Chelek Elokah Mima'al (חלק אלקה ממעל) — "a portion of Elokim Above"

Core definition

Chelek Elokah mima'al — "a portion of Elokim Above" (Iyov 31:2, as read in the Tanya's second chapter) — is the classical Chassidic definition of the Jewish soul's essence: the soul is not a created being that relates to Elokim, but a portion of Elokim Himself, "literally" (mamash). The maamarim develop this through the Zohar on "ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים" (Bereishis 2:7): "one who blows, blows from within himself" (man d'nafach mitocho nafach) — "our Sages explained: from His inwardness and His penimiyus (inwardness)" — and "this is why the soul is 'a portion of Elokim Above'" [31621/maamar_010 :: [עמוד נז] — page mem-nun-zayin]. The soul's Divinity is not an acquired quality; it is its substance, breathed from the Divine inwardness itself.

How the Rebbeim develop it

Because the soul is "literally a part of Elokah from above," the Nefesh HaElokis (the Divine soul) "by its nature desires and wills to be included in the source of its quarry — in the living Elokim... And it is drawn to its root and source. As the flame of a candle that always rises upward to be included in its source — the elemental fire. So the soul is always in desire and yearning to be included in the Ohr Ein Sof" [19800/maamar_026 :: עב׳ 200–204]. The soul's upward pull is not a learned aspiration but a law of its nature — the flame's physics — and the ground of all teshuvah and all prayer.

Its root is traced to the highest levels: Israel "arose in machshava — His primordial thought of Adam Kadmon, rooted in Awtsmoos" — and "even descended below remain 'chelek Elokah mima'al mamash,' children drawn from His thought and wisdom like a son from the father's brain" [15966/maamar_005 :: Summary (p. קלט)]. The son-from-the-father's-brain parable is the standing explanation of how a "portion" can be spoken of the indivisible Divine: the soul is not a severed piece but a drawn-forth drop of the Divine wisdom itself — consubstantial with its source, yet a distinct existence.

A precise metaphysical qualification accompanies the doctrine: "man's soul — which is the shining of the essence of the neshama — is 'חלק אלקה ממעל ממש'" — but "that the neshama be enclothed in the body — this is only in the force of the Ein Sof, who does wonders to do"; and even then, "this is only in the aspect of nefesh-ruach-neshama in the neshama. But the essence of the neshama is not in the category of enclothing in the body" [19800/maamar_022 :: עב׳ 206–209]. The soul's essence, being a portion of the Infinite, cannot by any natural law fit into a finite body; its enclothing is a wonder worked by the Ein Sof Himself — and it is only the soul's outer garments (nefesh, ruach, neshama) that enclothe, never its essence.

This explains the soul's mission and its hiddenness. The descent of such a soul into "a physical body amid hindrances to Torah and avodah" has an intent: the world's refinement, and the revelation of what the soul is in essence [15966/maamar_005 :: Summary (p. קלט)]. And although "the body and the animal soul are hiding and concealing" — they are "strange wills and strange desires" — the soul's portion-of-Elokim status is what makes the joining of soul and body possible at all: "to join the neshamah with the body... the neshamah is 'a part of Elokim from above'" [57653/maamar_056 :: [עמוד תתמ]] (translation of a rough-draft file; claim limited to the quoted phrase).

Key distinctions

Related concepts

Sources