Description: Chapter 5 - 04
Derech Hashem
Chapter 5 – 04
When Hashem created the power of evil, it contains many different abilities, and from them all kinds of evil and chisaron descends into the physical world. The power that evil has, only begins when there is a ‘hester’ or ‘he’elam’ of Hashem’s presence – Hashem hides Himself. Commensurate to the level of he’elam is the degree of power this koach of evil possesses. When the power of evil is strengthened, all which is good in the world is weakened, and it translates into death and decay of all and any thing physical. When the power of good is strong, it weakens the power of evil, and infuses the physical world with life and growth. 
This battle is the root of everything we have been discussing until now, of the struggle between the intellect and the physical self, and every aspect of perfection versus chisaron in the world, all starts from this spiritual struggle between the power of good and the power of evil.
There are many levels of evil and all that is affected by its power. There are different ways to refer to these powers, tumah, darkness, zuhamah, chol, and so on. Likewise, those who are benefiting from the presence and light of Hashem’s countenance, have different ways to refer to this, kedushah, taharah, ohr, brachah and so on. When we understand the nuances and intricacies of all these levels, we can understand how Hashem runs this world.
To each of these aspects, Hashem appoints malachim to see to it that the spiritual strength develops into a physical manifestation, whether good or bad, and these are the servants of Hashem, because this was the way Hashem constructed the world, that His decrees should be carried out by malachim, depending on what task is in their hand.
This concludes the fifth chapter of Derech Hashem, and concludes Chelek Aleph, the first section of the sefer. The first section of Derech Hashem was dedicated to defining the purpose of the world, why it was created and what role do all the creations have, starting from the simplest creation to mankind. The Ramchal explained to us how the world operates, what the purpose of good and bad is, and how it takes effect starting from the spiritual world and manifests in the physical world. He explains how Hashem orchestrates this and makes this happen, and how everything revolves around the level of ‘ha’aras panim,’ how much Hashem reveals Himself, and how much we benefit from the light of Hashem’s countenance, from the hashra’as haShechinah, from being in Hashem’s presence.


We will now begin Chelek Beis, the second section which deals with Hashgachas Hashem, how He relates to us, the effect the constellations have, the relationship Hashem has with Klal Yisrael versus the nations of the world.