THE MEANING OF THE TALMUDIC TALES IN BERACHOS 10A
The universes and their correlating human soul parts is the deeper meaning of the following Talmudic passage:
The five Barchi Nafshi’s [“My soul will bless...”] that David recited, for whom, and in reference to what, did David say them? He recited them for the soul and for God. God fills the entire world, and the soul fills the entire body. God sees and is not seen, and the soul sees and is not seen. God feeds the entire world, and the soul feeds the body. God is pure and the soul is pure. God sits in the innermost chambers and the soul sits in the innermost recesses. Let he who has these five qualities come and praise the One who has these five qualities.196Berachos 10.
The Talmud is teaching that God’s relationship with the world is an exact parallel to the soul’s relationship with man. At the lowest level there is nefesh in man that is most connected to the body. The world of asiyah is the Godliness most connected to the physical universe. “God fills the physical world” through the world of asiyah, just as the “soul fills the body” with nefesh. Above nefesh is ruach that connects mind to matter and is the source of emotions. Emotions are in the heart.197According to Jewish mystics, the ability to speak also emerges from the heart. See further Nefesh Ha-Chaim (1:15), Sichas Malachei Ha-Shareis, Chapter 3. The heart can sense even what is not seen. It is this aspect that the Talmud refers to as “God sees and is not seen just as the soul sees and is not seen.” This also refers to the world of angels who are not seen while they see (olam ha-yetzirah).198R. Tzadok Ha-Cohen of Lublin, Sichas Malachei Ha-Shareis, pgs. 46, 49. Neshamah is the life of ruach and nefesh. Neshamah is in the mind, and the mind is the source of life for the body; cut off the head and everything will stop. Neshamah parallels beriah, the source of life for yetzirah and asiyah, and the Talmud refers to this parallel with the phrase, “God provides life for the entire world and the soul provides life for the entire body.” Chayah corresponds to the universe of atzilus. Atzilus is all good, with no evil in it whatsoever. This is the meaning of “God is pure, and the soul is pure.” Above atzilus is the hidden world of Adam Kadmon, and in the person there is yechidah of this relationship the Talmud says, “God is hidden and the soul is hidden.”
Rav Tzadok Ha-Cohen of Lublin adds that the theme of the five soul- parts is also the intent of the beginning of that Talmudic story:
Said Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, what is the intent of the verse, Piha199The Hebrew word piha, “her mouth,” can be divided to spell pi heh, “the mouth of the letter heh,” whose gematria is five. paschah be-chachmah, “She opened her mouth with wisdom” (Prov. 31:26)? Solomon intended this verse to serve as a statement about his father David who lived in five worlds and in each, sang a special song to God. He lived as a fetus within his mother’s womb and sang, Barchi nafshi, “My soul will bless God, and all of my insides will thank His holy name” (Psalm 103). He emerged from the womb and he looked upon the stars and their constellations and said, “Bless God, O His angels, strong warriors who fulfill His word…” (ibid.). He nursed from his mother and sang, “My soul, Bless God! Do not forget all the good that He did for you.” This refers, according to Rav Avahu, to the placement of the body’s repositories of milk at the place of wisdom [the heart]. He saw the fall of the wicked and he sang, “All sin will disappear from the earth, there will be no more sinners, my soul shall thank God. Hallelujah!” (Psalm 104). He looked at the day of death and sang, “My soul shall bless God, God my Lord, You are most exalted.”
The five worlds David lived in correspond to the five spiritual universes and the five parts of the soul. The universe of asiyah produced nefesh and is felt through the physical performance of a Mitzvah. This was the world of his mother’s womb. At this point all the child has is blood and simple physical existence. Looking at the stars was an emotional experience, it corresponds to the world of yetzirah, the place of angels where King David’s ruach sang to God for the wonders that his heart sensed. Nursing from his mother was an experience akin to the world of beriah and the soul level of neshamah. Food contributes to intellectual understanding, and once the child nurses he or she begins to comprehend. The world of the fall of the wicked corresponds to the sense of chayah or an atzilus-like experience. In atzilus all is good; there is a loss of any bodily sensation. Thus witnessing how wickedness will dissipate and only good remains is an atzilus-like experience. David’s day of death corresponds to Adam Kadmon and the world of yechidah; it was an absolute and total connection with God.200Sichas Malachei Ha-Shareis, Chapter 3. R. Tzadok Ha-Cohen in his book Dover Tzedek (pg. 6b) points out that the Talmud calculates that the average individual has twelve and a half years to dedicate to the service of God in his life. The reason for this number is the five parts of the soul. In Jewish law three years are needed to fully acquire title to an item. Each of us must fully acquire the level of nefesh, namely, all our deeds should be Mitzvos. We also must internalize the level of ruach, that all our feelings should be holy. We must reach the level of neshamah, all our thoughts saintly. And we must acquire the level of chayah, constant attachment to Heaven, and the level of yechidah, to completely lose all sense of self and to become fully one with the Almighty.
Therefore, man should need fifteen years of life to fully attain each level of soul. However, in the spiritual dimension, levels interlock. Once you reach the top of asiyah, you are already at the lowest rung in yetzirah. That is why once you complete two and a half years of acquisition for a particular level, you then progress to the next level. 2.5 times 5 equals 12.5, the years of life.
The Part Equals the Sum of the Whole
In light of the Talmud’s lesson that King David was describing the parts of his soul, why did his verses began with praise for nefesh? Shouldn’t there have been a mention of the terms ruach, neshamah, chayah, and yechidah?
The spiritual domain reflects its maker—the single, united, Creator. A close examination of spiritual entities reveals unity. Thus in a broader sense, the soul has five parts and in a detailed sense, viz., if you look at each part, it too has five parts. There is a part of nefesh that is nefesh-like, called nefesh de-nefesh, nefesh of nefesh. Then there is a ruach-like part called ruach de-nefesh, the ruach dimension of nefesh, then neshamah de-nefesh, chayah de-nefesh, and yechidah de-nefesh.
Nefesh is expressed through action. Instinctual activity with no thought or feeling is nefesh de-nefesh. An act performed out of love for God is ruach de-nefesh. If one considers the laws of a Mitzvah while performing the good deed one might have accessed neshamah de-nefesh. If the good deed is performed with deveikus, with attachment to God, for instance, feeling that, “He is moving my hands as I shake the four species during Sukkos,” it is chayah de-nefesh.
King David was primarily on a level of nefesh. That is why he thanked God for the soul parts as they appear within nefesh.201Ibid.
Different Heh’s
The Gaon of Vilna202Rabbi Elijah of Vilna was one of the greatest geniuses of the modern era. He was born in 1720 and he passed away in 1797. Due to his brilliance, he is called, the “Gaon,” literally, the “genius.” uses the Talmud’s explanation Barchi nafshi to explain the two instances where the letter heh in the traditional Torah text appears in unusual form. In Gen. 2:14 a small letter heh appears in the word be-hibbaram, “when they [heaven and earth] were created,” and in Deut. 32:6 a large letter heh is written in the word ha-la-Hashem, “for God”:
The soul has qualities that resemble God’s attributes. However, relative to God the soul can never reach holiness that truly resembles Him, for who can be compared to God? That is why in Gen. 2:14 it says be-hibbaram 203The full verse reads, “These are the genealogies of Heaven and earth when they were created [be-hibbaram], on the day that God made earth and Heavens.” The section then proceeds to detail the story of the creation of the first man. There are two classical interpretations for the unusual word be-hibbaram. One is that God created this world with the letter heh, the other is that He created the world for the sake of Abraham. with a small heh, for the five human qualities are miniscule relative to the Divine’s.204The gematria of the letter heh is five. This explanation corresponds to the interpretation that God created the world with the letter heh.205See further Menachos 29b. There is another explanation to the word be-hibbaram. Its letters spell be-Avraham, and it teaches that God created the world due to Abraham’s merit.206See further Bereishis Rabbah 12. These five qualities [of soul] only existed in Abraham [the small size of the letter reflects the rarity of its attainment]. However the heh in the verse ha-la-Hashem tigmalu zos, “Will you do so before God?” (Deut. 32:6) is enlarged. For the five qualities of God are great in a manner that we cannot fully comprehend.207Imrei Noam, Berachos 10a.
God’s five (His heh) are the five supernal universes. Man’s five (his heh) are the five parts of the soul. The Gaon is teaching that God’s universes are beyond our total grasp, and that only Abraham fully internalized all five soul parts.
To understand why only Abraham internalized the full complement of soul it is necessary to better understand the nature and source of yechidah, the soul’s hidden voice.