Nefesh HaChayim, Gate I

And it might surprise you. After all the word “Soul-Neshama’s” meaning is “breath”, and in this way it appears to the eye that a person’s breath is a gaseous flow that arises from the heart, from below to above. And also in this way it is the characteristic of “returning light”269The term ore chozeir (returning light) implies that light originating above descended below, arrived at its destination and then returned to a point higher than its lowest point. Returning light has a lower quality than direct light. and not a feature of higher spirituality.

However, the matter that is referred to by the term “breath”, the intention is not man’s breath, rather [it is] as metaphor for His breath (blessed be His name), as is written (Bereshit 2:7): “…and He blew into his nostrils the breath270Heb.: nishmaht of life”.

And our rabbis (OBM) (Sanhedrin 91a, beginning of Perek Cheilek) have previously likened the context of the downward flow of the wind-Ruakh of life in Man to the making of a glass vessel in the context of the revival of the dead, and they said: “it can be deduced logically271Heb.: kal v’khomeir from a glass vessel that is worked with the wind-Ruakh of flesh and blood... how much more so flesh and blood [worked] with the wind-Ruakh of the Holy One (blessed be He).” And so it is in the Shokhar Tov, T’hillim, mizmor 2, refer there.

For what we are discussing resembles a supporting proof, for when we examine the craftsman’s mouth’s exhalation into the glass vessel during its fabrication we discover three phases. The first phase is when the breath’s gaseous flow is still within his mouth prior to its entering the empty space within the hollow pipe; at this point it would be mistaken to refer to it as anything other than “breath”. The second phase is when the gaseous flow enters and arrives within the pipe and is pulled along it as in a straight line; then it is referred to as wind-Ruakh. And the third, lowest phase is when the wind-Ruakh exits the pipe and enters the glass, and spreads within it until a vessel is formed according to the will of the glassmaker. Then he terminates his wind-Ruakh, and it is then referred to as soul-Neffesh, using a term used to denote completion and rest.

So according to this description the three qualities (Neffesh, Ruakh and Neshama) that flow metaphorically from His mouth’s breath (blessed be His name), that the aspect of Neffesh is the lowest aspect [fem.], for she is completely within man’s body.

And the aspect of Ruakh [male] arrives via an infusion from above, whose upper edge and part is attached to and gripped above in the lowest part of the Neshama, and flows and enters also within the body of man, and connects [fem.] there with the upper part of the Neffesh, as is written (Yeshayahu 32:15): “until the spirit272Heb.: ruakh be poured upon us from on high”, “I will pour out my spirit273Heb.: ru-khee…” (Yoel 3:1), for it impresses its influence in man by way of pouring and infusion as we discussed above, and as will be explained further later274See chapter 17 (God willing), the lengthy description of how they are connected.

However, the aspect of Neshama is the breath itself, whose innermost essence hides itself in concealment and its [fem.] blessed wellspring is (metaphorically) within the breath of His mouth (blessed be His name), for its essential aspect does not enter at all within the body of man. First Adam, before the sin, merited to its essence, and by reason of the sin it departed from within him and remained only hovering above him.

Except for Moses Our Teacher (peace be upon him), who merited to have its essence within his body, and therefore he was called “the man of God-Elohi”m” (Devarim 33:1), as is understood that all three worlds (Creation, Formation and Action), from the perspective of their Neshama and above, are absolute Godliness275Heb.: eh-lo-koot ga-moor, as is written in the Etz Chayyim, Sha-ar Ha-tzellem, chapter 1, and at the beginning of the Sha-ar Tzeeyoor O-la-mote ABY”A, and in the introduction by Rav Chayyim Vittal (OBM), and in the Sha-ar Ha-sheimote, chapter 1.

And other than him, no other man earned her. Only the brightness of the sparks of lights, sparkling from within her, are over the head of the man that earned her—each according to his level and according to his measure.

And refer to the Raa-ya M’hemna, Nahso 123b: “And He exhaled into his nostrils the breath of life”—This is the image276Aram.: d’yoke-na that is above the man… . And in Zohar Chaddash, Root 64, ahmood 3: “If he is worthy… then an extra measure of greatness descends upon him from above…, from over him awakens an awakening of holiness, and it settles upon him and surrounds him on all sides. And that same awakening that settles upon him, it originates from a lofty place, and what is her name? Neshama is her name.” Refer there [for more details].277Rav Chayyim emphasizes that the Neshama doesn’t enter within man, but rather, if earned, appears to one who can perceive it as sparkling lights above and around him. The only exceptions were First Adam and Moshe Rabbeinu.

And she is what gives to man an extra measure of understanding278Heb.: beena y’tei-ra to intellectually grasp the inner intelligence hidden in our holy Torah. And as is written in the Sitrei Torah of Zohar Lekh L’kha 79b: “Neshama awakens in man understanding279Heb.: beena. And in the Zohar Chaddash, Root 64a: “And I will awaken in you with lofty wisdom…280Heb.: chokh-ma-ta ee-la-ah”. And refer in the Etz Chayyim (Sha-ar Mokhin D’kahtnoot, chapter 3), and this is what it says: “Surely not all men are worthy to earn it, and know that one who has the power in his actions… then he will have a wondrous memory in Torah, and will understand all the secrets of Torah… and all the secrets of Torah will be revealed to him correctly” – it ends here. And refer further on in the context of his root in the higher worlds and you will understand.

And this is what the text said (Iyyov, 32:8): “Indeed it is a spirit281Heb.: ruakh in man, and the breath282Heb.: nishmaht of God-Shadda”i makes them understand”, intending to convey that the aspect of Ruakh is what flows and impresses and enters within man. However the Neshama is “the breath of God-Shadda”i”, meaning the breath of His mouth (blessed be He); its essence does not impress and reveal [itself] within man, for she dwells in the heavens, metaphorically within His mouth (blessed be He), only that she gives him understanding in the sparks of light above him, to make him understand the depths of the Holy Torah’s hidden aspects.

And what is written in the Zohar and the Kabbalists (OBM) that the aspect of the Neshama’s abode is in man’s brain, they (OBM)) intended the sparks of brilliant light that impart intelligence to his mind and intellect, not her actual essence.

And the key part of their (OBM) intention about the three “heads” of the Ruakh, the secrets of the brains, is that sometimes they sparkle and sometimes depart, and they arrive via the secret of a temporary addition283Heb.: toe-seh-fet to one who through merit earns it, as is known, and not as the essential aspect of the Neshama. And so our teacher, the great genius, the pious Rav Eliyahu284The Vilna Gaon (OBM) wrote in his explanation on the Heikhalote, in the second Heikhal. And they are identical: the lower aspect of the Neshama that sparkles in the parts of his mind called knowledge and intellect to impart intelligence, she [emphatic] is the three “heads” of the Ruakh in his brains, as will be explained next, God willing285The lowest part of the upper aspect corresponds to the “heads” of the aspect below it..