Sha’ar 2:18: Spiritual Cause and Effect

Good morning Rabbosai. I think we will be up to os yud ches.

ודעי כי נפש הרשע אשר כל תאותה לחפצי הגוף בחייו.

So Rabbeinu Yonah here when he talks about the rasha and the tzaddik, say he's for the most part he's not really talking about from the... The recording has stopped. This meeting is being recorded. For the most part he's not really talking about actual types; he's talking about theoretical, ideal in the sense of idea. Obviously a rasha's not an ideal type in the other sense of the word. He's talking about ideal types, talking about someone who's a pure rasha rachmana litzlan or someone who halevai is a pure tzaddik. So he's in order to convey the concepts, so that's what he's dealing with. He's not talking about you know the reality of 99.999%.

ודעי כי נפש הרשע אשר כל תאותה לחפצי הגוף בחייו.

If you would have someone who is a pure rasha, pure rasha through and through, such that his desires are totally, exclusively physical and materialistic, ונפרדת תאותה מעבודת הבורא ונבדלת משרשיה, and the nefesh sort of sells out to the guf, as it were, and has no desire whatsoever to engage in avodas Hashem, and in that sense it separates itself from its roots. תרד במותה למטה לארץ אל מקום תאותה. So upon death the nefesh of such a rasha fulfills the destiny that it created for itself. The destiny that it created for itself, the course that it charted for itself was one of pure physicality. So mimmela

תרד במותה למטה לארץ. וזה תולדתה כטבע העפר לרדת ולא לעלות.

And then its natural quality is just to descend rather than ascend. Aval ya'alu'ha l'marom, as it were, the imagery of being dragged, and ya'alu'ha l'marom, it will be brought above לדין ולמשפט ולראות איך החליפה מרום בשאול, to see how the, again, the nefesh sold out and exchanged the sublime for the physical כאשר יעלו את האבן על ידי כף הקלע. The same way an even, which also again is a dead weight, can be elevated by a slingshot. V'acharei aloso l'marom, and after it's judged on above, תרד בטבעה למטה לארץ. Then as all weight, anything which is just the physical weight, so then gravity pulls it down כאשר האבן חוזרת ונופלת לארץ אחרי הזריקה. Shene'emar:

והיתה נפש אדוני צרורה בצרור החיים את ה' אלהיך ואת נפש אויביך יקלענה בתוך כף הקלע.

So Avigayil gives Dovid HaMelech a bracha but the soul of his enemies, so that should be shot downward as from the slingshot.

ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה: אחת נשמתן של צדיקים ואחת נשמתן של רשעים עולות למעלה ונדונות שם.

All neshamos are judged after a person's death. ונשמתן של צדיקים זכויות בדין וגנוזות. Tachas Kisei Hakavod. By contrast, rachmana litzlan,

ונשמתם של רשעים חוזרות ויורדות ומטורפות לארץ שנאמר ואת נפש אויבך יקלענה.

And Ne’emar again, talking about these two extreme types, the operating principles are the same. In Os Yud-Ches of Os Tikvah, with the death of a rasha, hope is lost.

כי לא תהיה תקווה לנפש הרשע לצאת מהחושך לאור שנאמר על נפש הרשע תבוא עד דור אבותיו עד נצח לא יראו אור.

But what especially what the first line of this os of Os Yud-Ches expresses is an idea which is a staple, which is a very important element of the worldview that the Nefesh HaChaim teaches us as well. The Nefesh HaChaim says that basically Hakadosh Baruch Hu designed the world, created and designed the world that just as we see in the physical world that there are consequences to our actions. That there's physical cause and effect. So if a person takes a hammer and starts banging on his wall, he's going to damage the wall. We don't view that as a punishment min hashamayim for his wild behavior, but it's rather that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world with chukkei hateva and those chukkei hateva establish that whatever a person does creates a reaction. Every reaction creates every action creates generates a reaction. And says the Nefesh HaChaim, the emes is that's how the whole system of sechar v’onesh works, because it's true on the spiritual level also. The same way there's, call it that in the physical world, so a person can preserve the cleanliness and the pristine quality of the air or a person can pollute the air and we don't view that as Hakadosh Baruch Hu punishing us for emissions, but we see that it's self-inflicted. So the emes is the spiritual world operates the same way. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world in such a way that Torah, mitzvos create a positive effect, there's positive corollaries, positive fallout as it were, primarily in in the next world. And heila tava v’mutav, but there's also fallout from aveiros rachmana litzlan. So a person very much is in control of his own destiny, not only in terms of sort of positioning himself for sechar v’onesh, but really in terms of actually generating the sechar v’onesh ad kedei kach, a person is really in control of his own destiny. And that's what's reflected, although Rabbeinu Yonah doesn't develop the idea as much, it's not as elaborate here, but it's the yesod is is the same apparently. ודע כי נפש הרשע, just re-reading that first line rabosai,

אשר כל תאוותה לחפצי הגוף בחייו ונפרדת תאוותה מעבודת הבורא ונבדלת משורשיה תרד במותה למטה לארץ אל מקום תאוותה.

It follows its own natural inclination. Right, that's what Rabbeinu Yonah, again by repeating the word mekom taavasa, that basically the nefesh is going to follow its own natural inclination. If the natural inclination that it adopted for itself in this... this world was pure physicality, pure materialism, so then the nefesh heads lematah la'aretz. If the nefesh retained its original teva for kirvas Elokim, so then it follows its inclination as well. It's remarkable to what degree in this sense Hakadosh Baruch Hu sort of gave us, endowed us with autonomy in terms of charting our own course and creating our own individual destinies. Okay, so we'll stop here for now, בלי נדר אם ירצה השם we'll resume around 12:45. Just one scheduling note looking ahead till next week, im yirtzeh Hashem, everyone needs something to look forward to in life so that everyone should have something to look forward to, so you should know that בלי נדר אם ירצה השם a week from Thursday, contrary to the schedule, there will be a regular shiur, so Baruch Hashem, all concerns have been dispelled, we all now have something special to look forward to. Okay, rabosai, have a good, productive morning, and אם ירצה השם בלי נדר we'll resume around 12:45.