Q&A: The Dispute Between Maimonides and the Ari
The Dispute Between Maimonides and the Ari
Question
Leibowitz claimed that Maimonides and the Ari disagreed in a very deep way about the nature of divinity. My question is whether the Rabbi can point me to a source or explanation that sharpens the differences between Maimonides and the Ari, or Kabbalah generally, regarding the nature of God—so that I don’t fall into tossing around slogans without examining the matter in depth.
Answer
This is too broad a question. There is a difference in the conception of divinity between the philosophers and the kabbalists, and not necessarily specifically between Maimonides and the Ari. I’ll try briefly.
From the philosophers’ perspective, God is situated far above us, and between Him and us (= the universe up to the sphere of the moon) there is an infinite empty gap (in the kabbalists’ language, this is the surrounding and not the filling; transcendent and not immanent. True, there are philosophers who also speak of a filling dimension, but it seems to me that Maimonides is not among them). We cannot grasp Him (except through negative attributes describing how He appears in relation to us). From the kabbalists’ perspective, that gap is filled with sefirot and worlds, which mediate between us and Him (there is an interpretive dispute whether the Infinite Light at the top of the pyramid is divinity itself, or whether it still belongs to His manifestations, while He Himself remains hidden above everything).
One could argue that these are two similar outlooks expressed in different terminology, especially if one understands that His hidden essence is not included within the worlds up to the Infinite Light. In that case, this is the same description, and the difference is only the question whether the gap is full or empty.
Discussion on Answer
As a continuation of this discussion, where in this picture does the world of ideas fit?
A bit hard to pin down. It is customary to identify the world of ideas with the World of Formation (below Creation and above Action). Formation in the sense of form. Creation expresses the creation of entities ex nihilo, Formation contains the forms, and in Action the form is clothed in matter and creates entities as they are familiar to us (matter + form).
Thanks. And what, in this picture, is the World of Emanation?
Emanation parallels the soul within things. Creation, Formation, and Action are the coming-into-being of the thing, but within the thing (mainly a living being, though not only) there is some spiritual dimension that gives it its vitality and its uniqueness as a unified, single entity. By the way, Leshem already explained that Emanation comes from the root “with Him,” meaning that the Infinite Light is like a soul within a body, inside it. Perhaps one could also say that Emanation is the soul that is “with” the object and gives it life.
Thank you very much