Ruach (Kabbalah)

The Kabbalah posits that the human soul has three elements, the nefesh, ru'ach, and neshamah.

Building on Kabbalah's conception of the soul, Abraham Abulafia's meditations included the "inner illumination of" the human form[1]

[God says] The soul that I placed in you is called "a lamp": therefore I commanded you concerning the lamp[2] and, if you fulfill (the Mitzvot), [this is] good and well... but, if you don’t, I will take your soul

— Mishnah

Meaning: the souls and the body

At the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, sends the neshamah from its Holy place, He blesses it... As it is written: "Hashem said to Abram" - [Abraham] is the Neshamah. What does God say to the Neshamah? "Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you" ... the question asked of the Neshamah by the body's limbs: "What is your land? ...and from where do you come? ...and of what people are you? ...What is your trade?" He (God) meant that He would show what to do[3]

— Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Zohar

The nefesh is found in all humans, and enters the physical body at birth. It is the source of one's physical and psychological nature. The next two parts of the soul are not implanted at birth, but can be developed over time; their development depends on the actions and beliefs of the individual. They are said to only fully exist in people awakened spiritually.

And there is no wisdom without growing wise, consideration and great negotiation in the thought of the learning Nefesh. If so, when the kabbalists do not think with their wisdom the thought of their Neshamah, they do not grow wiser... Behold, the heart understands! There is brain: wisdom; there is heart: intellect; liver: knowledge. These three have souls in them... All of them: behold, these are the three source of the body[4]

A common way of explaining the three parts of the soul is as follows:

• Nefesh (נפש): the lower part, or "animal part", of the soul. It is linked to instincts and bodily cravings. This part of the soul is provided at birth. (primary place: liver) The Chassidut teaches that it is possible to make holy even daily habits, such as eating and working.
• Ruach (רוח): the middle soul, the "spirit". It contains the moral virtues and the ability to distinguish between good and evil. (primary place: heart) “Knowing heart”— a heart that knows that whatever happens in the world comes from God.[5]
• Neshamah (נשמה): the higher soul, or "super-soul". This separates man from all other life-forms. It is related to the intellect and allows man to enjoy and benefit from the afterlife. It allows one to have some awareness of the existence and presence of God. (primary place: brain) The initiation for the Kohen Gadol Aaron occurred in fact starting from the head.[6]

There are three "Neshamot" in them: Nefesh in NHY (Netzach, Hod, Yessod), Ruach in HGT (Hessed, Ghevurah, Tiferet), and Neshamah in HBD (Hokhmah, Binah, Da'at)[7]

According to Ramchal and Arizal, God is the "First Cause" for life of the souls: the spiritual force or quantity and quality of the souls are performed by divine grace and light.

Mode and quality: good and peace

With all your heart and with all your soul[8] Only with the knowledge that one possesses, and according to that knowledge God will be love: if it is little, love will be scarce; if it is much, it will be abundant

— Rambam, Mishneh Torah

One of the ways of the soul is the good. Just as the goodness of human beings derives from the good, we can also say that love is the decisive consequence. In fact, Maimonides affirms that God supports with the good the one who loves the Torah and the Mitzvot with faith for the Tzaddikim and therefore for God. From this we deduce therefore that the good, the goodness and the love are different levels of same source: the peace.

The Zohar admits, however, that all souls are in any case spread throughout the body, so it is easy to deduce their main faculties are the good, the life and the other modalities of Sefirot:

But I chose your soul, not because of what it was, but because of what it could become. It possessed all that you need to fulfill your holy mission in this world

— Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov

The Hebrew Bible tells of the pact of peace between God and the Jewish people, this is possible with the messianic era already prophecy for Elijah: "goodness has arrived in the world, peace has arrived in the world, redemption has come to the world". As is already known in Jewish philosophy but not only, peace is both a "cosmic condition" and an inner and collective way, it is therefore the quality of the soul; considering therefore that the soul and the body are close in a bond of life, the principle of the perception of peace is acceptable. This theory allows us to believe and have faith also in the Gemilut Hasidim and in the theological process of "reward in Olam Haba":

Consider that a person, and corrispondingly the world, has three domains: guf (body, materiality), nephesh and shechel hanivdal (life of spiritual stage); Hashem ceded guf to Esav and shechel hanivdal to Yaakov... The answer is that both Brothers wanted both Worlds[9]

Ruach haKodesh: the holy spirit

Ruach HaKodesh is one of levels of prophecy; the Way of Middot[10] can direct to Ruach HaKodesh with the Sefirot of Khokhmah, Binah and Da'at. Ruach HaKodesh is also the misure of peace, meditation and speaking:

This is the best Way: at first the abundance is scarce but later it increases, rises and bestows the Ruach HaKodesh upon the man. It bestows upon him a better abundance and as it increases it bestows upon him the Ruach of Prophecy[11]

Having established the bond of the soul-body foundation, Kabbalah goes further: the four mineral, vegetable, animal and human realms exist; Jewish theology teaches that when the body presents an imbalance between these, it has negative consequences as much as the soul. On the other hand, when the soul does not adhere to the supernal realms, for example through faith in God then through prayer and the study of the Torah, it is lacking in vigor thus causing deficiencies in the body as well. In the same way this can be compared in concordance with the theory of Four elements. Therefore there are many temperaments, including equally numerous even among balanced ones.

David will reverse that and lend support to Israel through his Ruach haKodesh, Divine inspiration.... “God supports all that fall (Nofelim)”[12]

— Rabbi Yaakov Ibn Chaviv

A decrease in the strength of the soul and its presence or not in the same individual at different times other than death, is absolutely not foreign to Jewish mysticism; in addition to the super-soul of the Shabbat, to the spiritual elevation with the other Jewish festival or with wedding and in the course of existence in this world, it is a concept also present in the scriptures: for example in the Tehillim 51,12 King David reports the request to God so that he can create in him "a pure heart by renewing a permanent Ruach". In addition to indicating the various vicissitudes or difficulties of spiritual existence - Jewish theology on the seven falls of Tzadik is well known - this reveals the importance of transforming itself better and better by increasing in wisdom and in the bond with God, the Torah and the rest of the Jewish people.

Kabbalah

For, as is known from the sacred Zohar37 the Shekhinah is called nefesh (“Soul”), because it is our life and our soul,

וכתיב: כי שחה לעפר נפשנו

as in the phrase,38 “Our Soul is stooped to the dust,” which alludes to the descent of the Shekhinah into exile.

ולכן אמרו רז״ל: גדולה צדקה שמקרבת את הגאולה

And that is why our Sages, of blessed memory, said,39 “Great is charity, for it brings the Redemption near,”

להקימה מעפר מעט מעט

by raising [the Shekhinah] from the dust by gradual stages with every act of tzedakah

עד כי יבא שילה

“until40 Shiloh will come”41 — i.e., until Mashiach comes,42 at which time the Shekhinah will be reinstated to its pristine height[13]

Shekhnah could have been seen by all persons in Jewish people but Moses and Aaron had had this merit also for other Jewish brothers: a cause of revelation of Shiloh the Mashiach, all people will see the Glory of God.

Chassidut

But there is a Tzaddik who deals - even with desolate souls. A Tzaddik who has "clothes" to distribute, a Tzaddik who can cover naked souls. That will "lend us" inspiration, so that we can then take care of our souls[14]

The Tzaddik is precisely the Mashiach: he, thanks to the revelation of the divine presence, allows all the Jewish people to approach spiritual experience with greater ease; therefore the soul of the Jews "dresses" in Mitzvot and Torah, of which the Tzaddik is the undisputed guide. Any Jew who wants to rise by strengthening his soul, if he feels the need, will be able to establish a bond with Tzaddik and therefore will be able to strengthen faith in God.

The soul perceives and understands extremely very exalted things, while the body remains ignorant about these[15]

The soul can therefore ennoble and elevate the body, even during existence in this world. Without reaching high levels of faith and devotion, the body would remain "ignorant" about the soul's faculties; what does this mean? Thanks to true faith, devout persons can reach the perception of their own soul, through the knowledge of good, mercy, goodness and peace precisely within themselves. These values of the soul can "auto-reveal" by growing and increasing in quantity and quality only in a life dedicated to Avodah for God.

In the Kabbalah of the Chassidut the soul is compared to oil: the oil in the water[16] is not confused with it, so is the spiritual nature with excellent essence cannot and must not be degraded, instead of maintaining its own Kedushah.

Jewish philosophy

Rav Shimi said to Rabbi Shimon bar Pazzì: "This is what I meant to ask: David mentions the words, “Bless God, O my soul” in five verses. Now I wonder, what do these five verses correspond to? They correspond to the Holy One, God... blessed be He, and the soul. 1- Just as the Holy One, God... blessed be He, fills the whole world, so does the soul fill the body. 2- Just as the Holy One, God... blessed be He, sees, but cannot be seen, so does the soul see but cannot be seen. 3- Just as the Holy One, God... blessed be He, nourishes the whole world, so does the soul nourish the whole body. 4- Just as the Holy One, God... blessed be He, is pure, so the soul is pure. 5- Just as the Holy One, God... blessed be He, dwells in the innermost chambers, so does the soul dwell in the innermost chambers. Therefore, David says: "Let the human being come that has these five qualities within him and praise Him who has these five qualities"

— Mishnah

As can be found in Gabirol, finally God created the different creatures of the world in addition to the different species and the various elements present here, with "pre-ordered" specificities: this means that the most "internal" peculiar nature of everything is revealed also externally, as can therefore be verified through the senses; so also human beings have different characteristics besides the nature of their bodies, we would even say of the "substance of their bodies" was determined with reference to their essence precisely: that is the soul.

"Eternal soul"

In Jewish Kabbalah there is the theory according to which God only existed before creation: God subsequently formed the light (Ohr), the potentiality for creation and finally forged the souls of living beings, moreover as well as giving existence to angelic creatures; according to this perspective, the eternal nature of the soul is an axiom that holds true as a "paradigm" of its celestial essence.

The "accidents" in the Guide of the perplexed

Into his "hand" I commit my spirit. When I sleep, and I awake. And with my spirit, my body. The Lord is with me, I will not fear

— Adon Olam

Maimonides admits that the link between soul and body entails what he calls "accidents": the life of the body in fact entails what is desirable and what is unnecessary; the same impurity of the decomposing body, as described both in the written Torah and in the Talmud, it seems to be due in fact to the previous link with the soul: every body of any deceased individual among human beings is impure... From this we deduce that life in its highest excellence and the physical-spiritual purity coincide perfectly. Obviously "accidents" are not related to impurity in all their cases, however an example among all attests to the truthfulness of what theorized by Maimónides according to sacred texts: "the manna did not produce feces", so transmitted indicates that it was of "celestial origin" and therefore not subject to "corruption".

It would not have sufficed to explain the need for man to die, i.e. return to the folds of the earth merely because that had been his origin. After all he had originated from earth before the sin and was not bound to return to it. Since man is made of dust, i.e. earth...[17]

— Rabbi Chayim ben-Attar

The textual reference is Bereshit Rabbah: the name "Adam", the first man created on Earth, also derives from the Hebrew word Adamà which means precisely "earth", so according to the tradition Adam and Eve [in their bodies] it was also forged from the earth.

The letters of the Torah

The Kabbalah on the Hebrew alphabet suggests that the letters of the Torah are like souls and bodies. For example, the Hebrew letter YOD, the simplest in shape, resembles a soul and often the Hebrew letter VAV is compared to the body, in fact it stands tall; on the other hand, since these are two letters of the Divine Tetragrammaton, the other letters are also almost built on these two and can thus be included in the aforementioned teaching.[18]

See also

• Sefer Yetzirah
• Soul#Judaism

References

1. (Otzar Eden Ganuz, Oxford Ms. 1580, fols. 163b-164a; see also Hayei Haolam Haba, Oxford 1582, fol. 12a)
2. Shabbat
3. Moshe Schapiro. The Book of Yonah. Journey of the Soul - An allegorical Commentary adapted from the Vilna Gaon's Aderes Eliyahu Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn, New York 2014
4. Abraham Abulafia. And this is for Yehuda eUniversity, United States 2018 ISBN 978-88-94974-11-9
5. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. REBBE NACHMAN'S TORAH: NUMBERS - DEUTERONOMY - Breslov Insights into the Weekly Torah Reading Breslov Research Institute, Jerusalem/New York
6. Pentateuch
7. Raphaël Afilalo. The Kabbalah of the Ari Z'al, according to the Ramhal (Rabbi Moshe Hayim Luzzatto) Kabbalah Editions
8. Devarim 6:5
9. Moshe David Kuhr. The lion cub of Prague Gefen Publishing House
10. The first foundation of the Way of Middot consists in the physical-spiritual balance of pleasure: each desire has its root in the desire of faith for God, thereby referring to prayer itself and the study of the Torah; the Middots however offer the devotee the possibility of not being continually guilty and tense to original sin, when the desire then "confused" discernment and awareness. Taking on the Way of Middot therefore means freeing oneself from lust, indulgence, gluttony, immorality and every vice inherent in the temptation for sin. R. Meir was in the habit of saying: Put your heart and soul into learning My ways [i.e., study the Torah for its own sake], and watch at the doors of My Torah [i.e., study with single-minded determination], guard My Torah in your heart, and keep My fear before your eyes. Keep your mouth from all sin, cleanse and sanctify yourself from all sin and transgression, then I will be with you wherever you are (Avraham Yaakov Finkel. EIN YAAKOV THE ETHICAL AND INSPIRATIONAL TEACHINGS OF THE TALMUD compiled in the sixteenth century by RABBI YAAKOV IBN CHAVIV Jason Aronson Book 2004)
11. Rabbi Abraham Abulafia. Chaye Ha-Olam Ha-Ba. Life in the World to Come Providence University 2008 ISBN 1-897352-33-6
12. Psalms 145:14
13. Tanya - Epistle 21 (Rebbe Zalman of Liadi)
14. Tzadik #48, #228
15. Likutey Moharan I, 22:5
16. "Water" is the metaphor of Chessed (Sefirah of Mercy) but oil is the symbol of light and soul: we see this important element on Jewish Holiday of Chanukkah
17. Eliyahu Munk. Or HaChayim - Commentary on the Torah by Rabbi Chayim ben Attar Ktav Publishing House, Brooklyn, NY 2017 ISBN 978-965-7108-123
18. (in Italian) Giulio Busi ed Elena Loewenthal. Mistica ebraica - Testi della tradizione segreta del giudaismo dal III al XVIII secolo Giulio Einaudi editore, Torino 1995 ISBN 88-06-13712-3