Nefesh HaChayim, Gate I

(The explanation of the details of the process of their rectification and their connection to each other via repentance)For when a person blemished the aspect of his soul-Neffesh, or even if he caused (heaven forefend) all [lower] nine of her s’feerote to be interrupted from or cut off from [the s’feera of ] Chokhma and below, from her connection that was described previously, it then plummets to the fathomless depths of the kleepote364The realm below of unholiness/impurity (mentioned in the last chapter), is referred to here as the realm of the kleepote (husks or shells). (heaven forefend). Then, as a result of sincere verbal confession originating in the depths of the heart, via the expression of his lips (the soul-Neffesh component of the soul-Ruakh365Each component of the general overall soul is composed of the same components as the general overall soul. So the component that we refer to as soul-Neffesh consists of the Neffesh-of-the-Neffesh, the Ruakh-of-the-Neffesh, the Neshama-of-the-Neffesh and the root-of-Neshama-of-the-Neffesh. So it is too with Ruakh and the others components of the general overall soul.), [it] awakens via the sound of his words what is on high and even higher, and causes extra holiness to be emanated from Him (blessed be His name), first to the soul-root-of-the-Neshama, and from there to his soul-Neshama and soul-Ruakh. And the soul-Ruakh shines his great light that is being impressed upon him also upon the component of the soul-Neffesh, from the perspective of the connection that still remains between them (as we mentioned above), to obliterate and utterly consume366Heb.: u’le-ha-seim (ref: Yechezkel 24:10) the powers of evil and the levels of unholiness/impurity367Just as the realm of holiness has levels upon levels (so to speak), the realm of unholiness/impurity also has levels upon levels., and to free from imprisonment all of her components, and to return them and to re-connect them as before with the component of soul-Ruakh.

And similarly, if he blemished and damaged the component of his soul-Ruakh (heaven forefend) with spoken words that are not good, or with other sins dependent on the component of soul-Ruakh (and outweighing them all is the wasting of time that could have been spent learning Torah368Heb.: vee-tool Torah), and the power of the soul-Ruakh of the side of unholiness/impurity overcame it in this case (may the Merciful save us), then the component of his soul-Neffesh also isn’t complete as it was before, for she receives the flow of life-sustaining energy and her light via the soul-Ruakh, as is known. In this case, via sincere regret in the heart/ mind, and experiencing bitterness about the enormity of his sin (as in the context of “their heart screamed out to God-ADN”Y (Eikhah 2:18)), and via pondering on stirrings of repentance in his thinking mind369Heb.: makh-sha-va (which is the dwelling place of the sparks370“Sparks” are glimmerings of light (so to speak), miniscule revelations of a larger light source. of the light of the soul-Neshama—and this is the Malkhoot of T’voona371The Mal-khoot of T’voona is the lowest s’feera of the bottom half of Beena.), he similarly creates an arousal above to first cause to flow extra holiness and light on the soul-root-of-Neshama, and from there to the soul-Neshama. And she shines the brilliance of her light that is flowing upon her upon the component of soul-Ruakh also (“God-Elohi”m desires a broken spirit-Ruakh as a sacrifice”372T’hillim 51:19), and it shatters the power of the soul-Ruakh of unholiness/impurity that previously dominated as a result of his sin, and purifies the component of his soul-Ruakh of holiness to re-connect with the component of the soul-Neshama as it was previously. From there, obviously it will influence also upon his soul-Neffesh to restore her to her initial state of perfection.

Similarly, if he sinned (heaven forefend) with an impure thought, and caused thereby that the sparks of his brilliant soul-Neshama (that until this moment were a shining lamp over his head373See Iyyov 29:3) should depart, then via involvement with Torah with an extra measure of rationality374Heb.: beena y’teira with the depths of intellect375Heb.: o-mek t’voo-na-toe, he stimulates that an extra measure of holiness will be emanated upon his soul-root-of-Neshama. From there it flows to his soul-Neshama so that her light is again shining upon him to enwisen him in the Torah with an extra measure of intellect376Heb.: beena y’teira from the hidden recesses of her purity. And from that holiness and the light, it unfolds and flows also upon his soul-Ruakh and soul-Neffesh to perfectly complete them.

Therefore, they (OBM) said (Shabbat 119:2): “All who answer ‘May the great Name be blessed’377This is the communal response to the Kaddish. with all his strength, the writ of judgment is torn up. And even if he has within him a scintilla of [the sin of] foreign worship, he is pardoned.”

For the main intention of this praise is that an increase of blessing and an abundance of supernal energy/light will be emanated and influence all of the four worlds ABY”A [*]. This is “May the great Name be blessed”. Namely, that blessing and an increase of holiness will be emanated from Him (blessed be His name) to “the world”378Aram.: ah-lahm (the world of Ahtzeeloot), and from there to the “worlds”379Aram.: l’ahl-mei (they being the two worlds of B’reeya [and] Y’tzeera), “world”380Aram.: ahl-my-ya [fem.] is the world of Ahseeya, and they are the roots of the four levels of man, the soul-root-of-Neshama and N”RN.

When man intends, with the holiness of his thoughts, via the verbalization of this praise, to arouse and influence by his actions an increase in holiness and blessing upon his soul-root-of-Neshama, and from there upon his soul-Neshama, soul-Ruakh and soul-Neffesh, he creates the effect that all iniquity and sin that he sinned in any of these three components are utterly consumed and perish, and it is as if they never existed. This is the complete essence of the sincere repentance, as we described above, and therefore he is pardoned for all his sins.

Annotation: And what they (OBM) stated “with all his power” bears two explanations: either (1) the full power of the one who answers, or (2) that the name Y”H should be blessed with all His powers, as in the context of “and now, please, may the power of God-YHV”H be enlarged” [B’midbar 14:17].381Here in the second explanation, R. Chayyim seems to be saying that the full powers of the Ein Sofe should descend on the name Y”H.

However, these two explanations go together382Heb.: b’kha-da mahkh-ta, for the root of the source of holy influence and blessings is part of the name Y”H383Namely, the Y in the name Y”H, which corresponds to the world of Ahtzeeloot, and from it [the world of Ahtzeeloot] the world of B’reeya unfolds and is filled out; it being the world of thought, from the meelui384A meelui is a letter-wise expansion of a word, achieved by spelling out each of the individual letters in the word. For example, if a word started with the letter alef, the alef would be expanded to alef-lamed-fei. Some letters, like the letter hei, have alternate spellings: hei-yud, hei-alef or hei-hei. The first would be called meelui yudin because the hei is expanded with the letter yud, while the second would be called meelui alfin because it is expanded using the letter alef; similarly the third would be called meelui hei-in.of hei of the name Y”H using yud. And from the world of B’reeya is filled out the world of Y’tzeera, it being the root of the beginnings of speech and the stirrings in the heart, from the meelui of hei using alef. And from the world of Y’tzeera is filled out the world of Ahseeya, it being the world of action, from the meelui of the letter hei that’s in the name of Y”H using the letter hei.

And they [fem., emphatic] are the root of the NR”N of man, them being all of the powers of the One -who-answers, and all the powers of the name Y”H -namely all of its meeluim—and that is “y’hei385The Aramaic word y’hei (spelled yud, hei, alef) is the first word of the response to the first part of the Kaddish discussed here. Rav Chayyim seems to be saying that the three letters of this word refer to the three meeluin (using yud, alef and hei) taken together as one. If we add up the three different meeluim of the name Y”H [1: yud-vav-dalet and heh-yud (35); 2: yud-vav-dalet and heh-alef (26); 3: yud-vav-dalet and heh-heh (30), we arrive at 91, the yikhud of the name YHV”H and ADN”Y.” the name [where “name” is spelled shin-mem] Y”H386Here Rav Chayyim breaks up the second word of the response—sh’mei (spelled shin-mem-yud-hei)—into two words: name (Heb.: sheim, spelled shin-mem) and one of God’s names Y”H (not pronounced, spelled yud-hei). In so doing, he provides an alternate to the plain meaning of the response, changing it from “may His great name be blessed” to “may the great name Y”H be blessed”. rabba m’vo-rakh…”. Refer to the Tosafote in Brakhote 3:1 that starts with “and they respond…”.

And this is also the context of what they (OBM) said (Avoda Zara 8:1): “The ox that First Adam sacrificed, it was that its horns preceded its hooves387This asserts that First Adam sacrificed an ox that was created during the seven days of creation, one that was created with its horns already grown, rather than growing them as it matured. RaSh”Y states that this first ox was drawn from the ground, and its horns emerged first, before its hooves. This ox was complete at its creation, just as Adam was.”—that he intended via his sacrifice to correct what he had damaged, to build the demolished, to bring near that which he made farther away, and to unify that which he separated. He caused the purity of his holy thoughts and intentions to ascend, and to initially emanate the influence of the light and holiness upon the upper components and levels within him, “horns” being a metaphor for the soul-root-of-Neshama and soul-Neshama.

And from there, after that he drew [it] upon his soul-Ruakh and soul-Neffesh, to purify all of the limbs/organs of his body, from his head until his feet, per the context of “and it will be when to the heel you will attend”388Heb.; v’haya eikev tish-m’oon (Devarim 7:12), commandments that a person repeatedly visits389Heb.: dahsh with his heels, and those are the hooves of the animal soul-Neffesh b’heimeet390Neffesh b’heimeet (lit.: animal soul-Neffesh) typically refers to the soul-Neffesh of the soul-Neffesh, essentially the lowest part of the soul-Neffesh. This part of the soul-Neffesh animates the physical body.. And this is what is stated (in Va-yikra Rabba 2 and in Kohelet 7) that the ball of his heel would eclipse [the sphere of the solar disc] [*].

Annotation: And this is what King Dovid (OBM) stated (T’hillim 19), “God’s-YHV”H Torah is perfect, restoring the soul-Neffesh”—that when he is involved with God’s Torah, when he makes it [fem.] as perfect as it deserves to be, it [fem.] completely restores man’s soul-Neffesh [connection] to its root. He closed there (Tehillim 19) [with]: “also, when your servant is scrupulous in them, in observing them, there is great reward”391Lit.: “also, when your servant is scrupulous in them, in observing them a great heel”. The word “scrupulous392Heb.: nizhar. The root zayin-heh-reish here is taken to mean taking care.” is derived from the phrase for “they will shine”393Heb.: yazhiroo. Rav Chayyim uses here the alternate meaning of the root zayin-hei-reish, which means shining.; that is, in keeping all the commandments (each of which corresponds to a specific part of the first Adam’s body), his soul-Neffesh and body were refined, until even in his heel there was great light and brilliance, per the context of “the ball of the First Adam’s heel would eclipse… [the solar disc]” (Va-yikra Rabba 2).

And the inner meaning of the matter of “also, when your servant is scrupulous in them…great heel” [is]the purpose of the ascent of the aspect of King Dovid (OBM)394Here Rav Chayyim mentions the “aspect of King Dovid” [Heb.: meedaht Dovid ha-mellekh], saying that its root in its supernal root is the root of the soul of First Adam, the malkhoot of Ahdam Kadmone. in the root of its supernal root, in the Reisha D’lo It’ya-da395The Reisha D’lo It’ya-da is the upper most of the three heads of the s’feera of Keter in the world of Ahtzeeloot, extending above into the lowest s’feera of Ahdam Kadmone. It is also known as Nookva d’Ahtik Yomin. (Refer to the Etz Chayyim: Heikhal 3, Sha-ar 1, Perek 1 and Perek 5, and Sha-ar 2 Perek 1 and 2 for further details.) that is the Malkhut of Ahdam Kadmone, the soul-root-of-Neshama of First Adam. And per the context of (Divrei Ha-yameem 1, 17:16 and 17): “Who am I… that You should have brought me here396Heb.: ha-lome. As described in Shabbat 113b, this refers to sovereignty, per King Dovid’s use of the word ha-lome in Shmuel Bet 7:18 and its use again in Root 2:14. See also Tahna D’vei Eliyahu, Seder Eliyahu Rabba 18: 6.?” (and “ha-lome” is nothing other than sovereignty397Heb.: malkhoot). “And yet, this was insufficient in Your eyes, O God-Elohi”m, so you have spoken of your servant’s household in the distant [future], and you have considered me as befits398Heb.: k’tore a man of exalted stature, O God-YHV”H-Elohi”m”, and in (Shmuel Bet 7:19 and 20): “v’zote toraht ha-ahdam”, and tore399Spelled tav-vav-reish. These are the same letters used in the name Root (Ruth), King Dovid’s ancestor. is a giloofeen400The g’matreeya of a word represents its revealed (nigleh) meaning. The giloofeen represents its hidden (nistar) meaning. A g’matreeya is the sum of the numerical-equivalents of the letters in a word, where alef is 1, bet is 2 and so on. For example, the g’matreeya of God’s name ADN”Y comes to 65 (alef = 1, dalet = 4, nun = 50 and yud = 10). A giloofeen is the g’matreeya of a meelui minus the value of the word’s plain g’matreeya. To get the giloofeen of ADN”Y we first create its meelui: alef spelled as alef-lamed-fei, dalet spelled as dalet-lamed-tav, nun spelled as nun-vav-nun, yud spelled as yud-vav-dalet. The g’matreeya of this meelui comes to 671. We then subtract the g’matreeya of the plain word: 65. The giloofeen comes to 606 (671 minus 65). The g’matreeya of tore (tav = 400, vav = 6 and raish = 200) also totals 606. The g’matreeya of Root is also 606 (reish is 200, vav is 6 and tav is 400). Root was originally a non-Jew who was obligated only for the seven Noachide commandments. When she converted to Judaism, she obligated herself in an additional 606 commandments, for a total of 613. (Thanks to Rav Meyer Twersky for his assistance in understanding this matter.) of God-Adona”i—the intelligent will understand. Therefore First Adam left over for Dovid his last seventy years401A midrash (Zohar Bereshit 91b) explains: First Adam was destined to live a full thousand years, while Dovid was destined to die at birth. First Adam donated seventy years of his life so that Dovid could live., the lower seven [s’feerote] of Malkhut of Ahdam kadmone. And he was worthy to have lived another thirty years, to complete his three heads402The “three heads” are the three upper s’feerote: ketter, khokhma and beena, or alternately (depending on context) khokhma, beena and da’at., per the context of (Shmuel Bet, 23:1): “n’oom ha-gevver hoo-kahm ol403The word ol (spelled ayin-lamed) has a g’matreeya of onehundred, hinting at Dovid’s expected lifetime.”, and he is also the root of the soul-Neshama of the Messiah, about whom is written (Yeshayahu 52:13): “ya-room v’neesa v’ga-va m’ode”, and they (OBM) commented on this404Midrash Tahn-khooma, on Tole-dote, which, in our version, refers to Avraham, Moshe and the Mal-ah-chei ha-sha-reit, rather than Avraham, Moshe and Adam Ha-reeshone (First Adam), as Rav Chayyim cites. from Avraham, and from Moshe and from First Adam (meaning after the sin), and this is (Shmuel Bet, 23:1): “n’oom ha-gevver hoo-kahm ol, m’shee-akh Eh-lo-he”i Yaakov”, for then the honor of His (blessed be He) kingship will be enlarged and ascend to the original position of its root.