the dead are destined to be resurrected with all of their defects (in place) in order not to be mistaken for anyone else, and that all those defects will be cured afterwards. For why would G-d care enough to first bring back someone’s defects and then cure him simply because he’d be mistaken for someone else?”

8) Lastly he then raises the point that, “our sages say that man is the focal point of reality, that all the upper worlds as well as this corporeal one along with everything in it were created for him alone (Zohar, Tazriah 40), and they even obliged us to believe that the world was created for our sake (Sanhedrin 37A). But, isn’t that strange? After all, why would G-d bother to create all that for man, who’s so insignificant and only occupies a hair’s-breadth worth of space in the universe -- to say nothing of (his insignificance when it comes to) the upper worlds, whose reaches are immeasurable! Why would G-d have troubled Himself to create all that for man’s sake? And besides -- what would man need all that for?”

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

Tanya Ch. 17 Overview

We’ll now begin a 9-chapter-long analysis of Tanya’s motto, “For the matter 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).

RSZ starts off here by laying out the difficulties of the verse, especially the idea that anything touching upon changes of heart -- one’s inner being -- can be easy to arrive at. He then delves into the idea of “the matter” being “near-at-hand” is “so that you can do it”. And he goes from there to explain that the nearness of it all is not true of rashaim (wrongdoer), since they’d first have to do teshuvah (which he discusses) before they could even start serving G-d.

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Tanya Ch. 16

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

Kitzur Ashlag 1

I set up www.ravashlag.blogspot.com a while back to offer a translation with comments to Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag’s “Introduction to the Zohar”. I completed it a few months ago but I wanted to go back to it to see what needed to be changed, since I’d like to have it published. Rather than do that off on the side without reference to it here, though, I thought I’d offer a synopsis -- a kitzur -- of the original work here in the process. So here goes.

From paragraph 1.

Ashlag starts off by saying that he’d “clarify certain ostensibly simple things that everyone contends with and which a lot of ink has been spilt over trying to explain, that still-and-all haven’t been spelled out clearly or adequately enough”.

And he begins by raising five succinct and cogent questions:

1) “What are we essentially?”

2) “What role do we play in the great course of events which we’re such minor players in?”

3) “When we consider ourselves closely we find ourselves to be as tainted and lowly as can be, and yet (conversely) when we look at our Creator we can’t help but praise Him for how utterly exalted He is! But wouldn’t a perfect Creator's creations be expected to be perfect?”

4) “Logic would suggest that G-d is all-good and utterly benevolent. So, how could He have purposefully created so many people who suffer and are tried their whole lives long? Wouldn’t an all-good Creator be expected to be benevolent -- if not at least less malevolent?”, and

5) “How could finite, mortal, and ephemeral creatures (like us) ever derive from an Infinite Being who is without beginning or end?”

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

"Fundamentals of the Jewish Faith" (Chapter Two, Part 1)

"Fundamentals of the Jewish Faith"


An adaptation of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto’s Ma’amar HaIkkurim


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

Chapter Two: The Spiritual World (Part 1)

Each and every thing is a phenomenon unto itself, a world of its own. Yet each and every thing also has a relationship with everything else both near and far, by degrees. Let’s take a simple pea in a pod for example. Each one has its own dimensions, a character of its own, a unique history, a personal destiny, and each has a special and distinctive relationship to every other pea there too, as well as to everything out of its sphere. The same is true of each pea-pod also; each has its own makeup and a relationship with everything else near and far, pea-pod or not.

Now, if that’s true of each and every pea and pea-pod, it goes without saying that it’s true of each one of us. We too each have distinct dimensions, characters, histories, destinies, and relationships. But as we all know, our beings reach farther and deeper yet. For we have inner lives; our relationships to other people and things are more complex and tangled, and touch upon many, many other factors; and we go on to exist in other dimensions once we leave this one.

But it goes beyond all that too. Because there are realms and dimensions far beyond our physical one with greater depth, that touch upon far more distant dominions, and that likewise have distinctive qualities, histories, and roles to play in the great and vast cosmic theater. Yet all were created by G-d Almighty alone, whose abilities are infinite.

For as Ramchal put it, “Just as G-d created physical beings with His infinite capacity … He likewise deliberately created other beings that are wholly superior to them …. And just as He granted each physical being its own boundaries and properties, He likewise granted the superior entities the sort of particular and specific properties He saw fit to bestow upon them.”

The crux of the matter, though, is that belief in personal uniqueness, in a spiritual realm, and in the idea that everything interacts with everything else (as will be laid out later on) is deep-rooted in the Jewish Faith. And assuming that the whole is physical alone, and that things haven’t their own makeup, destiny, and role to play in the whole, is simply anathema to us.

(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"

Klach Section One -- Introduction

Klach Pitchei Chochma -- 138 Openings to Wisdom

By Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

As adapted by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Section One -- Introduction



Let’s look at the petachim that comprise the first section and raise some broad questions about them.

Petach 1:

The Infinite One’s Yichud implies that only His will functions and no other will functions other than through it. Hence, He alone reigns (supreme) and no one else’s will does. And the entire structure is built on this foundation.

Petach 2:

The Emanator wants only [to do] good, so nothing but [manifestations of] His goodness will endure. All that’s initially wrongful does not emanate from another sphere of influence that could oppose Him, instead it will undoubtedly [prove to] be good instead in the end, thanks to which it will be known that there’s no sphere of influence apart from Him.

Petach 3:

Ultimately, the world was created so that G-d could be beneficent in accordance with His benevolent desire to bestow ultimate goodness [upon the universe].

Petach 4:

The Infinite One wanted to express utter and complete beneficence in such a way that its recipients wouldn’t be ashamed to accept it. So He set out to openly reveal His Yichud, [meaning to thus show] that He has neither deterrents nor defects. So He established the system of governance that He now uses, thanks to which wrongfulness will [eventually] revert to goodness. For while He initially granted wrongdoing a realm in which to do what it can, in the end all harm will be rectified and all wrong will revert to actual goodness. And G-d’s Yichud will thus be revealed, which will in fact be the delight of the souls.

Here are some questions to start with.



First, what is G-d’s “Yichud”? Why all this talk about G-d’s will, as opposed to G-d’s might for example, His wisdom, etc? What “entire structure is built” on the foundation established at the beginning? Why is G-d termed “The Emanator” sometimes and “The Infinite One” at others? Why all the talk about “other wills”? What are the implications of wrongdoing returning to goodness (and all harm being rectified), which seems contrary to our common understanding of good triumphing over evil? What’s the idea of G-d’s beneficence all about, and why would we be ashamed to enjoy it? What’s the meaning of G-d’s system of governance? And lastly, what has all this to do with Kabbalah which is the subject at hand, or so we’ve been told?

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

Klach Pitchei Chochma -- Introduction

Klach Pitchei Chochma -- 138 Openings to Wisdom

By Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

As adapted by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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Introduction

As I’d indicated in my second article in commemoration of Ramchal’s 300th birthday, “Klach Pitchei Chochma (or ‘Klach’ as we’ll refer to it here) is a work within a work. For Ramchal wrote an argument for the study of Kabbalah -- that also acts as an introduction to it -- entitled Ma’amar HaVeichuach (‘A Discourse [that serves as] The Argument’)” in which he “set out to lay out what’s important about the study of Kabbalah for those already well-grounded in other areas of Torah-study. He supplied three mechanisms within that work for the beginner to approach Kabbalah. The first was a terse and succinct laying-out of the key Kabbalistic principles in ten short chapters …. The second – and third – mechanism is Klach itself.

“We term it the second and third mechanisms within the larger work because Klach is comprised of two parts: 138 essential principles of Kabbalah set out straight and a full explanation of those principles which Ramchal himself provided for the sake of clarity. So, again, what we have is a large work, along with two (or three) others within it, that all set out to explain Kabbalah.”

This work will present a literal translation of the 138 essential principles (i.e., Openings; “Petach” in the singular and “Petachim” in the plural) themselves and not Ramchal's own comments to them and it will explain each one based on those comments and on things he said on the subject elsewhere.

Rabbi Yoseph Spinner divided Klach into twenty-four sections in his edition of the work, and we’ll follow that system. Spinner termed the first petach, “The Revelation of [G-d’s] Yichud and the Matter of [His] Beneficence, which is the Underpinning of [all of] Creation”, and he determined that it consists of the first four Openings.

We’ll look at all four next time for an overview, then get into them one by one.


(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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. 16 (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. 16


2.


If we can’t manage to galvanize our beings by deliberately fostering the sort of urgent love of and reverence for G-d that would have us attach on to Him with our minds as above, then we can always draw upon the innate love for Him already sequestered in our hearts instead [4].

For we’re taught that each one of us realizes somewhere deep in his or her heart, on one visceral plane or another, just how infinitely vast G-d’s presence is; how everything is considered as naught by comparison to Him; and that the idea that “surely G-d is in this place, but I didn’t know it” (Genesis 28:16) is true wherever we stand. And that we each can sense instinctually just how right it would be to simply surrender to His Presence, to stand subsumed in His light, and to submit to our soul’s deeply felt desire to leave the narrow confines of the body it has become confined to, and cling onto Him instead [5].

Doing that would convince us once again how much better it is to study His Torah deeply and fulfill His mitzvot fervently. For we’d understand that we could attach onto Him and take hold of Him when we do that (see 4:5), and we’d have been spurred on.

Understand of course the point is that while we’d have certainly dwelt upon all that before in order to achieve benoni-ism [6], the only way we’d be able to reinvigorate and bolster our benoni state and keep it ever-fresh would be to dwell on it again and again. Because there will be times when, despite the fact that we know how true all that is, the impulse would be weak for the moment nonetheless, our beings wouldn't be quite touched to the core, and we’d need reinforcement (see Maskil L’Eitan).

__________________________________________

Notes:

[4] RSZ provides a note here in the original that lays out the Kabbalistic explanation for someone’s inability to produce a fresh and original love for G-d in his mind on his own.

It seems it’s due to the fact that that individual’s mind (Mochin, in Hebrew, referring to the sephirotic configuration that corresponds to the human mind) and his “soul” (Naran, in Hebrew, an abbreviation for N’ephesh, R’uach, N’shama, which is the sephirotic expression of the three lower aspects of our G-dly spirit) are in a “pregnant” or “hidden” (i.e., a potential) stage inside its Tevunah configuration (another aspect of the mind), rather than being “newborn” and outright (i.e., rather than actualized).

The insinuation here (which is much clearer than the one suggested in the non-Kabbalistic body of the text itself.) is that such a person is unable to actualize his or her potential, and that that’s a spiritual failing (see Biur Tanya). The non-Kabbalistic implication, on the other hand, is along the lines of, “Don’t worry if you can’t foster a love of G-d on your own: you can always fall back on your native love”, which doesn’t suggest a failing so much as a happy opportunity to rely on an alternative, albeit lesser, option.

[5] In the original, RSZ likens the soul’s heart-felt dissatisfactions with its earthly situation quite evocatively to that of a woman whose husband is overseas whom she can’t be with as a result, who is termed a “widow [for all intents and purposes] of a live man” (see Breishit Rabbah 14:4 and Rashi’s comments to Exodus 22:23, based on 2 Samuel 20:3), which frustrates her so. In fact the analogy is apt, since the Jewish Nation is termed G-d’s “bride” and is kept at a distance from Him as a result of our corporeality (Likutei Biurim).

What’s significant here is the fact that the terms that RSZ uses for the sort of mind-based realizations we’re to come to are far less bracing and intense than the ones he uses for his “default” heart-based ones.

He indeed speaks of the urgent feelings of love of and reverence for G-d that would have us attach on to Him that we could foster through our mind’s efforts; yet he then goes on to cite how the heart, the source of the second-best process, knows on its own how infinitely vast G-d’s presence is, how everything is considered as naught in comparison to Him, and how right it would be to surrender to Him and to leave the narrow confines of the body and cling onto Him instead, comparing being without Him to be being what’s classically termed a “grass widow” (a woman whose husband is frequently away from home or who deserted her)!

We’d expect RSZ to prefer the more cerebral method, since that’s what sets his Chassidut apart from the others, which are more emotional. Yet he uses rapturous terms for the emotional method as opposed to the rather cool and detached ones he uses for the analytical mode. On one level that seems to reflect an inner-conflict of his, as RSZ was rather emotional and outright ecstatic in his love of G-d at times, yet extraordinarily analytical a great deal of the time as well.

On the other hand, though, he appears to be making the following subtle point. The first process is preferable specifically because it’s lower-keyed; for while the second method is decidedly more idealistic in tone, it’s nonetheless too self-conscious and self-absorbed, which is always out of favor in Chabad Chassidut.

[6] See 3:3, 4:3, 6:3, 9:2, 4, 10:3, 11:5, 12:5, 13:6, 14:2-3, and 15:3-4.

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

Things to come ... hopefully.

After having written the article on Ramchal's Klach Pitchei Chochma (the last in the 4 part series in commemoration of his 300th birthday) I've had this hankering to work on the book itself.

What I plan to do then is translate the 138 "Openings" themselves and not Ramchal's own comments to them, and explain each one based on his comments and on things he said on the subject elsewhere (thanks to R' Freidlander's work and R' Yoseph Spinner's).

I must say, I have been very impressed with the Bilvavi Mishkan Eveneh's series on sifrei sod all-round (which is a whole other subject unto itself) and I'll draw from it as well, though so far it only covers the first four Openings. His words elsewhere will filter through also, no doubt.

I'd also like to do something on the Leshem. What I thought I'd do is present his views on tachlit habreiah by drawing on the selections offered in Shaarei HaLeshem, and on other things I know of his works.

Both of the above will come in dribs and drabs, I'm afraid. I also go back to Rav Ashlag's Hakdamah to the Zohar and sort of encapsulate it as a working introduction on my translation already completed.

"Eight Chapters" (Chapter Seven, Part 6)

“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 Seven (Part 6)

Being the greatest prophet of all and arguably the greatest human being ever to have lived, we’d expect a lot from Moses. Indeed, Rambam described Moses elsewhere as the most perfect of people, and credited him with having actually comprehended the truth (Peirush Pirkei Avot 4:2) -- which was certainly no small feat; as being the father of wisdom, prophecy, and of Torah (Peirush Pirkei Avot 4:4); as being G-d’s chosen one from among humanity; and as having reached the spiritual level of the angels (Peirush Perek Chellek).

In point of fact, Moses expected a lot from himself, and with good reason. After all, as Rambam put it here in our text, Moses “realized that there wasn’t a single screen he hadn’t rent”, that is, that not a single barrier between himself and G-d remained, and “that he’d achieved personal and intellectual perfection”. So he took a chance; he asked to comprehend G-d. But despite his high station, Moses was denied that, as we’ll see.

Let’s backtrack a bit though and detail just what set Moses’ prophecy apart from the others’ as we said we would.

We’re taught that Moses’ prophetic process was qualitatively different than others’. Where the other prophets were contacted either in a dream or while in a trance, Moses prophesied in a waking, conscious state. While the other prophets would grow terribly weak when they prophesied, would shiver and become frightened by the encounter, Moses never did. Whereas the others couldn’t prophesy at will, and would often have to wait for days or even years for a prophecy -- or might not ever prophesy again -- Moses could prophesy at will. Where the others were contacted by angels or had symbolic visions, Moses experienced clear and literal communications from G-d Himself instead. And whereas the others had to prepare themselves for prophecy, Moses was always attached to G-d and thus never had to prepare himself (Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah 7:6; Comments to Perek Chellek).

Moses was clearly of a whole other order of prophet -- and of being. So he made the unusual request we spoke of above.

He said to G-d, “Please show me Your Glory” (Exodus 33:18) -- allow me insight into Your very Being, L-rd, as no one else had ever been allowed. After all, hadn’t he done all he could to deserve that, and wasn’t that the loftiest of goals? But G-d denied him his request (in fact, who among us could ever imagine making such a request, let alone expecting it to be granted?).

Why was he denied it? Because it couldn’t be otherwise. After all, “he was an intellect fixed in matter”, or as Rambam explained, because “he was human” at bottom and it was written that “No man will see (G-d) and (yet) live” (Exodus 33:20).The point is that “the only thing still standing between Moses and the comprehension of G-d … was a single sheer screen”-- the fact that he was a mortal and thus imperfect.

Thus the lesson for all of us who hope for spiritual excellence is that, indeed, none of us is perfect and that what sets us apart from each other is our character.

(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. 16 (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. 16


1.


Both this chapter and the next, then chapters 18-25, will expand on two suggestions offered here as to how we’re to advance in our benoni-ness and be “one who serves G-d” in the ever-fresh, original, inspired ways mentioned in the last chapter [1]. And both touch on our relationship to G-d, though from different perspectives.

The best way to do it -- though it’s certainly not the only one or even the only one fully expected of us -- is to resist temptations and to come to fulfill all of the Torah’s imperatives (most especially Torah study) and avoid all its prohibitions by allowing our mind to hold sway over our hearts [2].

And we do that by reflecting deeply upon G-d’s Infinite, unfathomable greatness, and by fostering an attachment to Him and an all-consuming loving, reverential sense of intimacy with Him in our heart that way [3].

But again, that’s what we’re to do optimally. There’s a less lofty, less exquisite method too, though, which is very important to know of.

__________________________________________

Notes:

[1] Like ourselves, some indicate that this chapter expands upon the ideas of the previous one (see Biur Tanya and Maskil L’Eitan) while others say that the principles laid out here stand alone as separate, overarching pieces of advice (see Likutei Perushim). But it seems clear-cut that this chapter and the last one are indeed linked given the parallelism of terms used at the end of the last one and here at the beginning of this in the original text.

[2] The text is quite fecund in this chapter (as it is elsewhere, where it’s nevertheless more apropos) and adds many things that are so rich in implication that they befog the essential message it means to convey, which we’ve thus set aside. Purists will argue that we’re skimming the cream and leaving behind a bland remnant of the original, and they’d be right in essence. But our job in this work is to allow RSZ’s spiritual and psychological insights and wisdom to shine through, and to only grant access to his more esoteric insights here, in these notes so as not to clutter the screen, if you will.

Here is the sentence as worded above.

“The best way to do it -- though it’s certainly not the only one or even the only one fully expected of us -- is to resist temptations and to come to fulfill all of the Torah’s imperatives (most especially Torah study) and avoid all its prohibitions by allowing our mind to hold sway over our hearts.”

Here’s the sentence with RSZ’s implications left intact.

“The best way to do it -- though it’s certainly not the only one, or even the only one fully expected of us -- *is to take hold of (one’s) natural inclinations* and to come to fulfill all of the Torah’s imperatives (most especially Torah study) *no matter how major or minor the prohibitions are, and be they either from the Torah itself or from our sages* and avoid all its prohibitions by allowing *the Divine light that shines upon the G-dly spirit in our mind* to hold sway over our hearts.”

He uses the term to *take hold of (one’s) natural inclinations* to distinguish it from the idea of turning one’s bad traits into good ones, as a tzaddik would do, since a benoni can’t do that (see Likut Perushim and Tanya Mevuar). He indicates that that’s true *no matter how major or minor the prohibitions are, and be they either from the Torah itself or from our sages* to say that it’s true of absolutely all of them, regardless of any reason we might have to take them either too lightly or too seriously. And it speaks of allowing *the Divine light that shines upon the G-dly spirit in our mind* to hold sway over our hearts so as to refer back to the idea that we’d need G-d’s input in order to control our impulses, as cited in 13:2 (Shiurim beSefer HaTanya).

But all of this beside the operative point that we’re to concentrate on our mind’s input more than our heart’s natural inclinations, as cited here.

[3] The original speaks of fostering a “knowledge” of G-d, in keeping with the Kabbalistic reference to the mind’s Chochma, Binah, and Da’at (knowledge) components (see 3:1). We translated the term “intimacy” instead, because knowledge is frequently compared to intimacy in Kabbalistic literature, in keeping with the verse that reads, “And Adam 'knew' Eve his wife (intimately) and she conceived” (Genesis 4:1).

See 3:3 for more on this. Also see 4:3 about the role of love and fear in mitzvah observance (Shiurim be Sefer HaTanya) .

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

More On Tanya Ch. 16

I've decided to dump the previous versions of this chapter on this site and to start from scratch. It will do a lot more, with G-d's help.

ON THE OCCASION OF RAMCHAL’S 300th BIRTHDAY (Part 4)

Part Four: Da’at Tevunot (“Knowing the Reasons”)

1.

Imagine sitting knee to knee with someone very wise, with the chance to ask anything you’d like. Well, that’s the setting to Ramchal’s Da’at Tevunot, which serves as a dialogue between a seeker and a sage … actually between a soul and reason itself. (Ramchal wrote other books in a dialogue format, but Da’at Tevunot was the best of them by far.)

The soul asked reason to explain a few things about the most important themes in Jewish Thought known as the Thirteen Principles of the Jewish Faith. For as he put it, “While I certainly accept all of them as true without hesitation, some of them I accept indeed and understand as well, while others of them I simply accept on faith without really understanding them”. And he was hoping that reason would spell them out.

It’s important for our purposes here to know that Rambam (Rabbi Moses Maimonides, 1135-1204) listed thirteen fundamental things about the Jewish religion we’d need to accept in order to claim to be believing Jews in all honesty: That G-d exists, is the only G-d, is wholly spiritual and incorporeal, is eternal, and that He alone should be worshipped; that He revealed His wishes to us through the prophets, and that Moses was the greatest among them; that G-d's Torah was given on Mount Sinai and is absolute; that G-d is omniscient, and rewards all good deeds and punishes all wrongful ones; and that the Messiah will come and the dead will eventually be resurrected.

But as the soul explained, he needed to have G-d’s omniscience, reward and punishment, the coming of the Messiah and the resurrection of the dead explained to him, since he doesn’t quite understand them. And therein lies the premise of the book.

We’ll come back to that shortly, but let’s first dabble into the response to Da’at Tevunot in the Jewish world.

2.

Like all spectacular works of revelation, deep insight, and overarching truth, Da’at Tevunot seemed destined to be adored by those exposed to Jewish Thought and Kabbalah, and to go about unnoticed by others. And that indeed was what happened for the longest time.

Some of the greatest Jewish thinkers took to it right away, including but certainly not restricted to the Great Maggid (the successor to the Ba’al Shem Tov) and The Gaon of Vilna (it should be said that though it would seem awkward to many to cite the two of them side by side, the fact that these “warring” giants both revered this work speaks to the greatness and universality of Ramchal); Rabbi Shmuel David Luzzatto (a distant cousin of the Ramchal, who was a great scholar in his own right), Rabbi Shlomo Eliyashav (1841 to 1925, known as The Leshem, in commemoration of his great series of Kabbalah works), and others. But many other learned Jews knew nothing of this vital work until Rabbi Chaim Friedlander (the mashgiach of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, who was a student of Rabbi E. Dessler) offered it to the Jewish world in the 1980’s.

Rabbi Friedlander examined various manuscript versions of Da’at Tevunot in libraries and private collections throughout the world, and presented us with the most accurate edition to date. He then set the book in a more readable type, positioned whole sections of it as independent units, explained the difficulties, and elucidated many of the more elusive, erudite points.

He also connected Da’at Tevunot with certain shorter works of Ramchal’s (the Klallim) that connected to it on an arcane level. For as we’d explained, Ramchal contended that the Ari’s works were to be read symbolically rather than literally. So, Ramchal encapsulated the Ari’s thoughts in Klallim (and elsewhere), and then “translated” the symbols into terms more easily grasped in Da’at Tevunot. Rabbi Friedlander connected the works in one edition, showed how one reflected the other, and thus allowed readers to follow both the esoteric and exoteric perspectives. (Rabbi Friedlander edited and made many of Ramchal’s works readily available as well, and did very much to make him accessible to all of us in his relatively short life, and we all owe him a great deal.)

Da’at Tevunot was then translated into English by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein (and termed “The Knowing Heart” which, though inexact, served to transmit the main thoughts of the work), and several commentaries were written to it, including those of Rabbi Mordechai Shriki, Rabbi Avraham Goldblatt, and Binyamin Effrati of late (we ourselves are in the midst of preparing an English language adaptation with comments to Da’at Tevunot as well). As such, many who would never have access to this masterpiece of Jewish Thought now do.

3.

Though Da’at Tevunot does indeed expound upon the great themes of G-d’s omniscience, reward and punishment, the coming of the Messiah, and the resurrection of the dead as we’d said, it actually uses them to express some of Ramchal’s own greatest ideas (though he does offer cogent explanations of the cited themes, to be sure). We’ll treat them one at a time, but in fact they come to G-d’s sovereignty, the role of evil and wrong in the world, the meaning of life, and G-d’s plans for the cosmos. Ramchal explained many other vital, overarching themes as well in this work, but space will not allow us to delve into them as well. So we’ll concentrate on the ones just cited and present Ramchal’s ideas about them in our own words.

One of the things we most often misconstrue about G-d is the extent of His reach. Most of us who believe in Him -- including many who have experienced honest and even profound apprehensions of His presence in the world -- certainly accept the fact of His existence. But while some of us accept His presence in the Heavens, or perhaps even on earth as well, few of us though accept the idea that He’s everywhere, throughout the cosmos. And that He’s not only present everywhere, but He’s also in command throughout the cosmos as well.

That’s to say that G-d not only created everything and sustains everything as well -- He also holds ultimate and exclusive sway over everything! For G-d’s sovereignty and rule is absolute and can never ever be thwarted. There is nothing that can get in His way, nothing that can challenge His intentions.

“Hey, but wait a minute!,” you’re bound to say. “Didn’t He grant us the freedom to do what we will; and don’t many, many people use that to go against His will all the time?” -- and you’d be right. So let’s use the opportunity to explain Ramchal’s view on the next subject at hand, the role of evil and wrong in the world.

Only the most innocent and pure-hearted among us can say with aplomb that everything is for the good as it should be. Yet we’re taught outright that “G-d is good to all and merciful unto all His handiwork” (Psalms 145:9) … so why don’t the rest of see that all around us? Ramchal would offer that we simply don’t know what we’re looking at when we catch sight of things, and that everything is indeed for the good. Because bad and wrongfulness only serve as vehicles for the ultimate good much the way fever serves to burn away infection, and surgery often carves out cancerous growths. His point is that wrong and misfortune -- while certainly painful and daunting -- serves as a means to an end that’s far greater than the pain involved. And thus while we’re indeed free to do as we will, at the end of the day, nothing can ever truly go against G-d’s will, despite appearances; everything serves His purposes.

And finally, that brings us to the meaning of life and G-d’s ultimate plans for the cosmos, as Ramchal reveals them to us in this astounding work. At bottom, we’re taught here, what’s expected of us is to draw as close to G-d as we can by following His will. The irony however is that we’ll all manage to do that in the (ultimate) end -- either directly, by adhering to His expectations for us, or by enduring the sort of remedial “surgery” we alluded to above. Our having arrived at that juncture will then enable us to experience G-d’s full, rich, and overarching omnipresence. And our having come to that point will serve to have been the fulfillment of G-d’s ultimate plans for the cosmos.

May the merits of the righteous Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato of blessed memory draw us close to G-d Almighty!

(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. 16 Overview

Part of the problem of switching from one system to another (from Mac to PC in this case) is the whole idea of having to learn the whole new method, shifting whole files from the old one to the new, and the lot. So I’m afraid I’ve gotten lost in all that and haven’t been able to sit too long at the keys and write.

Finally having the chance to sit down with Ch. 16 of Tanya I see that some subtleties escaped me and that I needed to get back and rewrite. Wrapped up in all the stuff I mentioned above I’ve been unable to put the time into it I’d like. So I thought I’d present the gist of the chapter here, lay out the over-all content and some of the complexities to be dealt with, and go step by step until I rewrite my take on it. I think I’ll do this on a regular basis for both Tanya and Da’at Tevunot.

Tanya’s Ch. 16 presents 2 different ways to put a little more verve in your avodah: the optimal way and what I’d term the default way. The optimal comes to revving up the right attitude, coming upon the right perspective, and realizing things. It’s a cerebral process at bottom.

The default way touches upon bring up the right emotions, and doing that by drawing upon what RSZ refers to as the native love of G-d that sits instinctively in the Jewish heart. The point is that the second is easier to come to, less effective -- but alright. And it’s somewhat like contributing a large sum of money from an inheritance rather than from a fortune you’d worked hard to earn.

Now, we’d expect RSZ to prefer the more cerebral method, since that’s what sets his Chassidut apart from the others, which are more emotional. What’s particularly interesting, though, is the fact that he uses rapturous terms for the emotional method as opposed to the rather cool and detached ones he uses for the analytical one. Not meaning to wax too psychological, I’d offer that that seems to reflect an inner-conflict. After all, RSZ was rather emotional in his love of G-d, yet extraordinarily analytical as well.

In any event, those are some of the things we’ll discuss once we get back to the chapter.