Nefesh Hachaim

Nefesh Hachaim

Contents:

  • Torah Lishmah and Nefesh haChaim | Aspaqlaria
  • Online Learning
  • Chaim of Volozhin
  • Keeping values and meaning in focus.
  • Judaica Press
  • Navigation menu

    • This project was born 5 years ago, when in preparation for regular study sessions with a study partner, I started preparing detailed outlines of Nefesh HaChaim. In constructing these, I discovered a new way of learning Torah that I had not personally previously encountered and when completed I was enthused to continue with this approach to Torah study by extending the detailed outlines to become a full blown translation and commentary. This became the single most intense and satisfying form of Torah study that I had ever experienced, as it was no longer acceptable to get the gist of what was going on and I had to understand the meaning and implications of every single word employed by Nefesh HaChaim.

    After completing an initial draft of the translation, the project just naturally progressed as I had to continue my new found method of Torah study. I researched and translated all of R. Looking back, after a very humble start, this project progressed and transformed naturally beyond anything I would have ever dreamed possible. In retrospect, I can palpably see the hand of Divine Guidance which spoon-fed me with critical pieces of information at the specific times I needed to absorb them without being overloaded by them.

    Torah Lishmah and Nefesh haChaim | Aspaqlaria

    Had I planned the end result at the outset, I am sure this project would never have happened. If you would have told me five years ago that it would end up becoming a Nefesh HaTzimtzum, I would have simply dismissed such a thought with hearty laughter. Having entered into the Kabbalistic world from Chabad, it was natural for me to first look at the Chabad resources explaining the concept of Tzimtzum.

    When I started writing about Tzimtzum I had no basis to question the validity of this letter and used it as a primary source to explain what I understood then to be the positions of difference on the subject. This was to the extent that I even constructed an elaborate chart presenting the differences between Nefesh Hachaim and Sefer HaTanya as a result of this understanding.

    Online Learning

    By the time I had finished this, it transpired that I had written a book on the subject. Although I felt the presentation of difference was correct at the time, I was deeply bothered by the apparent fundamentally different positions between the Mitnagdim and the Chassidim. How could this be?

    How could the primary concept in Kabbalah, upon which all of the rest of the Kabbalah is based, be subject to such dramatically different interpretation? It was then that through the quirks of Divine Providence, I was introduced to Rabbi Moshe Schatz and started learning with him. About a year after meeting him, during a marathon study session which lasted for 11 hours straight, I watched him suddenly be inspired with a new comprehensive understanding of the various positions on Tzimtzum, one that was generally consistent with both the Mitnagdic and Chassidic worlds.

    I immediately appreciated its truth and understood its implications, realizing that I had to rewrite my entire exposition on Tzimtzum from scratch as it was then obvious to me that there was no fundamental difference of opinion whatsoever between the Vilna Gaon and the Baal HaTanya.

    I then spent the next 3 months rewriting my entire Tzimtzum thesis. It was an extremely painful process as I had to prove to myself that a degree change in my view was indeed justified every step of the way and that it truly agreed with all the details I had amassed.

    Chaim of Volozhin

    I knew that it was correct when, using the lens of the new understanding, I could clearly see that it was consistently true everywhere I looked across Kabbalistic writings in general and the writings of Chassidut, the Vilna Gaon and the Nefesh HaChaim in particular. I additionally knew it was correct as having previously held by and invested so much in attempting to understand the positions of difference, I could also now see and fully explain the extensive flaws in that understanding.

    It was also logically satisfying as it did not make sense in any way whatsoever to suggest that Chassidut had blazed a new separate trail to mainstream Judaism, which in effect is the implication of stating that there were positions of difference. How are they saying the same things? The key point is that the Vilna Gaon, like the Chassidic masters, saw that the arena within which the Tzimtzum process occurred as only being in the level of malchut of any world level, including that of the highest level called the Ein Sof.

    The level of malchut is the lowest part of any world level and in fact is in a different dimension to it. This means that any change in the level of malchut of any world level as a result of the Tzimtzum process, does not impact the world level itself in any way. Therefore the first instance of the Tzimtzum process which occurred in the level of malchut of the Ein Sof, did not impact the Ein Sof in any way. Therefore, by extension, the Tzimtzum process does not change God in any way. On further study I also realized that key parts of likkutim collected writings of the Vilna Gaon and his students were also to be understood in this way.

    Amazingly, the Leshem, who notwithstanding the fact that he very strongly expresses his position in the historic debate on Tzimtzum which appears to be very much against the general Chassidic camp, on careful analysis of what he actually says on the topic it is abundantly clear that he most definitely agrees with the Chassidic understanding. Are you questioning those who came before you?

    Most people, including some very great individuals, have been severely misled and confused by a smokescreen of difference which was contributed to by two key factors. Firstly, by terminology used by some key Kabbalists, whose historic context was misunderstood.

    Nefesh HaChaim #2 - Reb Itzele of Volzhin's Introduction Part 2

    Those who were severely misled spanned the entire Mitnagdic-Chassidic divide for the last two centuries and more recently included no less than the last Lubavitcher Rebbe and Rabbi Yoel Kluft, a prominent Mitnagdic Kabbalist who was the head of the Haifa Bet Din.

    They also included all positions that I had seen in the academic world, where most would present convoluted theories built on an inaccurate perception of difference around the concept of Tzimtzum. However, not all were misled. Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, among many other prominent individuals, understood that the argument between the Chassidim and the Mitnagdim was not about the fundamental principles of Judaism. This means that there is confusion and difference of opinion over all Torah concepts. It is the reason why there is so much debate and difference between the positions of our Rabbis over every conceivable minute detail of both the revealed parts of the Torah, such as Talmudic law, and also of the inner deeper parts of the Torah, Kabbalistic thought.

    While the Jewish People is in exile and until the times of the Messiah, difference in all areas of Jewish Law and Thought will prevail, however as we draw closer to the times of Messiah, many of these areas will be gradually clarified.

    The confusion of dozens of authors on the topic of Tzimtzum was therefore meant to be and has no bearing whatsoever on the stature of those individuals who were caught out by it. The current clarification of this topic is just a very small part of an enormous historic process. The Lithuanian Kabbalistic literature at many points clearly labels the views of the Vilna Gaon and R. Hayyim as the Ramak, you make that disappear.

    Keeping values and meaning in focus.

    In the Volozhin yeshiva, students studied for on the average of approximately three to five years, sometime between the age of thirteen and nineteen, then in most cases off to work. As a result, the highly structured presentation of Nefesh HaChaim itself is a gateway into the highly unstructured world of Kabbalah. So selflessness and living in a way to benefit others is a foundation of the NH. It was also logically satisfying as it did not make sense in any way whatsoever to suggest that Chassidut had blazed a new separate trail to mainstream Judaism, which in effect is the implication of stating that there were positions of difference. As in my opening, I started writing the post looking to explore what RCV could have stood for that would produce the Mussar Movement no less than the Yeshiva World.

    My understanding is that there is no contradiction between the Ramak and the Arizal. In many respects the Ramak is a stepping stone to advance to the Arizal. Aged 25, he was attracted by the fame of the Vilna Gaon , and he became one of the his most prominent disciples. Submitting to his new teacher's method, he began his studies anew, taking up again Torah , Mishnah , Talmud , and even Hebrew grammar. His admiration for the gaon was boundless, and after his death Chaim virtually acknowledged no superior see Heschel Levin's "Aliyyot Eliyahu", pp.

    It was with the view of applying the methods of the Vilna Gaon that he founded the Volozhin yeshiva in , a yeshiva that remained in operation for nearly 90 years until it was closed in The yeshiva became the "mother of all Lithuanian -style yeshivas". He began with ten pupils, young residents of Volozhin, whom Chaim maintained at his own expense. It is related that his wife sold her jewelry to contribute to their maintenance.

    The fame of the institution spread, and the number of its students increased, necessitating an appeal to which the Jews of Russia generously responded.

    • Boys & Toys Vol. 2: Racer on the Rocks.
    • The book of King Arthur (Illustrated Edition).
    • Twice Tempted by a Rogue: A Rouge Regency Romance (The Stud Club Series Book 2);

    Rabbi Chaim lived to see his yeshiva housed in its own building, and to preside over a hundred disciples "Chut ha-Meshullash," responsum No. He continued to teach the Vilna Gaon's study method of penetrating analysis of the Talmudic text, seeking to elicit the intent and meaning of the writing of the Rishonim.

    This approach was followed by all the great Lithuanian yeshivas, such as Slobodka yeshiva , Mir yeshiva , Ponevezh yeshiva , Kelm yeshiva , Kletsk yeshiva , and Telz yeshiva. Contrary to popular belief, it does not deal solely with complex understandings of the nature of God, but also with secrets of prayer and the importance of Torah, the purpose being "to implant the fear of God, Torah , and pure worship into the hearts of the upright who are seeking the ways of God".

    • A Journalists Guide to the Federal Courts?
    • Chaim of Volozhin - Wikipedia;
    • Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Finkel.
    • Nefesh HaChaim!
    • Crete: The Battle and the Resistance?

    It presents a clear and orderly kabbalistic Weltanschauung that addresses many of the same issues as the Hasidic texts of the day. A simple reading of either Talmud TY Shabbos 1: I translated this comment in the Meshekh Chokhmah: And a bigger problem with thinking that he means that Torah lishmah is an end to itself is that the introduction to the book tells us that Rav Chaim made a point of teaching his son that people were created for the sake of others.

    Judaica Press

    Now, the classic sefer by the "father of the yeshiva movement" is finally available in English! In Nefesh Hachaim, Rav Chaim of Volozhin -- foremost disciple of the Vilna Gaon -- shares his outlook on many fundamental Jewish beliefs. A book to used in the same manner as Mesillat. Now, the classic sefer by the "father of the yeshiva movement" is finally available in English! In Nefesh Hachaim, Rav Chaim of Volozhin -- foremost disciple of.

    So, how do I understand Nefesh haChaim overall? Section 2 speaks about prayer, drawing G-dliness down into the world, and identifying the world and its problems with His Ends.

    Navigation menu

    We do not pray for our health, we pray for the health that Hashem wishes He could give us. We are told in sec. Nefesh haChaim describes learning a cognitive approach to middah modification. All of the power to repair the world sec. And this other-focus is a central theme in how the author raised his son. I had occasion to look briefly at an English translation of this sefer in shul on Friday night. I found its content so far above things that I know about Yahadus, that I am wondering who this sefer was written for.

    Who was the target audience? I doubt that it was the ordinary Jew who more often than not went to work in those times around the age of Bar Mitzvah. Shaul Stamper in his essay about the Cheder makes it clear that unless a boy could make a leining of gemara by himself by age 13, he went to work. Very few apparently could make a leining by age Thank you for this thought-provoking and eye-opening analysis.

    A few thoughts though I still need to reread the post to fully digest it:. I do not see him anywhere talking about how my daas is impacted by cleaving to the will of God. He invokes the fact that Torah is the will of God only to explain that studying Torah is an act of deveikus , since God and His will are one. There seems to be a striking difference in the terminology of N. If this is correct, then the emphasis seems to be on a metaphysical connection to God through connecting to His will, rather than on molding my thought process to match that of God.

    So too here [is found] the word Constraining, namely, being hidden and covered. However, the fact remains that R. Chaim avoids using this term in articulating the centrality of TT and its functioning as deveikus. Rather, it is the term used by Chazal in the statements he cites to explain the relationship bet. Hence my hesitation to accept that molding our will to reflect His is a central pillar of R.

    On the matter of toiling in Torah liShmah: At the time of being busy with and concentrating in Torah: