רצונו של המאציל ית"ש הוא רק טוב, ולכן לא יתקיים שום דבר אלא טובו. וכל מה שהוא רע בתחלה, אינו יוצא מרשות אחר ח"ו, שיוכל להתקיים נגדו, אלא סופו הוא טוב ודאי. ואז נודע שלא יש רשות אחר אלא הוא:
The Emanator wants only (to do) good, so nothing but (manifestations of) His goodness exists. Hence, whatever is initially wrongful (by all appearances) does not emanate from another sphere of influence that could oppose Him (as we might think) -- God forbid; instead it will undoubtedly (prove to be) good in the end. And (thanks to that) it will be known that there's no sphere of influence apart from Him.
Continuing to explicate God's role in the world and His great plans, this complex petach focuses on the vexing contradiction between His over-arching beneficence as stated here and the reality of wrong and evil which seems to contradict both.
The theme of God's beneficence continues on through the next 2 petachim as well, making this a major theme in this first section of the book, along with God's sovereignty.
1.
We're told here that God's will is to only (do) good [1], that is, to be thoroughly beneficent and not at all malevolent. In fact, we're told that He wants to bestow utmost, which is to say, utter and complete goodness (see petachim 3-4).
It stands to reason that would be so, Ramchal asserts elsewhere, since God is good and it's the nature of the good to do good things [2].
But, as a result of that, there should be no wrong or evil in the world [3], yet we see instances of wrong all the time; so how are we to reconcile that incongruity? In the end we'll find that wrong doesn't undermine God's over-arching beneficence -- in fact, it only helps Him achieve it. And we'll learn too that all instances of wrong will undoubtedly (prove to be) good in the end.
Ramchal would obviously need to explain the role of wrong and injustice in the grand scheme of things to explicate that. But before coming to that, he contends with a smaller, though just as vexing a problem.
2.
It seems that the existence of wrong should compel God to act a certain way as a just God: to oppose it as a matter of course and to punish those guilty of it. But that would make Him subservient to wrong in a way, since it would seemingly be able to "force His hand", if you will.
Instead, Ramchal makes the point that "the Torah says otherwise" -- God doesn't need to punish the wrongful. For He indicated that "I will be gracious to whomever I will be gracious" (Exodus 23:19), which the Talmud indicates means "even though he may not be worthy" (Berachot 7a) [4]. And Ramchal points out that it's also written that "The sin of Israel will be sought but will not (be found to) exist; the transgression of Judah will not be found (to exist)" (Jeremiah 3:2), implying that God has His own system of reckoning. Hence, both of these examples underscore the fact that God is not beholden to sin and wrongdoing or to human understandings of merit. Thus, as Ramchal puts it, "we see from here that it is God's will to benefit even the wrongful" [5] -- He is beholden to nothing.
3.
We're liable to reason that since God is said to be utterly beneficent, and given that there's nonetheless wrong and injustice in the world, it must follow that some other heavenly force exists that allows for wrong and injustice. But as Ramchal puts it, the answer is a resounding No: "All that's … wrongful does not emanate from another sphere of influence that could oppose Him" -- since "there's only one Sovereign Being" [6].
Ramchal is referring to the fact that there was a school of thought that "arrived at the fallacious notion that it's impossible to imagine something existing without assuming its complete opposite", which then argued that if "there's a God who's utterly beneficent, then there must (God forbid) be another deity who's utterly malevolent" [7].
In point of fact, that theory would seem to solve the dilemma of the existence of evil in the face of God's beneficence. But it would also deny God's sovereignty so it's unacceptable. For "even though we see … so many different and conflicting great and major triggers and prompts" in the world, "we nonetheless know that there is only One God, with one (overarching) will".
4.
Now, as to the matter of wrong and injustice, Ramchal grants us that there are things that are initially wrongful by all appearances, i.e., that seem to countervail God's goodness. Still and all, that's not to say "that the Supreme Will wanted other wills to exist that would have the ability to limit Him" or to thwart His own will. For while wrong and wrongdoers do exist indeed, and they're contended with by God -- that's not the be-all-and-end-all of wrong. For it serves a role in the universe (in fact a vital one at that, as we'll see), and it will be undone in the end.
For, as Ramchal asserts at the end of this petach, wrong "will undoubtedly (prove to) be good in the end", and that as a result "it will be known that there's no sphere of influence apart from Him".
He explains that "all the wrongdoing that now exists now will … not go on forever" -- it will cease to exist at a certain point, after its purpose would have been served [8]. That's to say that, as indicated above, wrong will eventually be cleansed from the universe en toto, and God will thus prove to be beneficent as a consequence of that. And that vital aspect of the future will prove God's beneficence [9].
In the process we'll recognize "retroactively", to use Ramchal's word, that all the instances of wrongdoing we'd experienced until then weren't "mistakes" on God's part, but were purposeful, foreseen, on-target, and just instead -- even if they didn't appear to be at first. And we'll thus come to "know of God's perfection and Yichud" which "we're to believe with perfect faith" [10].
The central theme of the eventual undoing of wrong and of the lessons humankind will learn from that will be expanded on in the 4th petach.
Notes:
[1] Ramchal terms God "The Emanator" (HaMa'atzil) in the original at this point, in reference to God being the Provider, the one and only Source of all things who emanates and imparts everything from Himself. The term is used here because we're now concentrating on that aspect of Him, as opposed to His role as Creator, since we're discussing how He functions within creation, after creation.
[2] See Da'at Tevunot 18 as well as petach 3.
[3] This is no small matter of course for many reasons, but most especially because in a very real sense it's the existence of wrongdoing, evil, injustice and the like that prevent many from believing in and trusting God.
As to other sources for the controvertible idea that God only wants to do good, see the beginning of Ari's Eitz Chaim (cited in note 1 to Ch. 1 with reference to another point). Also see petach 92 below, Ramchal's Da'at Tevunot 18, Derech Hashem 1:2, Klallei Pitchei Chochma v'Da'at 1, Adir Bamarom pp. 54, 393, Iggrot Ramchal # 23, as well as the statement in Messilat
Yesharim (Ch. 1) that "we were created to delight in God and enjoy the radiance of His Divine presence".
Also see R' Aryeh Kaplan's (sole Hebrew-language work) Moreh
Ohr in which he cites other classical sources for this idea, including the declaration in Birkat Hamazon that "You (God) are good and beneficent to all", as well as the verses that read "O consider and see that God is good" (Psalms 34:9), "give thanks to God, for He is good" (106:1), "You (God) are good, and do good" (119:68), and "God is good to all" (145:9).
Kaplan also cites Emunot v'Deot 3 (at beginning), Shiur Komah, "Torah" (13); Shnei Luchot Habrit, "Beit Yisrael"; Pardes, "Seder Atzilut" 4; and Reishit Chochma, Teshuvah 1 as other sources. Also see Sefer
HaChinuch (431). We'd also cite Sa'adia Gaon's Sefer Emunot v'Deot (1:4), Chovot Halevovot (Avodat Elokim 9), Sefer Hakuzari (2:26), Moreh Nevuchim (3:53-54), Rabbeinu Tam's Sefer HaYashar (Gate 1), Chasdei Crescas's Ohr Hashem (2:6), and Cordovero's Shiur Komah (1).
And if, as we're taught, "Out of the wrongful comes forth wrong" (1 Samuel 24:13), it likewise follows that goodness comes forth from the Good as a matter of course.
But see the point made in Ramchal's Arimat Yadi (Ginzei Ramchal p. 226) about the fact that God is certainly not beholden to the principle of utter beneficence (since His having to be beholden to anything would diminish His sovereignty), it's just that this is one option among an infinite number of them available to Him, and that He elected to "subjugate" Himself to it for His own ends. So while the idea that God created the world to offer His largesse seems to suggest that creating beings to enjoy it somehow fulfills God, which is of course absurd, the point once again is that God simply willed there to be an apparent "need" for the world to exist.
Also see several Chassidic works for discussions about God's beneficence, including Sefer Ohr HaMeir, Parshiot Vayera, Vayigash, and elsewhere), Avodat Yisrael, Breshit and Pirkei Avot 1, Ohaiv Yisrael, Breshit, and Iggra D' Kallah 11b, 32a.
[4] See Da'at Tevunot 36 where Ramchal explains this.
[5] As an aside, it goes without saying that no one will "get away with murder", if you will, and that justice will indeed prevail in the end. It's just that as Ramchal revealed elsewhere, God wants everyone to enjoy His benevolence in full (see Da'at Tevunot 36; Ma'amar
HaIkkurim, "Gan Eden"; Derech Hashem 2:2) and doesn't long for punishment or retribution. For as He Himself put it, "As surely as I live … I take no pleasure in the death of the wrongful, but rather (in the fact) that they turn from their ways and live" (Ezekiel 33:11). And yet we're told that God doesn't ignore wrongdoing or look the other way (see Baba Kamma50a) anymore than He closes His eyes to good and righteousness (see Messilat Yesharim Ch. 4).
Thus, the wrongful are indeed disciplined, but not for punishment's sake: only "in order (for them) to be forgiven afterwards" as a consequence of their having been refined in the process. For, "punishment" isn't that in fact so much as a means of "decontamination"-- a thorough and diligent erasure to be sure, but not a purposeful pressing down hard.
This too will prove that "in the end … everyone -- be he righteous or (initially) wrongful -- will profit from God's beneficence". Ramchal also makes the point that we can see that all is ultimately for the good by virtue of the fact that wrongdoers are penalized. Because, "if God's intention was to reject the wicked, they would literally be destroyed instead of being punished" -- they would have been undone rather than made to suffer the consequences of their actions as they are.
The other point to be made is that God saw to it that "just as (punishment) will not go on forever in each individual case" -- since one only suffers trials and tribulations in this world for a finite period of time, and one will endure their equivalents in the Afterlife for only so long and no more -- punishment will likewise not "go on forever for the world at large". For, wrong will cleansed from the universe en toto in the end (as we'll see). Hence, God will indeed prove to be utterly and absolutely beneficent on all levels.
[6] See Da'at Tevunot 36 for a discussion of this, and see Sanhedrin 39a.
Ramchal is assumedly referring to Zoroastrianism which thrived in Talmudic times and threatened Jewish beliefs, since it maintained that a pair of co-equal spirits called Ahura Mazda (the beneficent "Wise Lord") and Angra Mainyu (the malevolent "Evil Spirit") competed with each other for control of the universe. (He might, though, be alluding to the Medieval "Catharist Movement" which held that the physical world was evil and created by Satan, while the good world of spirit was created by God).
[7]The idea that "it's impossible to imagine something existing without assuming its complete opposite" somewhat parallels Newton's third law of motion which indicates that whenever two equal objects interact with each other they exert "equal and opposite" forces upon each other.
[8] See petach 30 below.
[9] For further details on the eradication of evil and the yetzer harah see Sukkah 52a; Eliyahu Rabbah Ch. 4; Breishit
Rabbah 48:11; Pesikta Rabati 33:4; Midrash Tanchuma (Yitro, at end); and Yalkut Shimoni, I:133 on Genesis 33:13.
[10] Ramchal adds that in fact "we've been commanded to (believe this, since it's written): 'Know this day and convey it into your heart, that God is the (sovereign) Lord in the heavens above and on the earth below: there is none other' (Deuteronomy 4:39)". See the beginning of Da'at Tevunot for a discussion of that.
(c) 2009 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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