Quotation על תהילים 36:14

Therefore G-d found it necessary to create man on the sixth day, and He created him with competing drives: Man possesses a spiritual soul that enables him to recognize the creator as does an angel, as the verse states: “Man’s soul is G-d’s lamp…” (Mishlei 20:27). He also possesses an animalistic nature due to his physical body, which drives him to animal behaviors, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping.This state of affairs gives rise to a constant struggle within man all the days of his life, with his animal nature pining for physical desires, while his pure soul opposes such pursuits, inspiring man to turn to his real purpose, to serve G-d like an angel. His soul further insists that even necessary physical needs, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping, should be done with intent to better serve G-d, and on this the verse has been stated: “I have placed G-d before me constantly.” (Psalms 16:8). After man’s death he is shown on high that all his actions were recorded, as though in a book, with his own signature. If he has followed the path of Torah and mitzvos, he inherits heaven (Lit. 'Gan Eden') which is a limitless and endless spiritual joy. Of these people the verse proclaims "They will be sated from the fat of Your house, and with the stream of Your delights You give them to drink. For with You is the source of life; in Your light we will see light. " (Psalms 36:9). If G-d forbid his actions were the opposite, he inherits Gehenom, to which all the pains of this life are as naught in comparison. On these people the verse states: "And they shall go out and see the corpses of the people who rebelled against Me, for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring for all flesh." (Yishayahu 66:24). There are seven descriptions given to Gehenom: Nether-world (or Sheol), Destruction, Pit, Tumultuous Pit, Miry Clay, Shadow of Death and the Underworld. (Eruvin 19a). One who is seduced by his base inclinations falls there, and that is why it is also called 'seducer', as the verse states "For Tophteh (Heb. related to the word 'seduce') is set up from yesterday, that too has been prepared for the king (Sennacherib and his army), it deepened, it widened its pile, of fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord is like a stream of brimstone, burning therein.(Yishayahu 30:33). (Eruvin 19a).

But the joy of God in His own essence is unlimited and continuous, because every kind of perfection that He appreciates in Himself is infinite, and because in His essence are contained an infinite number of perfections, permanent and unchangeable, and unlike any kind of perfection that we can have an idea of. And yet by divine grace a person may comprehend a certain degree of their excellence, a point referred to in the biblical passage, “How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings.” The meaning is, How great and precious is Thy lovingkindness, which can not be attained by the understanding, and yet despite this preciousness and nobility it is a wonderful thing that men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings. “Wing” here denotes mystery and concealment, as Maimonides explains where he deals with the homonym “wing” (Heb. Kanaf), and is related to the expression, “Yet shall not thy Teacher hide Himself (yikanef) any more.” The meaning therefore is that that which is infinite can not be attained, but remains hidden and concealed, and yet men find refuge in that hidden shadow, containing the mystery of God’s essence and lovingkindness and the other attributes emanating from Him. The Psalmist also says that by reason of the understanding they acquire of that mystery, the understanding, namely, that all existing things emanate from Him by a chain of causation, and by comprehending the activities which flow from His lovingkindness and from the other attributes ascribed to Him, they derive wonderful pleasure and satisfaction in the spiritual world. Hence he uses the future tense when he says, “They will be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; And Thou wilt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.” The meaning is that they will be fat and prosperous and filled with all good things as a result of the understanding they will acquire through the existing things emanating from God, which are called “back,” as when God says to Moses, “And thou shalt see My back.” Here they are called “the fatness of Thy house.” But as regards “the river of Thy pleasures,” namely the flowing river which causes Thy own delight, i. e. Thy essence, and the infinite attributes and perfections in which Thou takest pleasure,—this they have no possibility of understanding and enjoying through their unaided mind alone, but Thou must make them drink of it by way of grace. This is why it says, “Thou will make them drink,” and not “they will drink,” to indicate that man can not attain them except as a matter of grace. He says “pleasures,” in the plural, to indicate that the perfections in God are many, nay infinite, as will be explained later.

But the joy of God in His own essence is unlimited and continuous, because every kind of perfection that He appreciates in Himself is infinite, and because in His essence are contained an infinite number of perfections, permanent and unchangeable, and unlike any kind of perfection that we can have an idea of. And yet by divine grace a person may comprehend a certain degree of their excellence, a point referred to in the biblical passage, “How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings.” The meaning is, How great and precious is Thy lovingkindness, which can not be attained by the understanding, and yet despite this preciousness and nobility it is a wonderful thing that men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings. “Wing” here denotes mystery and concealment, as Maimonides explains where he deals with the homonym “wing” (Heb. Kanaf), and is related to the expression, “Yet shall not thy Teacher hide Himself (yikanef) any more.” The meaning therefore is that that which is infinite can not be attained, but remains hidden and concealed, and yet men find refuge in that hidden shadow, containing the mystery of God’s essence and lovingkindness and the other attributes emanating from Him. The Psalmist also says that by reason of the understanding they acquire of that mystery, the understanding, namely, that all existing things emanate from Him by a chain of causation, and by comprehending the activities which flow from His lovingkindness and from the other attributes ascribed to Him, they derive wonderful pleasure and satisfaction in the spiritual world. Hence he uses the future tense when he says, “They will be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; And Thou wilt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.” The meaning is that they will be fat and prosperous and filled with all good things as a result of the understanding they will acquire through the existing things emanating from God, which are called “back,” as when God says to Moses, “And thou shalt see My back.” Here they are called “the fatness of Thy house.” But as regards “the river of Thy pleasures,” namely the flowing river which causes Thy own delight, i. e. Thy essence, and the infinite attributes and perfections in which Thou takest pleasure,—this they have no possibility of understanding and enjoying through their unaided mind alone, but Thou must make them drink of it by way of grace. This is why it says, “Thou will make them drink,” and not “they will drink,” to indicate that man can not attain them except as a matter of grace. He says “pleasures,” in the plural, to indicate that the perfections in God are many, nay infinite, as will be explained later.

Then he continues, “For with Thee is the fountain of life; In Thy light do we see light,” by which he means to say that there is no obstacle in the way of attaining this wonderful pleasure from the fact that the divine attributes and perfections are eternal, while human beings are not, for “with Thee is the fountain of life,” and it is in Thy power to give them eternal life. Nor is there any hindrance in the fact that they have not the capacity to receive such mighty pleasure, for Thy great power is able to endow them with capacity and force to receive it, for “In Thy light do we see light,” i. e. even the things perceived by our senses we can not know except through the lovingkindness which comes from Thee. For light itself we can not see, our vision is dimmed by it. It is the divine light which gives us the power to perceive light partially and enables our vision to pass from potentiality to actuality. This is why he says, “do we see light,” and not “do we see the light,” because we can see only a part of it and not the whole.