ונפש השנית בישראל היא חלק אלו-ה ממעל ממש
The second, uniquely Jewish, soul is truly “a part of G‑d above,”
“A part of G‑d above” is a quotation from Scripture (Iyov 31:2). The Alter Rebbe adds the word “truly” to stress the literal meaning of these words. For, as is known,1 some verses employ hyperbolic language. For example, the verse2 describing “great and fortified cities reaching into the heavens” is clearly meant to be taken figuratively, not literally. In order that we should not interpret the phrase “a part of G‑d above” in a similar manner, the Alter Rebbe adds the word “truly”, thus emphasizing that the Jewish soul is quite literally a part of G‑d above.
כמו שכתוב: ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים
as it is written3 concerning Adam (whose soul was a comprehensive one, a neshamah klalit, in that it contained all the particular souls of subsequent generations): “And He (G‑d) blew into his nostrils a soul of life”;
ואתה נפחת בי
and as we say in prayer concerning the soul of every individual Jew,4 “You blew it into me.”
The significance of the verb “to blow” as it relates to the infusion of the Jewish soul is now explained.
וכמו שכתוב בזוהר: מאן דנפח מתוכיה נפח, פירוש מתוכיותו ומפנימיותו
It is written in the Zohar,5 “He who blows, blows from within him,” that is to say, from his inwardness and his innermost being.
שתוכיות ופנימיות החיות שבאדם מוציא בנפיחתו בכח
For it is of his inward and innermost vitality that a man emits through blowing with force.
Blowing tires a person much more quickly than speaking, as is readily observed, for it requires a greater exertion of effort and vitality. Hence, the fact that the metaphor of blowing is used to describe G‑d’s implanting the Jew’s soul in his body signifies that this soul originates in the “innermost” aspect of G‑dliness.
That the Jew is rooted in G‑d’s innermost and essential being is indicated further by the designation of the Jewish people as G‑d’s “children”, whose souls originate in His “thought” just as a child stems from his father’s brain, as the Alter Rebbe explains presently.
כך על דרך משל נשמות ישראל עלו במחשבה
So, too, allegorically speaking, have Jewish souls risen in the [Divine] thought,6
The Jew has his source in Divine “thought” — the innermost level of G‑dliness. All other created beings, even angels, are rooted in and created by Divine “speech”. Speech is external in comparison with thought.
כדכתיב: בני בכורי ישראל
as it is written7 regarding the Jewish nation, “Israel is My firstborn son”;
בנים אתם לה׳ אלקיכם
and concerning Jews as individuals,8 “You are children unto G‑d your L-rd.”
פירוש: כמו שהבן נמשך ממוח האב
That is to say, i.e., the significance of the Jew’s being called G‑d’s child is that just as a child is derived from its father’s brain — his inner and essential being,
כך כביכול נשמת כל איש ישראל נמשכה ממחשבתו וחכמתו יתברך
so too (to use an anthropomorphism) is the soul of every Jew derived from G‑d’s thought and wisdom.
The Alter Rebbe now takes this concept a step further. Deriving from G‑d’s thought and wisdom actually implies that it derives form G‑d Himself, as he goes on to explain.
דאיהו חכים ולא בחכמה ידיעא, אלא הוא וחכמתו אחד
For9 “He is wise — G‑d possesses the quality of wisdom — but not with a wisdom that is known to us created beings,” because He and His wisdom are one,
וכמו שכתב הרמב״ם שהוא המדע והוא היודע כו׳
and as Maimonides writes,10 “He is Knowledge and simultaneously the Knower… Who knows and comprehends — through the ”Knowledge“…; [and He is that which is Known]” — G‑d is also the subject of knowledge and comprehension, as Maimonides concludes.
This means that G‑d’s wisdom and comprehension are totally different from man’s. In human comprehension there are three separate and distinct components: (a) the person’s soul, the “knower” and possessor of knowledge; (b) the power of intellect and comprehension — the “knowledge” — by which the person knows; (c) the subject of the knowledge — the “known” — such as a law in the Mishnah or a discussion in the Gemara which is apprehended and known.
Concerning G‑d’s wisdom, however, Maimonides states: “He is the ‘Knowledge’, the ‘Knower’, and the ‘Known’.” G‑d is the means of comprehension — the “Knowledge,” and at the same time is He Who understands — the “Knower”, and is also that which is understood — the “Known”.
ודבר זה אין ביכולת האדם להבינו על בוריו כו׳
Maimonides continues: “And this is not within the power of any man to comprehend clearly”;
Foot Notes:
1. See Tamid 29a.
2. Devarim 1:28.
3. Bereishit 2:7.
4. Siddur, Morning Prayer; cf. Berachot 60b.
5. Not found in our editions of the Zohar.
6. See Bereishit Rabbah 1:4.
7. Shmot 4:22.
8. Devarim 14:1.
9. Introduction to Tikkunei Zohar.
10. Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 2:10.
