Nefesh (נפש) — Soul

Core definition

Nefesh is the soul — but in the Chassidic corpus the word carries several distinct meanings that must be kept apart. It denotes (1) the lowest of the five levels of the soul (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah, Yechidah); (2) one of the three nefashos (souls) operating within man — the Divine soul, the animal soul, and the intellectual soul; and (3) in the prooftext "the blood is the nefesh," the vital soul animating the body. The central Chassidic doctrine is that every Jew possesses two primary souls locked in struggle, with a third, intermediary soul between them [58837/maamar_047 :: Overview].

How the Rebbeim develop it

The classic exposition begins from "venishmas ani asisi" — two nefashos: the nefesh ha'Elokis (the Divine soul) and the nefesh habehamis (the animal soul) [58837/maamar_047 :: Overview]. The nefesh ha'Elokis is called "neir Havayah" ("the lamp of Havayah is the soul of man") — "ru'ach ha'adam ha'olah lema'alah"; the nefesh habehamis is "ru'ach habehemah hayoredes lematah" [58837/maamar_047 :: Overview]. Because the two are utterly distant from each other, there is a third nefesh: the nefesh haseichlis (the intellectual soul), the intermediary — as the blood is the nefesh between soul and body, the vapors rising from the blood giving vitality to enliven the body, so the intellectual soul stands between the Divine and animal souls [58837/maamar_047 :: Overview].

The nefesh ha'Elokis is "chelek Elokah mima'al mamash" — a part of Elokim above, literally. As the son is drawn from the father's brain, so the neshamas of Israel arose in the Divine thought — the Chabad of Mah. Its nature is to desire, always, to be included in its root in Elokim Chayim, like a candle's flame ascending to the elemental fire; it needs no intellect or contemplation for this, for such is its nature — though after its descent below, where it is no longer in closeness to the essence, it does need hisbonenus (contemplation) [58837/maamar_047 :: Overview].

The nefesh habehamis is utterly opposite: drawn after physicality and coarseness. Yet it is not evil in essence — it is only the desiring power; it is middos (emotional traits), not the evil middos of the evil inclination. The nefesh haseichlis, by contrast, is seichel — man's power to intellectualize in human intellect, drawn from the higher level of nogah — and since it is intellect, the Divine soul's intellect and middos can clothe themselves within it, its nature agreeing with the Divine soul's [58837/maamar_047 :: Overview].

The purpose of the soul's descent below is precisely this triangle: through the nefesh haseichlis, the intellectual intermediary, the Divine soul works upon and refines the nefesh habehamis — "le'iskafya sitra achra ve'is'hapcha chashocha linehora" (to subdue the other side and transform darkness into light) [58837/maamar_047 :: Overview].

The Mishnah's "chaviv adam shenivra betzelem" ("beloved is man, created in the image") does not refer to the nefesh ha'Elokis — which belongs to Israel alone — but to the nefesh haseichlis: man's essence, by whose instruction he must conduct himself in all his matters, whether toward the Omnipresent, toward his fellow, or toward himself. "Chavivin Yisrael shenikre'u banim laMakom" ("beloved are Israel, called children of the Omnipresent") refers to the nefesh ha'Elokis: the neshamas are "banim laMakom," as the son is drawn from the father's brain — so every Jew's neshamah is drawn from His thought and wisdom [58837/maamar_047 :: Overview; 31682/maamar_024 :: Overview]. Yet "atem kru'im adam" (Yechezkel 34:31): the nefesh haseichlis in Israel is of another manner than in the rest of humanity — finer, more refined in intellect and in middos [31682/maamar_024 :: Overview].

Key distinctions

Related concepts

Neshamah, Ruach, Chayah, Yechidah (the five soul-levels), Nefesh HaElokis, Nefesh HaBehamis, Tzelem Elokim, Hisbonenus, Birurim (refinement).

Sources