Neshamah

An excerpt from:  Romans 6-8: The “law of the Spirit” and Spiritual maturity (Part 2)

The Neshamah

In the Genesis account of the creation of Adam, the Nefesh of Adam although formed, was not yet made alive and active until God implanted the “Neshamah” within it:

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath [Neshamah] of life, and the man became a living being [a living Nefesh].” – Genesis 2:7

The Neshamah in scripture is incredibly tantalizing. While Genesis 2 verse 7 identifies the Neshama as the vital spiritual component required for the Nefesh to become living, a true exposition of its nature is lacking. Absolutely no explanatory background is provided, with the exception of a few vague hints found within the Hebrew language. While the text indeed stands silent regarding descriptions that would please the modern ear inclined to a Greek paradigm of the soul, scripture does however, use the analogy of the breath as it’s chosen motif for expressing the elusive and invisible qualities involved. “Neshamah” is a cognate of the word “Nesheema” which literally means “breath.” The Neshamah, like the breath, is invisible. Furthermore, the Neshamah is also similar to the breath, since the body cannot remain alive without either.

While the Neshamah is the spiritual agent providing the proverbial “breath” – representing the flow of life, the recipient in this exchange is the Nefesh. The word Nefesh comes from the root “Nafash” meaning to rest:

 “On the seventh day, [God] ceased work and rested (nafash).” (Exodus 31:17).

Therefore, the dynamic between the two as hinted in scripture and in the Hebrew language itself is one of giving and receiving. A picture is painted of spiritual life flowing from the Neshamah as it “blows” its breath of life into the Nefesh. When the breath is received, it comes to rest in the Nefesh as a container of that life force. The state of movement in between, as the breath leaves the Neshamah and before it enters to rest in the Nefesh, is represented by the Hebrew word “ruach” translated into English as “spirit”.

The most prominent Rabbi of the 15th century, known as “the Holy Arizal” offers the following illustration of a glassblower to best explain the relationship between the Neshamah, Ruach and Nefesh:

“The process begins with the breath (Neshama) of the glassblower, blowing into a tube to form a vessel. This breath then travels through the tube as a wind (Ruach), until it reaches the vessel, forming it according to the desire of the glassblower, and there it comes to rest (Nefesh).” – Etz Chaim, Shaar TaNTA 5

Up until the fall, Adam operated at all times with unobstructed access to God’s Spirit mediated through the Neshamah. His every thought and action were therefore bolstered with the full measure of God’s glory and in complete harmony with the will of God. According to Nachmanides, leading medieval Jewish scholar from 1194-1270, Adam naturally conducted his actions according to God’s providence, just as celestial bodies can be observed to move in predetermined paths as dictated by God:

“He [Adam] did whatever was proper for him to do naturally, just as the heavens and all their hosts do – “faithful workers whose work is truth, and who do not change from their prescribed course.” – “Adam’s sin: it’s meaning and essence, in Temple portals:studies in Aggadah and Midrash in the Zohar, trans. Liat Keren (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2016), 56.

Much of Jewish tradition presents the pre-fall Adam as embodying such an intense level of spiritual illumination, he was barely confined to his physicality. Rabbi Mordekhai Yosef, founder of the Hasidic school of Izbica-Radzyn writes:

“…As the Zohar says, “The first man had nothing at all of this world,” and in the writings of the Holy Ari, before the sin, “he was barely anchored in this world.” After the sin, he became firmly placed in this world.” – Ora Wiskind-Elper, Wisdom of the heart: the teachings of Rabbi Ya’akov of Izbica-Radzyn (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2010), 185.

When Adam sinned, a spiritual death occurred. His Nefesh no longer received the breath of life from the Neshama. This represented a complete severance from spiritual life. The Nefesh of Adam was cut off from the Neshama.

According to scripture, the Nefesh requires the Neshama to remain living. If this is so, how was Adam able to remain alive after the fall?

This is reconciled with the tradition that man possesses two souls, i.e. two Neshamas. The tradition is derived from Isaiah 57:16

“For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.”

Rabbi Chaim Miller offers the following explanation:

“The first half of this verse refers to ‘the spirit’ in the singular, suggesting that we are speaking here of a single individual. The verse then concludes that God placed in that one person ‘souls (plural) which I have made.’” –

It’s further taught that these two souls represent separate, and independent forces at work within the individual:

“These are two complete, independent souls in their own right, and not merely levels within a single soul.” – The Tanya, Rabbi Shneur Zalman

As described in Genesis 2:7, the Neshama, the “breath of life” is breathed into Adam from God directly:

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath [Neshamah] of life, and the man became a living being [a living Nefesh].” – Genesis 2:7

According to Nachmanides (Ramban), the Neshama as emerging from God’s breath, his own lungs so to speak, is nothing less than a piece of God himself:

“This verse hints for us the virtue of the soul…It states that ‘[God] breathed into his nostrils the soul of life,’ to inform you that (the soul) is not derived from the elements…rather, it is the spirit of God.”- Ramban, commentary to Genesis 2:7

The Neshama that came directly from God, as a piece of the divine to reside within man is known in Jewish tradition as the “Divine soul”. The Divine Soul is the spiritual origin of the Yetzer Tov. God through the medium and influence of the Divine Soul works to curb the appetites of the Nefesh in order to bring it and each individual into subjection to his will.

The second Neshama which is believed to sustain the life of man in his rebellion against God, is known as the “animal soul”. The Animal Soul in opposition to the Divine Soul, fights to liberate the Nefesh from restraint in order to perpetuate man’s rebellion against God.

The two wage war within man at all times, seeking to dominate the other and ascertain control of the physical body:

Just as two kings wage war over a town, which each wishes to capture and rule, that is to say, to dominate its inhabitants according to his will, so that they obey him in all that he decrees for them, so do the two souls— the Divine and the vitalising animal soul…wage war against each other over the body and all its limbs. – (Tanya Chapter 9)