Nefesh HaChayim, Gate I

And this is the subject of the text (Mishlei 18:14): “The spirit-Ruakh of man will sustain his infirmity, but a beaten down spirit-Ruakh—who can bear her?”—meaning that the illness and sickness of the sin related to the aspect of Neffesh (Plainly, the majority of the sins are found in the quality of the Neffesh, for it [fem.] is the bottom-most, closest to the “other side344Heb.: sitra ahkhra”, “her legs descend [to] death” (Mishlei 5:5). And as is written (Vayikra 5:1) “and if the soul-Neffesh shall sin…”, “those who sinned in their soul-Neffesh” (Bamidbar 17:3) and many others like these. And refer to the Etz Chayyim, Sha-ar Ha-ahkoodim, end of chapter 5, and the Pri Etz Chayyim, Sha-ar Kri-at Sh’ma Sheh-al Ha-meeta, chapter 8.) it is possible for it345The Neffesh to be rectified and even to rise to a higher level by the quality of Ruakh, as we described above. And if the Ruakh is beaten down, because he blemished and damaged his quality of Ruakh via sins that are dependent on the aspect of Ruakh, then “who can bear her”346Heb.: mee yi-sa-ehna? His rectification is by way of the aspect of Neshama that is called “who347The Hebrew letters mem and yud together (pronounced mee), with a g’matria of fifty, signifying Beena.” as is known in the Zohar.

And an intelligent person will understand that the general principle is as we discussed above on the subject of the three qualities of man: Neffesh, Ruakh and Neshama of man. They also use the same process, in the supernal roots of these three qualities, who are the Holy One (blessed be He), the Sh’kheena and the Mother of the Children348“Mother of the Children” [Heb.: eim ha-ba-neem] refers to the partzoof of Eema (mother), or in the context of the s’feerote: Beena. The “Holy One Blessed Be He” refers to the partzoof of Z’eir Anpeen, or in the context of the s’feerote: Tif-ehret. The Sh’kheena refers to the partzoof of Nookva d’Z’eir Anpeen, or in the context of the s’feerote: Malkhoot., that the sins of the lower beings cause the Sh’kheena of our Powerful One, the secret of the upper Neffesh, to wander from her heavenly relationship, according to the secret of exile349Heb.: ga-loot (this is when the souls-Neffesh of Israel are anchored in the depths of evil desires, heaven forefend).

Refer to the Etz Chayyim, Sha-ar Mee-oot Ha-l’vahna350Gate of the Reduction of the Moon, chapter two, and in the Sha-ar Seider ABY”A351Gate of the Structure of ABY”A, chapter two, and in the Sha-ar Ha-kleepote352Gate of the Shells, all of chapter three, and in the introduction to the Pri Etz Chayyim in the general principles of Z’eir Anpin and Nookva, and in Sha-ar Ha-yikhoodim353Gate of the Unifications, chapter one of Tikkoonei Ahvonote354Rectification of sins.

However, [this applies to] not all ten of her components— only nine components, from Chokhma and below, as we described in the context of the person. But the uppermost component, the secret of her crown that is her root point, is forever connected and attached to the coronet355Heb.: ahtahra of the Y’sode, the component of Ruakh, and is never, ever separated from there (and therefore she is called “coronet”, that is her crown).

And refer to the introduction to the Pri Etz Chayyim mentioned above, and in the Sha-ar Ha-ahmeeda356Gate of the Ahmeeda in the section on Birkat Ha-minnim357The blessing in the Ahmeeda that deals with apostates, and similarly, wrote our great Rabbi358The Vilna Gaon (OBM) in his commentary on the Heikhalot, there in the second Heikhal. (And refer to the Etz Chayyim, Sha-ar Ha-m’lakhim359Gate of the Kings, chapter seven, and in the Sha-ar Mee-oot Ha-l’vahna, and in the Sha-ar Ha-kleepote, and you’ll understand what is written in the Pri Etz Chayyim in the two references cited above. Also refer to the Pri Etz Chayyim, Sha-ar Rosh Ha-shanna, chapter two and you’ll understand all that is mentioned above.)

But the component called upper Ruakh is never separated (heaven forefend) from its place as a result of the sins of those in the lower worlds; rather they cause within him blemish and damage (heaven forefend) in his six organs/limbs, as is known.

However, in the aspect of soul-Neshama, which is the secret of the brains—his three heads as we discussed in chapter 19—none of the results of the activities of those in the lower worlds arrive there at all to damage or blemish (heaven forefend). Rather, as a result of their activity they can cause withdrawal from them (heaven forefend), as is known in the Etz Chayyim, for they come only as a [conditional] addition and are dependent on the actions of those in the lower worlds. For they result, as is known, from the unfolding downward of the lowest component of “the Mother of the Children360Heb.: eim ha-ba-neem—Beena, the lowest component of which is the Malkhoot of T’voona.”, and as the text states (Kohelet 3:19): “establishes heaven with intelligence”—and it [male]361The world of Abba is a world that is guarded from contact with outsiders, as is known.

And this is relevant to the appearance of “the ladder in position earthward…” (Bereshit 28:12), and it’s not written “in position on the earth” but rather “earthward”, whose meaning is “towards the earth”. And its meaning is that its primary source is in the uppermost heavens and from there it unfolds downward until it reaches the earth. It [male] is the living soul-Neshama of the person who is emanated [fem.] (so to speak) from the breath of His mouth (blessed be His name). From there it unfolds like a ladder and chain, and connects with the soul-Ruakh, and the soul-Ruakh with the soul-Neffesh, until it descends to this world in a person’s body.

And it is explained thusly in the Raa-ya M’hemna (Nahso 123:2 on Bereshit 2:7: “And He blew into his nostrils the soul-Neshama of life…”)—“Regarding this it commented (Bereshit 28:12): ‘and he dreamed and behold, there was a ladder…’, that the ladder is certainly the soul-Neshama of life…”, refer there [for more details]. “And behold, angels of God-Elohi”m ascend and descend on it”—as I wrote previously at length, that she, the living soul-Neffesh of the worlds and the powers and the heavenly angels, that all of their ascents and descents and all of their behaviors in every instant, are dependent only on the direction of the actions, speech and thoughts in man’s body in each instant. (That it was written “ascending” first and after that “descending”, is because the primary role of man is to first cause each world to ascend from lower to higher, and afterwards the energy is drawn from higher to lower.) Until finally we behold that God-YHV”H (blessed be He) is positioned above it, as mentioned previously.

And how pleasant are the words of our rabbis (OBM) who wrote in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Ta’anit, chapter 2): “Reish Lahkish, in the name of Rabbi Yokhanan, said: ‘The Holy One (blessed be He) incorporated His name in Israel’s name. This is similar to a king who had the key to a small palace. He said: “If I put it down somewhere simply as it is, it will be lost. I will make for it a chain, so that if it is lost, the chain will be attached to it.” This is what the Holy One (blessed be He) said: “If I set Israel down as it is, they will be swallowed up among the nations of the world. Therefore, I include My great name in theirs”.’” And they (OBM) discussed this in the context of the collective of the unique nation.

However, they (OBM), as they often do in relation to holiness, hinted also to [the context of] an individual person. And their discussions require in-depth study, for they made the simile of a key and chain, as I wrote above, that man is the one who makes the powers and the worlds accessible and inaccessible, the upper palace and the lower palace, because all of them are directed by the power of his actions, the aspect of soul-Neffesh, which is the primary source and root of the aspect of all worlds’ soul-Neffesh.

And the Master of All (blessed be He), based on his enormous positive desire to bestow goodness on His creations, applied Himself assiduously to the process of our rectification, and said: “If I set them down simply as they are—if there weren’t a link between the three aspects of soul-Neffesh, soul-Ruakh and soul-Neshama— firstly, if the quality of the lower soul-Neffesh should fall to the fathomless depths of evil (heaven forefend), there won’t be another to raise it up, and it will be lost there forever (heaven forefend), similar to what it written: ‘and I will destroy that soul-Neffesh’ (Vayikra 23-30), and then if there’s a sinning soul-Neffesh, how will it atone?”

And therefore, He (blessed be His name) had wondrous inspiration, and made permanent the three levels of soul-Neffesh, soul-Ruakh and soul-Neshama, so that each one of them should have her first part, the uppermost part of that aspect connected to the lowermost of the level above her, like a chain, so that for each link in it [fem.], the uppermost edge is held by and passes through the lowermost edge of the link that’s above it [fem.]. In that way, even if the soul-Neffesh should be cut off and fall to the depths of the powers of toom’ah362The phrase “depths of the powers of toom’ah” implies that there exists a realm of unholiness (or impurity), below (so to speak) the realm of holiness above. (heaven forefend), it [fem.] will be able to be rectified and to ascend via the connection of its [fem.] higher parts to the quality of soul-Ruakh. And it will happen in the same way in the situation where the aspect of soul-Ruakh is blemished, as we described above.

This is what was said there: “that I will include My great name within them”, that the three levels NR”N363Neffesh, Ruakh and Neshama and the soul-root-of-Neshama—the wellspring of their source—are from the four letters of the great name (blessed be His name).