Chayah (חיה) — Living / the Living One

Core definition

Chayah — "the living one" — is the fourth of the five levels of the soul. Bereishis Rabbah (ch. 14) teaches that "five names are called to it: NaRa"N, Chayah, Yechidah" — nefesh, ruach, neshamah (the soul's revealed, clothed levels), and above them chayah and yechidah (the makifim, the encompassing, unclothed levels) [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 210]. Chayah is the living soul above the soul's garments: the hidden power from which all the revealed powers draw their life — called ayin, "nothing," because the hidden Chochmah it embodies "is not the essence and measure of the level of revealed Chochmah at all" [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 90–91]. Kesser itself is called "chayah" [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 87].

How the Rebbeim develop it

Chayah as hidden Chochmah and Binah. The maamar "אלקי נשמה" explains that sometimes Chochmah is called "chayah" — "and wisdom gives life" (והחכמה תחיה) — while the level of Neshamah is Binah, and sometimes Chochmah is called "neshamah" because of its closeness to Binah [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 86–87]. Beneath this naming lie two levels: revealed Chochmah and Binah (which come into comprehension and understanding — called "neshamah"), and hidden Chochmah and Binah — called "chayah" [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 88–90]. This is the sense of "and wisdom, from nothing (ayin) it is found" (והחכמה מאין תמצא): the birth of revealed Chochmah comes from the ayin of Chayah [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 91]. Hidden Chochmah and Binah are the level of Chochmah and Binah in Kesser — "the language of crown and encompassing, which is not clothed in the soul in the manner of inwardness at all" — only the prime-matter (hiyuli) power from which revealed intellect is found [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 92–93]. Thus Chochmah is koach mah: revealed Chochmah is "mah" (essence); hidden Chochmah is "mah" without essence — the ayin of Chayah [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 94–95].

The makif of Chayah = the will. Though it is a makif and not clothed in vessels, the hidden power of Chochmah and Binah — in the general level of the makif of Chayah — "is nevertheless a source for the inner light, from which is drawn the level of the revealed power" [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 96]. The essence of the makif of Chayah is the will in the soul, from which are drawn all the soul's powers that come afterward in revelation — including the maskil-power of new insight and "added light" in the intellect, all of which depends on the will [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 97–98]. The will has no particular vessel in the body: it acts in the foot as in the head — one who decides to move the foot moves it instantly, without pause — because "the being and essence of the will is found, in concealment, also in the foot," equally in all limbs without difference [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 100–104]. The will is an encompassing light, not clothed inwardly [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 109].

Mazal: the hidden governor. This makif is called mazal — "the causer" (maf'il, like ma'achil, one who feeds): what "effects the flowing" (hazalah) in the revealed powers [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 111–112]. Though utterly concealed, it acts in the clothed powers — hence Chazal's "though he does not see, his mazal sees": from the makif, high matters can be seen that the revealed powers cannot see, and it can effect fear and dread in the body "though he does not know of what he is afraid" [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 113–116]. Likewise the sudden arousal of thoughts of teshuvah "without any preparation" comes only from this mazal, which hears above the proclamation — "return, children" — and effects the arousal in the body [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 118–119].

The soul's five levels and their stations. The makif of Chayah, though above clothing, is "only an illumination of the soul… to be a source for the revealed powers; it is not yet the level of inwardness" [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 213]. True inwardness is Yechidah. The stations are distributed: Moshe merited Neshamah, Adam HaRishon merited Chayah, and Mashiach is the level of Yechidah [15893/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 223]. In "אלקי נשמה," the soul's purity ("tehora") is its Atzilus-level — the makif of Chayah in it — before it was drawn into the created levels of bara, yatzar, nafach (Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah), which are the NaRa"N [15893/maamar_004 :: Summary §(V)].

Key distinctions

Related concepts

Sources