Chapter Twelve:

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________________

1.

We’ve thus clearly explained how the ratzon l’kabel -- which had been implanted in our souls in order to fulfill (God's) intentions for creation (in point of fact) -- is to be rectified.

For (as we said,) God purposefully prepared the aforementioned two parallel but opposite systems (i.e., holy-A.B.Y.A. and defiled-A.B.Y.A.) which all souls pass through, and they then became separated into two aspects -- body and spirit -- which became enmeshed with each other.

But they’re able to eventually transform the trait of a ratzon l’kabel into a ratzon l’kabel al m’nat l’hashpia by adhering to Torah and mitzvot, when they then become ready to accept all the good (prepared for them, as laid out) in (God's original) intentions for creation.

And they also merit experiencing a strong attachment onto God as a consequence of their having attained an affinity with Him, which is full and absolute rectification, by adhering to Torah and mitzvot.

(Another series of monumental events would then occur.) The impure Other Side would be eliminated from the world, since there’d no longer be a need for it; and death would be annihilated (see Isaiah 25: 8). All the Torah and mitzvah-based tasks given to the world for the duration of the six thousand years (of the universe as we know it), as well as to every individual in the course of his seventy years of life, would (prove to only have existed in order to) bring them to the ultimate rectification that is the affinity of tsurot we spoke about (and will thus be null and void, having served their end).

2.

(An additional consequence of what we’ve indicated to now is that now) the issue of how the husks and impurity could come about from God's own Holiness has been solved. (For as we’d explained) it had to exist in order to allow for bodies that would eventually be rectified by (adherence to) Torah and mitzvot.

For if our bodies with their defiled ratzon l’kabel would not have passed through the impure system, we would never be able to rectify ourselves, for one cannot correct something not (already) within him. (And so the husks and impurity will also be undone in the end after having served their end.)

(c) 2007 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )

********************************
Get your own copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” by logging onto http://www.aronson.com/jbookstore/ and typing in "The Gates of Repentance".
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has translated and commented upon "The Gates of Repentance", "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). And his new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available from Judaica Press.
His works are available in bookstores and in various locations on the Web.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled "Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal".