Petach 3

תכלית בריאת העולם הוא להיות מיטיב כפי חשקו הטוב בתכלית הטוב:

The world was ultimately created so that God could be beneficent in accordance with His generous desire to bestow utmost goodness (upon the universe)
[1].

We continue to explore God's will and its implications for us.

The first thing to surmise from this short petach is that God is purposeful and always acts with an end in mind. It thus follows that everything that He does is meant to achieve that end, and that nothing happens arbitrarily or by happenstance [2].

The next is that His purpose is to "be beneficent" and to "bestow … goodness" upon the world, since "good beings want to do good things" [3].

What would motivate God to do that? After all, He needs nothing and derives no benefit from anything, so doing good things obviously doesn't fulfill a need in Him. Ramchal's conclusion then is that God's beneficence is utterly, boldly altruistic.

Finally, we're taught here that since God wanted to provide the "utmost goodness" He created the system of free will, and reward and punishment, since (we're told) it's the best method for humankind to achieve ultimate goodness [4].

This last point will be explained in the next petach.

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Notes:

[1] Ramchal discusses the reason for creation in a number of places, including Da'at Tevunot 18, Klallei Pitchei Chochma v'Da'at 1, Ma'amar HaChochma, "v'omek shel hainyan", Kinat Hashem Tzevakot 2, Klallot Shorshei haChochma (beginning), Derech Hashem 1:2, Ma'amar HaIkkurim, "Torah v'Mitzvot", Biurim l'Sefer Otzrot Chayim 5, and Iggrot Pitchei Chochma v'Da'at, "Yediah Sheniya".

[2] Recall though, as we said in the first petach, that we're talking about God's will rather than Himself, about whom nothing can be said. For even though the idea that everything here is directed from above with an ultimate end in mind is astounding and utterly other-worldly, it nonetheless doesn't touch upon God's own Being, which is wholly unfathomable.

[3] See note 3 to petach 2.

We'll explain Ramchal's use of the term "utmost goodness" below. But for now it's important to explain the idea that God is sure to do good, by virtue of the fact that "good beings want to do good things", as if God were compelled by a kind of law of nature to that affect.

But as R' Chaim Friedlander's points out (see his note 2 on p. 4 of his edition of Da'at Tevunot) , it's absurd to suggest that God is compelled to do anything by nature. It's best to say that He simply willed that such a rule be in place which He then chose to abide by (see Friedlander's note 19 on p. 51 there as well).

Also see Shomer Emunim (1:53) for the same idea, though he doesn't address the subject at hand per se here. Also see the last paragraph to note 3 to petach 2 above.

This solves another quandary: 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. But the point once again is that God simply willed there to be an apparent "need" for the world to exist.

[4] See Derech Hashem 1:2 for another perspective on this that touches on God's desires for humankind.

(c) 2009 Rabbi Yaakov FeldmanFeel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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