The previous chapter taught that the Jewish soul is a part of the Tetragrammaton, the internal aspect of G‑dliness, from which it derives. In this it differs from other created beings whose source is more external — the Divine Name Elokim and Supernal speech.

However, in order that the soul be able to become enclothed in a physical body in this corporeal world, it had to descend through ever more concealing planes by means of the letters that comprise the Divine Utterance, “Let us make man.”

Deriving as it does from the internal aspect of the Divine life-force, the soul itself is thus loftier than the degree of Supernal speech; it merely undergoes a descent through Divine speech. It is for this reason that concerning the infusion of man’s soul into the body the Torah uses the expression “He blew,” indicating that it comes from an internal level, for “he who blows, does so from the innermost aspect of his being.”

Because the soul is part of the Tetragrammaton, it also comprises ten faculties that parallel the Ten Sefirot that are found within the Tetragrammaton.

In this chapter the Alter Rebbe goes on to say that even though the soul was invested in the body through the external agency of speech — the Utterance “Let us make man”— nevertheless it derives from the internal aspect of speech, namely, “breath”. In this regard man differs from all other creatures, including angels, which derive their existence from the external aspect of speech. Accordingly, both the internal and external aspects of the soul derive from the internal aspect of G‑dliness, the internal aspect of the soul deriving from the internal aspect of G‑dliness, namely, the Tetragrammaton, the external aspect of the soul deriving from the internality of the external level of Divine speech.

והנה המשכת וירידת הנפש האלקית לעולם הזה, להתלבש בגוף האדם

Bringing the G‑dly soul down into this physical world to invest itself in a human body, this process resulting from Divine speech, viz., the Utterance “Let us make man,”

נמשכה מבחינת פנימיות ומקור הדבור

derives from the internal aspect, the source, of speech.

הוא הבל העליון המרומז באות ה׳ תתאה כנ״ל

This is the “breath” of the Supreme One that is indicated in the latter hei [of Havayah, the Four-Letter Name of G‑d] discussed above.

וכמו שכתוב: ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים, ויהי האדם לנפש חיה

As Scripture states concerning the vestiture of the soul within the body,1 “He blew into his nostrils a breath of life, and man became a living creature,”

ומאן דנפח מתוכיה נפח וכו׳

and “he who blows, does so from within him, [from his inwardness and innermost being].”

Thus, even the external aspect of the soul that is vested within the body is vested in an inward manner, albeit with the inwardness of speech — the internal aspect of the external level of speech. In this regard it is unlike the internal aspect of the soul which emanates from the most internal aspect of G‑dliness.