The Dichotomy of Two Paradigms

I. Tikkunim Chadashim of the Ramchal
A few days ago I was having a conversation with a friend as to how to understand the Ramchal's worldview as a Kabbalist. I mentioned to him that I felt that as he had not studied some of the Ramchal's more intensely Kabbalistic works, he was not seeing the full gamut of the Ramchal's approach. That night I could not fall asleep, and I decided, after the conversation I had just had, to open a fairly intense work of the Ramchal's that had long sat unopened on my shelf. It is called Tikkunim Chadashim and is probably best described as a neuvo-Zohar work of the Ramchal. It was one of his books that got him in trouble with the establishment as they felt it was inappropriate to write using the Zohar's dialect.
I quickly saw something that really amazed me which I would like to share with you. After I present the original Aramaic, I will translate his words and then endeavor to explain what he means.

זהר תנינא, דא זהר דבה תליא חדותא דאורייתא. ודא אקרי חמרא דארייתא, דביה ויין ישמח חיים מסטרא דכחמה ובינה. ואילין מארי קבלה מסטרא דעץ החיים. אבל מסטרא דעץ הדעת טוב ורע אתמר בה: שתוי יין אל יורה דעץ הדעת תמן יורה יורה ידין ידין יורה לימינא יורה לשמאלא, ידין לימינא ידין לשמאלא, ותמן יין המשכר דאצטריך לאסתמרא מנה. אבל מסטרא דעץ החיים, יין ישמח חיים, חדותא דזהר דא

The Ramchal begins his work by explaining that there are a number of different types of Zohar, of Splendor or Shine, that are bestowed upon the world. In this paragraph he is focused on the second one. He explains that this is the Zohar upon which the joy of Torah study is dependent. It is referred to as the Wine of Torah, about which the verse in Koheleth says that wine brings joy to life. This is the realm of Chochma and Binah,  and of the Kabbalists who operate in the paradigm of the Tree of Life. However, in the paradigm of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we are taught that one who has imbibed alcohol, may not issue a Halachic ruling. The Tree of Knowledge is the place of ruling one way or another, of discerning the law one way or another. Rule to the right, rule to the left. Discern to the right, discern to the left. That is where wine leads to inebriation and one must refrain. But within the paradigm of the Tree of Life wine brings joy to life, the joy of this Zohar.
The Ramachal is creating a dichotomy. On the one hand is Tree of Life, the home of the Kabbalists, to which wine brings joy, and on the other hand there is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the place of Halachic ruling, in which wine drinking will invalidate the procedures and lead to inebriation. What is the meaning of this distinction?

II. Quantum Halacha
Wine and Kabbalistc knowledge are intertwined. The Talmud teaches us that נכנס יין יצא סוד, that יין, wine, and סוד, Kabbalistic secrets, share the same Gematria. The result is that when one drinks wine he is in the realm where he can divine the secrets of Kabbalah, he is in the world of the Tree of Life. That is a realm in which אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים is very much alive and present. It is a world in which the deepest secrets of spiritual existence are known and where simultaneously seemingly divergent opinions can happily co-exist, because it is a place where no lines need to be drawn and all truths can be clearly seen.
However, step into the world of the Tree of Knowledge, the paradigm of right and wrong, there can no longer be a divergence of opinion. Lines must be drawn, decisions must be made. Choices of right and wrong, good and evil must be made at all times. We are not in the world of wine which diffuses those lines, and inebriation can be the only result of imbibing.
As an aside, I will mention here my Theory of Quantum Halacha. Quantum physics teaches us that when photons are shot through a two-slit screen they will travel through the right slit, through the left slit, through both and through neither. All four of these statements are true simultaneously. Fascinatingly, this changes if there is an observer at the time the photon passes through the slit. When there is an observer, only one path can be taken. In a similar vein there is a state of Torah study in which all opinions, even those which seem to be contradictory, are true. This is, again, what Chazal refer to as אלו ואלו, this opinion and that opinion are both the words of the true God. This is akin to the state mentioned above of the Tree of Life, the state in which no lines need to be drawn.
However, practically speaking, in the way in which we live, ultimately a decision must be made. Halacha is meant to be lived and not just theoretical, and one path must be chosen. The posek who issues the Halachic ruling is akin to the observer, under whose observation there ends up being only one path on which to walk. (This is, perhaps, why God demurred to give the Torah to angels. The angels could engage with the Torah in the realm of the Tree of Life, but could never engage in the sharply drawn world of the Tree of Knowledge.)

III. Choice
I was left with one question. Adam was in Gan Eden  and presented with the option of living in the paradigm of the Tree of Life or that of the Tree of Knowledge. He could live in a world where all was true, or one in which he would have to create distinctions and leave some things behind. Why did he choose to leave the one world and enter the other?
I would suggest (as others have before me) that in the world of wine, the world of the Tree of Life, there would be no place for him to exercise free will. It was an existence in which all options that could be created were all true and valid. Choice had no place.
But Adam wished to be Godlike, and God chose. God had chosen to create a Universe, and Adam wished to be a chooser as well. His only option was to partake of the Tree of Knowledge and enter into the realm of choice, so he could then emulate his Creator, as he was meant to do.

The Worm in the Radish

Those who wallow in the selfish desire to receive with which they were born, and do not try to take the one cure, the study of Torah and Mitzvah performance, are like a worm who was born in a radish. It sits there and thinks that the entire world that God created is so bitter, so dark and so small, just like the radish within which it was born. But the moment it breaks through the skin of the radish and takes a look outside it is amazed and says, "I thought the world was as big as the radish within which I was born. Now I see before me a world that is big, shiny and amazingly beautiful."
If we would study Torah and perform Mitzvos with the intent of giving pleasure to God, we would break through our shells of selfishness that only want to receive, and develop a desire to give. Immediately, our eyes would open to see and grasp for themselves all the levels of wisdom, understanding and clarity which are sweet and precious to the soul that are awaiting in the spiritual realms.
בעל הסולם

"Daas Torah" on Vaccinations

Sefer HaBris (1:17:2) is a Torah and science compendium written in the late 18th Century and updated a few years later. It received the approbation of many of the leading rabbis of the day and was studied widely in Jewish communities for many years.

He discusses the invention of the smallpox vaccine, sharing its history and discovery which is widely known. He speaks of how infectious the disease is and of the high incidence of death or permanent scarring and other issues for those who suffered from it. He mentions that it was well known that those who had had the disease once did not catch it a second time. He speaks of the first methods of vaccination and that they were not always effective. He then writes that:

In our generation there is a new cure that protects a person from smallpox which has been tested on thousands and myriads of people who have all turned out healthy, not one of them has died. When the Jewish sages saw that it was tried and tested on a daily basis and had become accepted in all countries and caused no damage they permitted all Jews, on the basis of the Torah, for them and their offspring to direct their physicians to vaccinate them. Many are announcing and encouraging the public about this and informing them that it is an obligation for each person to have himself and his family vaccinated before another smallpox plague breaks out...

The custom of vaccination has begun to spread among Jews and among those who have vaccinated their children are many Rabbis, Geonim, Elders of Israel, and great and honored Torah scholars. The Halacha is in accordance with Dr. Simon of Krakow who wrote in his newsletter New Medicine in 1804 that he encourages all Jews to take this tested cure for themselves and their sons and daughters before there is another outbreak. this is done in Krakow and other Jewish communities...

Even though I promised to write briefly, I have elaborated to encourage people to take this cure, and not to fear any dangers or that there is something sinful... Someone who is lax about this until smallpox affects his children, if they are God forbid injured, he will be brought to justice before Hashem, and be punished by heaven. 

Toras Chesed

In Eishes Chayil Shlomo HaMelech refers to תורת חסד, the Torah of kindness that is on her tongue. The Talmud is curious about this term Toras Chesed. What is the distinction between Torah of Chesed and Torah sans Chesed? It offers two answers. One is to distinguish between Torah studied for its own sake and Torah that is studied for ulterior motives. The second is to distinguish between one who studies with the intent to teach, and one who studies without the intent to teach.

The Maharal offers two approaches to understand what the Talmud's answers mean. God created the world in order to do infinite kindness (Chesed) for His creations. The Torah, serving as the blueprint of that creation, is therefore a document that is replete with Chesed. Proper study of Torah requires one to connect to the Chesed within. In the first answer, the Talmud is teaching us that one who studies Torah for its own sake has the ability to connect to the Chesed within. If one studies for ulterior motives he will be unable to connect to the Chesed. Alternatively the Talmud is answering that when one connects to the Chesed he should become an embodiment of that Chesed himself. Chesed from God is an infinite outpouring of goodness. Therefore, one who learns Torah in order to share his learning with others is embodying the Chesed of Hashem that is found within the Torah. One who studies without intent to learn is lacking that Chesed.

In his second approach, the Maharal explains that Torah, being the wisdom of Hashem, is infinite. If one learns Torah for ulterior motives he is forcing the Torah into his own, worldly, motives. He is taking it away from its state of infinity and constricting it within his self-constructed limitations. If someone learns Torah for its own sake he is connecting it to the infinite Chesed of Hashem. In the second answer of the Gemara if someone is learning Torah and intending to keep his knowledge to himself then he is constraining the infinite Torah within himself. If, on the other hand, he is learning it in order to share his knowledge with others, then he is treating the Torah as boundless in the manner of infinite Chesed.

Go Find Yourself

I saw something this morning that really blew my mind. Rav Yitzchok Isaac of Komarna explains that when Hashem told Avraham לך לך, what He was telling him is, "Go find yourself."

I want to elaborate on this idea based on what Hashem then continues to say to Avraham.

Hashem tells him to go מארצך, from your land. Land is the place of infinite possibilities. We can plant in land and let anything grow there. But oftentimes we limit ourselves in terms of the growth we believe is possible for ourselves. Instead of seeing the infinite possibilities, we limit our dreams and efforts to a finite set that sells ourselves short. Leave your land, Hashem is telling Avraham, leave the self imposed limitations on what you can be, on how you can grow, on your life's possibilities.

We can understand the next two statements in the same vein. וממולדתך ומבית אביך, and from your birth-place and from your father's home. At times the limitations that we place on ourselves come from the communities in which we live. Other times they may come from our families. Perhaps we have been told since we are children what it is that we should become, or what we can't possibly become. Avraham was now being told by Hashem that he had to leave all of this in order to find himself.

אל הארץ אשר אראך To the land that I will show you.

Go with no preconceived notions. Leave yourself open to whatever possibilities Hashem places before you. Only by leaving yourself open to the infinite possibilities that Hashem can open up for you will you truly find yourself.

See also: The Value of Self-Revelation in which I discuss the value of bringing forth one's inner self.

Celtic Similarities

Reading a book called The Sea Kingdoms, The History of Celtic Britain and Ireland, I was struck by some interesting cultural parallels between Celtic tradition and Judaism. On page 7 a description is given of the last battle between a truly Celtic army and the British army. The soldiers in the Celtic army prepared for battle by reciting their lineage going back up to 100 generations. This reminds me of what the Torah describes each time a Jewish army is formed about the people recalling their families to their father's homes.
The second thing I found interesting is that the Celtic community on the Isle of Man required that their judges memorize the entirety of their common law. Once a year they gather together for a public recital of their laws. Until 1690 they did not allow the law to be written down at all, and only then did they permit it because they were forced to do so by the British. Until 1919 any law not recited at the yearly gathering had no force. This reminded me very much of the Oral Law of the Torah.

Entropy

The Second Law of Thermodynamics, otherwise known as the law of Entropy, teaches that all systems will naturally tend to be disorganized, as that is the state with the highest probability. Any organized state will tend to become more disorganized over time.

I was thinking about this in terms of Torah. At the time the Torah was give all of the Jewish People were united; certainly a state of low entropy. Over time this unity has dissipated until that state is not found. Indeed during out High Holiday prayers we ask God to bring about the time when all of humanity recognizes Him and unites in His service. Again, a state of low entropy. But this seems to be a state that is unattainable without the coming of Moshiach. The world, left to its own devices, alone, will continue to tend to trend to more and more disunity and disorganization. It will take the open hand of God to reverse that trend.

The Torah itself was a much more unified work when it was given. Although today there is disagreement over almost every point of Jewish law, it was not always that way. When the Torah was given there was 1,000 years of agreement as to Halacha. Now, however, as entropy has set in, the disunity within the Torah has caused division.

Finding God in Idol Worship

A person approached the Baal Shem Tov and asked him what was wrong with idol worship. After all, the Baal Shem Tov taught that God permeates all, and there is nothing in the world that is devoid of God; including presumably idol worship. (Indeed the Talmud teaches us that when the Torah says "There is nothing besides Him," that it means to include the Black Arts.)

Rabbi Issaac of Komarna records this story in a number of places in his Torah commentary. The questioner does have a valid point. There are elements of holiness scattered throughout all of creation. Our adventure of life is really one in which we interact with people and objects with the aim of freeing these captive elements of holiness and incorporating them with our own consciousness. We can do so intentionally, for example by performing a mitzvah (commandment) and intending the performance to serve as a vehicle for free the elements of holiness within the object that is used for the mitzvah. Even when committing a sin, and oftentimes unintentionally, our interactions free up these lost sparks.

Each freed spark of holiness brings us one step closer to the ultimate destiny of the world, which is reuniting these elements in the cognizance of spirituality. So, yes, even within idol worship, there is God. What needs to be kept in mind is that those elements of God can achieve their destiny in many ways. Just as interacting by embracing the idol can incorporate those elements within us, so too can we accomplish that be rejecting the idol worship. Any interaction can free those captive sparks of holiness. God has encouraged us through His Torah to choose the more refined manner of freeing those sparks and not the coarser ways.

For a full treatment of this topic, I would encourage you to read a fascinating book entitled You Are What You Hate. The author provides an excellent overview of Kabbalistic thought, and then leads into a beautifully woven exposition of the concept of finding the lost elements of holiness.

Scholar?

I was looking over Pesach at a Hagaddah that was chock full of stories. One of them concerned me greatly. It told of a famous rabbi who declared about another person that if he spent time going on outings with his wife then there was no possible way he could be a Torah scholar.
This disturbed me greatly. Actually, I was raised to some extent on a diet of such stories. Stories which claimed that in order to be a great scholar, and by extension, to be the type of person God wants you to be, that it is necessary to forgo all normal family relationships. Not that one should not marry and have a family, but not to be too involved, and allow oneself to be too caught up in those relationships. A few stories illustrating that point linger in my mind. The wife of a Rosh Yeshiva whose school I attended, famously never told her husband when she went into labor with a child, so as not to disturb his learning.
I don't think such stories help build good marriages, and set up youngsters with realistic expectations of what marriage should and could be. It is beyond me why such stories are taught, published, and promoted.
I contrast that with Breslev teachings of people like Rabbi Shalom Aroush and Lazer Brody about the topic of marriage. So much healthier!