January 13, 2010

• Body Versus Soul

   God formed man out of dust of the earth, and blew into his nostrils a soul of life, and man (thus) became a living creature (Genesis 2:7).    For you are dust and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:19)

   Man is composed of two opposing components.  He has a body that was initially formed from dust and is coarse like the physical world.  Man is also the guardian of a soul, a fragment of Divinity, that emerged from God’s essence when He blew into Adam.The Midrash, (Bresishis Rabbah 12:8, Rashi’s version) describes the composite nature of man in the following text.

  “Great is peace for when God created His world he made peace between the higher (spiritual) creations and the lower (physical) creations.  On the first day He created in both realms, as is written, ‘In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth.’ On the second day He created in the spiritual realm, as is written, ‘And God said “Let there be a firmament.’’’  On the third day He created in the lowly realm, as is written, ‘And God said “Let the earth sprout grasses.”’  On the fourth day He created in the Heavenly realm, as is written, ‘And God said “Let the Heavenly lights (the sun and moon) appear.”’  On the fifth day He created in the lower realm, as is written, ‘And God said “let the waters swarm.”’  On the sixth day He wished to create man.   God then said, ‘If I create Him from the Heavenly then the spiritual will exceed the physical by one creation and there will be no peace in the world.  If I create him from the lowly then the physical will be one more than the spiritual and there will be no peace in the world.  Therefore, I will create him from the Higher and lower realms for the sake of peace.’  This is what is meant by the verse, ‘And God formed man dust from the earth’ (man is) from the lowly, and ‘He blew in his nostril a soul of life’ (man is also) from the Heavenly.”

  Hebrew names manifest the essential nature of an item.  The essence of man can be found in his name Adam.  The letter aleph is a composite of three letters, two letters yud (one on the right and the other to the left) and a vav.  The gimmatria equals 26 which is the numerical value of God’s name of being (Yud then Heh then Vav and Heh).  The aleph of Adam recalls “Alufo shel Olam” “The Master of the world” for man has a part of Divinity within him.  The remaining two letters spell the word dam - blood.  Blood is the home for the animal soul of man.  Thus man is a union of Divine Soul with animal flesh. (Rav Wolfson)

   Since God is not a human who has a respiratory system, what is the meaning of God’s breath?  God’s breath symbolizes the Almighty’s “essence”, as it were His “vitality”.  Breath is human life.  Time of death is determined in Jewish law as the point when respiration ceases, and the Hebrew word for soul, neshama, shares a root with the word for breath, neshima.  To blow means to push out breath from the depths of your being, “G-d blew into man”, He reached to the essence of Himself, cut off a piece, and endowed it to man as the human soul.   Body (earthiness) and soul (pure Godliness) are opposites, yet they need each other.

       A parable helps explain their relationship.  There was once a cripple who was blessed with vigorous eyesight and a keen intellect.  One day he was told that his daughter, who lived in the next town, was organizing a party in her home celebrating the birth of her first child.  The invalid sorely wanted to attend the party.  The next town was only a few miles away, but he could not walk, and he could not afford to pay for a horse and buggy to transport him.

       In the same town as the invalid lived a blind man who was healthy and strong.  He had heard that a medical professor, expert in vision restoration, was in the next town for a short visit.  The blind man desperately desired to visit the doctor, however, he knew that he could not attempt the trip on his own.  Were he to try and grope along the roads he would quickly lose his way at the various turns and would be easy prey for the bandits that ambush passerby.

       The invalid asked a friend to bring him to the town’s central square to find a ride to the next town.  The blind man also came to the square for the same purpose.  They ended up sitting next to each other.   They both waited for hours but no ride materialized.  Eventually, they started talking to each other and the invalid realized that he and the blind man both sought the same destination. 

  He recommended that the blind man carry him.  He would look out and guide the blind man along treacherous turns and watch from his elevated perch for ambushers that may be lying in wait, while the blind man’s vigorous strength would easily carry them both to their goal.  Together they arrived in the next town.The blind man is the body while the invalid is the soul.(Adapted from Vayikrah Rabbah chapter four)

  The body does not see well. The body accepts pleasure as the purpose of life.  The body desires to sleep and waste away time.  It is easy to anger, and it revels in wasteful speech and thought.  The body is often depressed and it seeks pride and power.  The soul however has perfect vision. The soul knows that we are on earth in order to display the Divine’s rule and thus mend His world.  The soul sees ultimate reality, what truly matters and what is real pleasure.  Alone, the soul is an impotent invalid.  For its tikkun, to accomplish its mission of performing Mitzvoth and learning Torah in this sphere of existence, it needs a body. 

  It was most important for the blind man to walk and the invalid to ride.  Imagine if the order had been inversed, would they have achieved their goal?  If the blind man had ridden atop the invalid, he would not have been able to see afar in order to protect the invalid from robbers who lay in ambush, nor would the invalid with his atrophied legs have been able to carry the blind man’s weight.  The soul must control the body and have the body serve it.  People in whom the soul serves the body lack the correct perspective on life, they enslave their moral thinking to legitimize base behaviors, and they torment their soul with the lowest desires.The highest point of the soul is concentrated in the mind, that is why the prayer recited before placing Tefillin (phylacteries) on the arm and head declares, “(the Teffilah box) on the head stands opposite the brain so that the Neshama Shebimochi, the soul, whose location is in the head, together with my other proclivities and abilities will be fully committed to the service of God.”  Thus, thought is associated with the soul, while impulses are expressions of the body.

  The differing attractions of the body and the soul             

  Everything in nature seeks to return to its root.  So as well is a child always attracted to his parental home. Home as the source of one’s life has the quality of a root and branches are attracted to their roots.  Consider the strength of the bond between father and child.  The father is the source of the son, he is a root, and the son is an offshoot.  Since the attraction to source is so powerful the son seeks to emulate his father and earn his father’s approval. Tzion Viareha pg. 31

  Similarly every man is attracted to his wife and when single feels forlorn and incomplete.  This too stems from the need to reconnect to one’s roots.  Before birth each soul is a duality, with a male half and a female half.  When we are born, only half of a soul enters the world at a time.  There is another half, of the opposite gender, that is born into another family, usually at a different time.  The urge for marriage is a desire to return to the perfect state, the most natural, the form in which we were originally created.  Marriage is not a union of disparate individuals, it is a reunion of the halves that were initially one soul. The primordial unity of souls is hinted at in the verse, “Hema Mehevel Yachad” “They are together from mist,” namely, since the point of mere soul mist, male was together with female.  Perhaps this concept can explain a difficulty that is found in Rabbinic sources about marriage.  Legal authorities stress that marriage should be performed with symbolic omens of blessing.  For instance, ideally one should marry at the beginning of the lunar month when the moon, the symbol of the Jewish nation, is growing in luster.  Secondly, there is a widespread custom to place the wedding canopy under the stars, the artifact of God’s blessing to Abraham that Jews will be as plentiful as the celestial lights.  Yet, the Rabbi’s derived the laws of marriage from the purchase of the Machpela cave, the burial plot where Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah are interred.  Can a cemetery and death be a good omen?  The answer is yes, the Machpela cave indicates the heights of union married individuals can reach.  Marriage is not merely a partnership of bodies and lives, it is a reunion of souls.  As a result it does not have to end.  The body stops living at the point of death but the soul lives on and a marriage where husband and wife are fully connected to each other, continues after death.  Even in the next world the two souls are fused.  That is why our patriarchs and matriarchs were buried as couples in the same cave, to indicate that during their lifetimes they had fully fused their personalities and therefore the bond fully continued on a soulful level after death.  Perhaps the name Chevron (where the Machpela cave is located) reflects this concept, since Chevron stems from the word Chibur - connection.  Deriving the laws of marriage from the purchase of the Machpela cave is a wonderful omen, it shows that in marriage an absolute unity can be achieved during the lifetime of the couple and that union can continue after physical death.  (Emunas Etecha parshas Vayetze page 86)

  C.f. “Made in Heaven” page 1 note one.

  Since marriage is a return to one’s root it resembles and symbolizes the ultimate redemption. 

  Every nation’s root is their homeland, that is why Englishmen are loyal to England and Americans are loyal to America.  The root of the Jewish nation is the Land of Israel.  That is why Jews are innately attracted to the Land of Israel. 

  In the realm of person the roots of the Jewish people are our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov.   God introduced Himself to each with commandments about the Land of Israel.  God’s first words to Abraham were, “Lech lecha” “Leave your land, birthplace, and family and go to the Land that I will show you (Israel).” (Genesis 12:1)  To Isaac He said “Do not go down to Egypt, reside in the land that I will command you to stay there.  Stay in this land (Israel).” (Genesis 25: 2-3)  And Jacob’s first message was “I am the G-d of Abraham etc. the land that you are lying on will be given to you and your descendants.” (Genesis 28:13)   Since the land of Israel is the root of the nation in the dimension of space, in the dimension of people our roots first began their relationships with God through hearing of the bond to the land.   (Emunas Etecha, Lech Lecha 5759)

  The ultimate redemption will return Jewry to their land and thus will return us to our root.  Since marriage is also a return to the root, marriage is the symbol of the redemption.  That is why in the blessings celebrating marriage the seventh blessing requests the ultimate redemption.  At a time of return to a root it is fitting to pray for the ultimate return to the Source. Thus, the prophet promised, “Once again it will be heard in the hills of Judea and in the outskirts of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness, the sounds of groom and bride, the sounds of thanks to God.” 

  The body and soul have different roots. The body is from the earth.  It is organic and chemical like the earth.  Since the body is attracted to its root it is drawn to an animalistic life, one of passions, laziness, emptiness, and false pride.  The soul however is also attracted to its root.  The soul stems directly from God’s breath.  The soul pulls us up to God Himself.  The soul attracts man to the highest ideals, it inspires morality, and demands behavior that connects us to God.See Horeb chapter 61, who explains the obligation of burial as a requirement to return the body to its root, just as the soul has returned to its root in Heaven through death.  The concentrated life force of the body is called nefesh habahmis - the animal soul, since animals also have organic “spirits” that provide their life and attract them to lowly desires.

  The soul is the nefesh elokis - the Godly soul, since it is a piece that was hewed off of the Divine.  The nefesh habahamis is concentrated in the blood, which is why loss of much blood causes death to the body.  The Torah severely prohibits ingestion of animal blood because what you eat influences your character and since the blood contains an intense form of the animal’s vitality and nature, eating it would cause the human nefesh habahimis to become too strong.C.f. Ohr Hachaim, Vayikrah 17:10  The organ with the most blood in the body is the liver, the nefesh habahamis is therefore said to be located in the liver, or the left half of the heart, a section of the heart that has excessive amounts of blood.  The home of the nefesh elokis is the mind, and it is concentrated in the right half of the brain.  The nefesh habahamis is sometimes called yetzer hara, evil inclination, for it draws the person to evil, the selfish behaviors of the animal world.  The nefesh elokis, pulls man to attachment with the Divine and is called yetzer tov, the inclination for good. 

       “The candle of God is the human soul.”(Proverbs) Just as in a candle the flame seeks to leap ever higher, the soul (nefesh elokis) seeks to leap out of the body into the embrace of the Heavens.  The wick tethers the flame and the body tethers the soul keeping it grounded and constrained.

       These conflicting urges may be the source for the custom to Shuckle, sway back and forth, while praying and studying Torah.  To remove an embedded tooth a dentist must pull it.  Resisting dislocation, it shakes back and forth.  When praying or learning the soul seeks to leap out of the body; it wants to rejoin its root and feel God without the limitation of flesh.Rav Moshe Chayim Luzzato writes in his work Daas Tevunos, “The soul is a fragment of Divinity, its only desire is to return to and cleave to its Source, to reach Him; (this is because the soul is) like all effects that seek their cause, and the soul will only rest and feel inner peace once it accomplishes this goal.”      Yet the body keeps the soul in this world. The two drives face off against each other, as a result, there is a swaying back and forth.

       The greatest miracle is the human specimen.  According to Rav Moshe Isserles,[17] the blessing recited after relieving oneself in a lavatory expresses thanks for the wonder of human life.  The blessing concludes with praise to God, “Baruch atah hashem rofeh chol basar umafli laasot” “Blessed are you God who heals all flesh and created a wondrous creation.”  The final few words seem incongruous.  The ability to release excrement and the various holes in the body preserve health, but what is so wondrous about them?  Seeing the intricacies of the microscopic realm or the magnificence of a waterfall does not elicit a blessing with the term “wondrous creation” in it, why does excretion?  Rabbi Moshe Isserles answered that the paradoxical nature of man makes his existence wondrous.  On the one hand man is a physical being who eats, procreates, and excretes as the lowest animals do.  On the other hand man is a soul with the ability to praise God, thank the Almighty, and experience transcendent Divinity.  Joining these two forces is a supernatural feat.  Thus, after the most physical of activities when we are reminded of the coarse nature of man it is the time to thank God for maintaining the union of body and soul.Body and soul seem to be opposite forces destined to eternal conflict for supremacy.  However a deeper look reveals that the body can help you learn about the soul, and that the body is neither exclusively nor permanently an opponent to the soul.

  The story of “The turkey prince”   

                   Once the king’s son went mad.  He thought he was a turkey.  He felt compelled to sit under the table without any clothes on, pulling at bits of bread and bones like a turkey.  None of the doctors could do anything to heal him or cure him, and they gave up in despair.  The king was very sad.

       Until a wise man came and said, “I can cure him.”

       What did the wise man do? He took off all his clothes, and sat down naked under the table next to the king’s son, and also pulled at crumbs and bones.

       The prince asked him, “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

       “And what are you doing here?” he replied.

       “I am a turkey,” said the prince.

       “I am also a turkey,” said the wise man.

       The two of them sat together like this for some time, until they were used to one another.

       Then the wise man gave a sign and the king’s men threw them shirts.  The wise man-turkey said to the king’s son, “Do you think a turkey can’t wear a shirt? You can wear a shirt and still be a turkey.” The two of them put on shirts.

       After a while he gave another sign and they threw them some trousers.  Again the wise man said, “Do you think if you wear trousers you can’t be a turkey?” They put on trousers.

       One by one they put on the rest of their clothes in the same way.

       Afterwards, the wise man gave a sign and they put down human food from the table.  The wise man said to the prince, “Do you think if you eat good food you can’t be a turkey any more?  You can eat this food and still be a turkey.”  They ate.

  Then he said to him, “Do you think a turkey has to sit under the table?  You can be a turkey and sit up at the table.”

  This was how the wise man dealt with the prince, until in the end he cured him completely. (Rebbe Nachman of Breslov)

   Rabbi Nachman of Breslov’s parable can be understood as a display of the ideas in this lesson.  Every human has a body, that is his animal or turkey part, and a soul, that is a prince as the son of God.On the verse, “Vigam haNefsh lo timaleh” “ And the soul as well will not be satisfied” (Kohelet 6:7), the Midrash compares the relationship of body and soul to a marriage of unequals.It is like a village peasant who marries the king’s daughter.  Even if he were to bring her many luxurious items they would be worthless in her eyes since she is the daughter of the regent.  He can never provide for her according to what she expects.  So too the soul is the daughter of the King, even if the body brings her all the physical pleasures of the world she will not be satisfied, for she is Heavenly. 

   We should stress our soul and the fact that we are the children of the King of Kings.  Yet the prince thinks he is a turkey.  We so often immerse ourselves in bodily concerns that we view them as the sum of our essence.  Physical desires become our needs and the body’s urges our obligatory behavior.   We are the prince who is certain that he is a turkey.

  The wise man used the turkey misconception to heal the prince and free him from his delusions.  As a turkey the prince had to act like the other turkey (the wise man), since turkeys cannot be different from each other.  Guided correctly, the body itself, its physical urges, can further the cause of holiness and eventually become saintly.Rebbe Nachman’s lesson can serve as a source of comfort.  Even if I feel that I am lost in a morass of physical urges and I am naked of my spiritual dignity, there is still hope.  I can be rescued by a wise man, a Tzadik, who will descend to my level and attach himself to me.  The Tzadik will then show me how to channel my physicality and turn a turkey into a prince of God’s kingdom.Rabbi Wolfson did not quote this story of Rabbi Nachman in this lesson.  I inserted it and adapted its explanation from Avraham Greenbaum’s “Under the Table and How to Get Up: Jewish Pathways of Spiritual Growth”.

  Study of the body is another way in which the material aspect of man might help further the cause of his soul.  Through a deeper look at the relationship between body and soul. The next post will detail why the body can help the cause of the soul and how the body’s lessons can be accessed. 

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