"The Great Redemption"
The Rectified World: Ch. 3
Up to now we'd learned that all wrongs will be made right in the course of
the redemption; we've read about the battle between the forces of right
and wrong, and pointed out the good that wrong does on a certain level;
and it's been revealed to us that evil actually wanted to conjoin with
good at a certain juncture, but did not.
So, seeing how major a role right and wrong play in the cosmic order of
things, it would help to get even more insight into the two. We'll now
learn about the dynamics behind the struggles between good and evil for
control of the world, how that struggle will finally come to an end, and
how both the Shechina and the Jewish Nation will be rectified in the
process.
Harkening back once again to the beginning of things (kabbalists often do
that by the way, to make sure we see the big picture), Ramchal points out
that "at first the Creator fashioned a side of holiness and a side of
impurity", one in contradistinction to the other. And that "everything in
this world hinges upon that fact". It thus becomes clear from this
statement that both right and wrong play a purposeful role in the Greater
Plan. So let's continue to delve into the relationship between the two.
We're told that "before the Shechina will shine" along the way to its
rectification, "a single Luminary, which no other light could compare to
in greatness and beauty (until then), will assume its place". And it will
be termed “Peace”. (That's not only to say that peace will reign from that
point on, though that's true. "Peace" is also a name for the Sephirah of
Yesod, to be discussed below, since it brokers peace between the upper and
lower Sephirot.)
"All of creation ... will unite" thanks to the appearance of Peace, "and
everything will enjoy a great degree of tranquility" as a consequence.
What will be the source of this Luminary's sudden importance (after all,
Yesod was always there in the picture, albeit subdued), what will enable
it to do the above, and what has all that to do with the ultimate
rectification of the Shechina and the Jewish Nation? Without laying out
the kabbalistic technicalities, suffice it to say that the great Luminary
of Peace will assume its role as a consequence of the realignment of the
Sephirot, and that itself will lead to the ultimate rectification.
But let's explain some details based on some earlier discussions. We'd
discovered that while the ideal of order and hierarchy had been in place
at the beginning, everything suddenly changed for the worse when the side
of impurity rebelled against G-d. The Divine Flow diminished down here on
earth as a result of that, and the Jewish Nation was weakened. The point
is that all that will change with the Great Redemption, the subject under
discussion.
For once everything is well on its way to being amended -- that is, once
the Sephirot of Tipheret (the middle one), Malchut (the lowest one,
synonymous with the Shechina), and Yesod (which sits between them) -- are
joined together, the cosmic order will begin to be restored. And that's
the point we're at now in the discussion.
There's only one hitch, though: the side of unholiness despises all this
because peace is its undoing, so it will do everything it can to squelch
it, as we'll see.
Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org.
