Chasidut su Pirkei Avoth 6:11
רַבִּי חֲנַנְיָא בֶּן עֲקַשְׁיָא אוֹמֵר, רָצָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְזַכּוֹת אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל, לְפִיכָךְ הִרְבָּה לָהֶם תּוֹרָה וּמִצְוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיה מב) ה' חָפֵץ לְמַעַן צִדְקוֹ יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאְדִּיר:
Tutto ciò che il Santo è benedetto sia stato creato in questo mondo, ha creato solo per il suo onore, come è scritto (Isaia 43: 7): "Tutto ciò che è chiamato con il mio nome e che ho creato per il mio onore —L'ho formato; L'ho anche modellato. "E (Esodo 15:18):" La L regnerà per sempre. "
Kedushat Levi
This is the true meaning of what the Mishnah in Avot 6,11 tells us when the author states that everything the Lord has created has as its objective the enhancing of His glory. Maimonides in the Moreh Nevuchim when explaining the line in our prayers about G’d being יוצר אור ובורא חושך, “fashioning light, while having created the element of darkness,” explains the word ברא, as related to the word בור, as in Genesis 37,24 והבור רק אין בו מים, “the pit was empty and did not contain any water;” in other words, by withdrawing light there remains darkness. This “darkness” would be what is left from the original chaos, תהו ובוהו, of which the Torah speaks in the first verse of Genesis prior to G’d creating light.
In spite of this commentary by Maimonides, what the Mishnah meant refers only to the creatures. i.e. man, to whom G’d had given בחירה, the ability to make their own decisions as to whether they would live their lives in accordance with the wishes of the Creator or not. When man rises above the temptations offered in this world and chooses to serve his Creator this adds to G’d’s glory.
We know that by carrying out G’d’s will as expressed by the commandments He gave us in the Torah, we establish a “lifeline” to Him, and as the Talmud says in B’rachot 18, the righteous are considered as “great,” because they are called “alive” even after their bodies have already been interred. The same is not true for the wicked, who our sages describe as “dead” even while still walking around on earth. The wicked, by choosing a path which eventually results in their forfeiting their afterlife, have already identified themselves with “death,” even while onlookers do not yet realize this. [We hardly need any proof for his after reminding ourselves that Esau declined the benefits of birthright for precisely this consideration (Genesis 25,32). Ed.]
In spite of this commentary by Maimonides, what the Mishnah meant refers only to the creatures. i.e. man, to whom G’d had given בחירה, the ability to make their own decisions as to whether they would live their lives in accordance with the wishes of the Creator or not. When man rises above the temptations offered in this world and chooses to serve his Creator this adds to G’d’s glory.
We know that by carrying out G’d’s will as expressed by the commandments He gave us in the Torah, we establish a “lifeline” to Him, and as the Talmud says in B’rachot 18, the righteous are considered as “great,” because they are called “alive” even after their bodies have already been interred. The same is not true for the wicked, who our sages describe as “dead” even while still walking around on earth. The wicked, by choosing a path which eventually results in their forfeiting their afterlife, have already identified themselves with “death,” even while onlookers do not yet realize this. [We hardly need any proof for his after reminding ourselves that Esau declined the benefits of birthright for precisely this consideration (Genesis 25,32). Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
Having said this, we can now understand psalms 145,13: מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים, “Your Kingdom is an eternal kingdom.” Why did the psalmist have to repeat the word: מלכות in this verse?
With the help of G’d I hope to be able to explain why, if G’d expects us to attain the level of the attribute of אין, did He create the evil urge which serves as an almost impenetrable curtain preventing us from attaining our destiny. Especially in view of the fact that all manner of “life” is dependent directly on the Creator at every moment and in every place on earth, why did G’d throw up obstacles to our proceeding smoothly along the right path? The obstacle called “evil urge” is almost bound to cause us to leave this life prematurely, without our having fulfilled our task! Moreover, how can we reconcile the existence and constant activity of the evil urge with the statement at the end of tractate Avot that everything that G’d has created, He created only for the sake of His greater glory? Does not the wording of that Mishnah, i.e. כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא לא ברא אלא לכבודו, ”everything that the Holy One blessed be He has created, He did not create except in order to increase His glory,” suggest that there is also another purpose?
[What bothers our author in the text of the Mishnah is the word אלא, “except,” which suggests that after eliminating other alternatives the one presented here is the only correct choice. In fact the sages of the Talmud debated for two and a half years if it would have been easier (נוח לו) for man never to have been created at all; after that long debate they took a vote and the consensus was that indeed it would have been “easier” for man never to have seen the light of the world, but seeing that G’d in His wisdom had decreed otherwise, it is, of course, our duty to accept the challenges with which He has presented us after we have been born. (Compare Eyruvin 13) Ed.]
With the help of G’d I hope to be able to explain why, if G’d expects us to attain the level of the attribute of אין, did He create the evil urge which serves as an almost impenetrable curtain preventing us from attaining our destiny. Especially in view of the fact that all manner of “life” is dependent directly on the Creator at every moment and in every place on earth, why did G’d throw up obstacles to our proceeding smoothly along the right path? The obstacle called “evil urge” is almost bound to cause us to leave this life prematurely, without our having fulfilled our task! Moreover, how can we reconcile the existence and constant activity of the evil urge with the statement at the end of tractate Avot that everything that G’d has created, He created only for the sake of His greater glory? Does not the wording of that Mishnah, i.e. כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא לא ברא אלא לכבודו, ”everything that the Holy One blessed be He has created, He did not create except in order to increase His glory,” suggest that there is also another purpose?
[What bothers our author in the text of the Mishnah is the word אלא, “except,” which suggests that after eliminating other alternatives the one presented here is the only correct choice. In fact the sages of the Talmud debated for two and a half years if it would have been easier (נוח לו) for man never to have been created at all; after that long debate they took a vote and the consensus was that indeed it would have been “easier” for man never to have seen the light of the world, but seeing that G’d in His wisdom had decreed otherwise, it is, of course, our duty to accept the challenges with which He has presented us after we have been born. (Compare Eyruvin 13) Ed.]
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