Q&A: Tzimtzum Literally Understood
Tzimtzum Literally Understood
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I saw in your important book No Person Rules Over the Spirit that you cite Rabbi Shem Tov Gפן as saying that even though the world was created, it still does not constrict God, because these are different dimensions.
My understanding of this matter is very limited, but I still wanted to ask:
Seemingly, the great tzimtzum is not the creation of the world, which is material while God is spiritual, so perhaps there is no contradiction there.
Rather, the very fact that a person has the choice to do evil is a great constriction, and regarding that, as I understand it, it is not relevant to speak of different dimensions,
because it is an actual impairment of God’s power.
Thank you very much in advance.
Answer
That tzimtzum exists, and it is not problematic. The Holy One, blessed be He, constricted Himself of His own will in order to give us free choice. Search here for the column on perfection and self-improvement; I explained there that He even needs this.
Discussion on Answer
The distinction between the dimensions is meant to solve a theological difficulty. If that difficulty doesn’t exist here, there’s no need to resort to that solution.
Sorry for pestering you.
My understanding of this matter is very limited.
But still, this is what I understood: in principle there is no philosophical problem in saying that tzimtzum is to be understood literally,
but there is a difficulty in that the wording of the verses seems to indicate that even after the tzimtzum God is not actually constricted, and that is where Rabbi Shem Tov Gפן’s answer about different dimensions comes in. So now I’m asking whether this idea of different dimensions is indeed correct regarding the creation of the world itself,
but applying it to human choice sounds unclear to me, since choice itself and God are on the same dimension.
Thank you very much for addressing this, and again sorry for the bother.
And another big thank-you for all your tremendous intellectual work, which fascinates me
and has truly illuminated my life.
I’m deeply grateful that you, your books, and your website exist in my world.
And I’ll close with a blessing: may it be God’s will that you merit to see many students who cleave to the truth, follow their minds, and are willing to pay a price for their inner truth.
Nothing follows from the verses. For me at least, the verses are not a factor in the discussion. The problems are theological, not interpretive. Tzimtzum understood literally means there is a limit to divinity. Not literally is nonsense (because that would mean we don’t really exist). Therefore he proposes a solution in terms of dimensions. None of this is relevant to the question of choice. There there is no difficulty and no need for a solution.
Thank you very much
for the answer. I couldn’t find the column about perfection and self-improvement.
But if I understood the Rabbi correctly, for His own sake God needs or wants a world in which there are beings with free choice, and therefore He needs to constrict Himself.
So in that case there is no constriction here, because that itself is growth and perfection.
So why do we need Rabbi Shem Tov Gפן’s point?
What is true regarding people’s power of choice is also true of the world itself: He needs the world for the sake of the people, so that they can act there and choose the good.
Column 170.
We are talking about physical constriction, meaning that in the place where we are, He is not. But it’s true that in my view as well there’s no necessity for this. The idea is a nice one.
The tzimtzum itself
doesn’t seem problematic to me.
What I mean is that, as I understand it, you can’t say about this kind of tzimtzum the idea that really there is no tzimtzum because these are different dimensions.
That’s the whole difficulty I’m raising.