The Fundamental Components of Existence

The Fundamental Components of Existence:
Kedushah and Kelipah

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

All physical beings draw their vitality from one of two fundamental spiritual energies: Kedushah, holiness, or Kelipah, unholiness.

Kedushah is a spiritual energy that is in a state of bittul, submission to Hashem,[1] while Kelipah is a spiritual energy in a state of yeshus, a sense of ego that arrogantly declares “I exist” and denies the absolute reality of Hashem.

Although the Kelipah typically admits that Hashem exists, and even obeys His will in practice,[2] it feels itself independent from Hashem, and so it denies that He is the only true reality.[3]

Thus, the word Kelipah literally means “shell,” for the essence of this force is that it conceals the reality of Hashem just as a peel hides the fruit within it.[4]

Within the Kelipah itself, there are two general categories:

• The higher level of Kelipah, known as Kelipas Nogah, which constitutes a mixture of good and evil.[6] This is the source of the spiritual sustenance of all objects in the world that the Halacha (Jewish law) permits one to use.

• The lower level of Kelipah, known by the collective title of Shalosh Kelipos HaTemei’os, literally, “The Three Impure Kelipos.” Aside from a minute spark of holiness hidden very deep down, this level constitutes total evil and selfishness, without any positive aspect. This is the source of the spiritual sustenance of all forbidden objects.

The Nefesh HoElokis, the Divine Soul, stems from Kedushah, while the Nefesh HaSichlis, the Intellectual Soul, and the Nefesh HaBehamis, the Bestial Soul, stem from Kelipas Nogah.[5]

More particularly, the Nefesh HaSichlis stems from a higher level of Kelipas Nogah, while the Nefesh HaBehamis stems from a lower level of Kelipas Nogah.[6]

Kelipas Nogah also acts as the intermediary between Sholosh Kelipos HaTemei’os and Kedushah.[7]

(For an earlier article on this topic, see here.)

____________________________________________
[1] Tanya ch. 6: “The side of holiness is nothing but the indwelling and extension of the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, and He dwells only upon a thing that nullifies itself to Him.”
[2] Ibid. ch. 24: “[The forces of Kelipah] are completely unable to contravene Hashem’s will, for they know and apprehend that He is their life and sustenance, since they nurture from the ‘hinder-most part’ of the blessed Supreme Will that encompasses them.”
[3] Ibid. ch. 22.
[4] Torah Ohr 61d. Sefer HaMa’amarim 5648, p. 220.
[5] Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Kelipas Nogah ch. 3. Tanya ch. 1, end; ch. 7. In some sources it is explained that the Nefesh HaSichlis and Nefesh HaBehamis are in fact one soul consisting of two components, the former being the higher component, and the latter, the lower component (Sefer Kitzurim, p. 81, cited in Tanya Betziruf Marei Mekomos, Likkutei Pirushim, Shinuyei Nuscha’os, chs. 1-28, p. 37). See also Likkutei Torah, Tetzei 37d, which states that “human intellect” comes from the Nefesh HaBehamis.

[6] Sefer HaMa’amarim 5700, p. 93.
[7] Tanya ch. 37.

This post was dedicated by ovi mori, Reb Kasriel Oliver and family in honor of the yohrtzeit of Yehudis bas Dov Ber on 3 Adar.

Like what you read? The articles I write take a lot of time and effort. Please contact me to sponsor an article for (at least) $36 in honor of the birthday, wedding anniversary, or yarhtzeit of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah or the like. Also, see here concerning the tremendous merit of supporting the dissemination of Chassidus, and the blessings that one receives for doing so.

The Vital Connection Between Jewish Souls and Torah

The Vital Connection Between Jewish Souls and Torah

Rabbi Y. Oliver

(This article is a continuation of this earlier article.)

Now, the Jewish soul stems from Torah.[1] And so just as there are 600,000 root Jewish souls, so are there 600,000 explanations for every verse in the Written Torah. Likewise, so is it for each of the four sections of Torah, called “pardes” (lit. “orchard”)—peshat (the plain meaning, which was just mentioned); remez (the allegorical meaning); derush (the homiletical meaning); and sod (the mystical meaning). Each topic in each of these four sections contains 600,000 explanations. Each Jew has Torah teachings on each of these four levels that altogether create his individual soul.


This also parallels the soul’s root in the four higher spiritual worlds: Atzilus, Beriyah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. The soul descends from above Atzilus into Atzilus, then down into Beriyah, and so on, until it comes vested in the body of a Jew.


The soul’s descent in each of these successively lower spiritual realms on its journey to reach the physical body involve each of the four sections of Torah, each connected with a particular world, respectively:[2] peshat—Asiyah; remez—Yetzirah; derush—Beriyah;[3] sod—Atzilus.


It is because the Jew’s soul stems from Torah that he is obligated to study Torah. The Jew’s root in Torah also dictates the degree to which he will understand Torah when he strives to, and the topics at which he will have greater success at studying.[4]


This is the concept of each Jew’s “portion in Torah,” which we pray to Hashem to give us.[5] We ask Hashem to bring us to find and study the explanations in Torah that are in fact the root of each of our individual Neshamos. And even if we don’t merit this now, we are promised that when Moshiach comes, and in Gan Eden, every single Jew will come to study the explanations that create his Neshamah.


Likewise, we find that every Jew has the ability to innovate specific novelties in Torah that other Jews may not be able to innovate. The reason for this is that the particular novelties that each person innovates correspond to that person’s individual “portion in Torah.”


Likewise, every night, while the person is asleep, the Neshamah rises[6] to the Heavenly House of Study, and if one so merits, it is taught the explanation that lies at the root of his Neshamah. However, the extent to which this will be revealed to him will depend on his actions that day; certain worthy actions will merit a revelation of one dimension of the Torah-root of his Neshamah, while other worthy actions will merit a revelation of a different and perhaps higher dimension, and so on—“measure for measure.”[7] This experience refines the Neshamah and raises it to ever-higher levels, at which higher and higher levels of understanding are revealed to it. The Neshamah may undergo this experience despite one having no recollection of it upon awakening.


______________________________________________________
[1] Much of the material below is drawn from the Arizal’s Sha’ar HaGilgulim  17; Sha’ar Ma’amarei Razal, p. 86; Sha’ar Ru’ach HaKodesh, gate 7, p. 108.
[2] Shaar HaHakdamos 1b.
[3] This is one opinion among the Kabbalists; another opinion maintains that remez is connected with Beriyah, and derush with Yetzirah.
[4] Cf. Tanya ch. 4, beginning.
[5] Avos 5:20. Nusach HaTefillah.
[6] Cf. Tanya ch. 29.
[7] Sanhedrin 90a.


This post was dedicated by Reb Pinchas Cylich and family in honor of the yahrtzeit of  R' Yeshaya Yaakov Ben Boruch Yosef  on 28 Marcheshvan, and (lehavdil bein chayim lachayim) the birthday of Binyomin Hirsch ben Feyge Matl, also on 28 Marcheshvan. May he have a shnas hatzlocho begashmiyus u'veruchniyus!


Like what you read? The articles I write take a lot of time and effort. Please contact me to sponsor an article for $36 in honor of the birthday, wedding anniversary, or yarhtzeit of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah or the like. Also, see here concerning the tremendous merit of supporting the dissemination of Chassidus, and the blessings that one receives for doing so.

On the Subdivision of Souls

On the Subdivision of Souls

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

On the highest level, all Jewish souls exist as one undifferentiated singularity. They are first divided into seven,[1] corresponding to the seven branches of the Menorah in the Beis HaMikdash. Each of the branches corresponds to one of the seven emotional Sephiros (divine attributes—sing. Sephirah) in Atzilus, each of which acts as a “root-soul” for all the Jews in whose souls that particular emotional attribute is primary.

Then there was the division into the twelve tribes, who acted as root-souls in their own way. The number twelve corresponds to the six emotional Sephiros (excluding the last, Malchus), as they go from below to above, and from above to below.[2] After that, each of the seven emotional attributes itself consists of ten sub-attributes, and this is the next division, into seventy, which was embodied in the seventy souls that descended to Egypt.[3]

The souls then subdivided further into 600,000. The Torah relates[4] that at Mount Sinai, there were 600,000 men present between the ages of twenty and sixty. Kabbalah[5] and Chassidus[6] explain that these men possessed the souls of the entire Jewish people, for there are altogether 600,000 Jewish souls. However, these souls are not ordinary souls; they are “root souls,” and so just as a root produces many branches, so do each of these souls subdivide into “sparks,” which also number 600,000.[7] Each of these sparks is a single Neshamah.

The number 600,000 also stems from the six Sephiros in Atzilus. Every Sephirah contains all ten Sephiros (both the three intellectual, and the seven emotional), and so the six contain 60, and then 600, and so on, until they reach 600,000.[8]

This is the meaning of “A generation passes, and a generation comes,”[9] but there can be no generation with less than 600,000 Jews.[10] These are the same souls, come down into different bodies, and so in this sense the passing generation is the succeeding generation.[11]

________________________________
[1] Torah Ohr 32b.
[2] Sha’ar Ru’ach HaKodesh, gate 7, p. 108.
[3] Bereshis 46:27.
[4] Shemos 12:37, 38:26, Bamidbar 1:46, 11:21.
[5] Zohar 3:273a.
[6] Tanya ch. 37, 48a.
[7] To do the simple math, that’s 360,000,000,000 Neshamos. However, the soul—even the root soul—consists of three distinct levels: Nefesh, Ru’ach, and Neshamah. So when the root souls split up into 600,000 sparks, that’s really all three levels of the soul splitting up. So even in the world of Atzilus, there are altogether 1,080,000,000,000 soul-levels. This number of souls then descends further into each of the three lower worlds, which comes to a total of 4,320,000,000,000 (quoted in Tanya Betziruf Marei Mekomos, Likkutei Pirushim, Shinuyei Nuscha’os, chs. 29-53, p. 756, in the name of Likkutei Hagahos LeTanya, p. 37. But see Torah Ohr 27d.
[8] Sefer HaMa’amarim 5654, p. 106. Sefer HaMa’amarim 5663-5664, p. 311.
[9] Koheles 1:4.
[10] Koheles Rabbah on Koheles 1:4, Yalkut 2:966. Zohar 3:273a. ibid. 4:216b.
[11] Sefer HaBahir 51.


This post was dedicated by Reb Pinchas Cylich in honor of the birthday of Menachem Mendel ben Faiga Matel on 16 Cheshvan. May he have a shnas hatzlocho begashmiyus u'veruchniyus!

Like what you read? The articles I write take a lot of time and effort. Please contact me to sponsor an article for $36 in honor of the birthday, wedding anniversary, or yarhtzeit of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah or the like. Also, see here concerning the tremendous merit of supporting the dissemination of Chassidus, and the blessings that one receives for doing so.

Refining the Sparks Through the Suffering of Exile

Refining the Sparks Through
the Suffering of Exile

Rabbi Y. Oliver

We have spoken about how when the Jewish people use objects in the world to serve Hashem, they refine the sparks of holiness in those objects.

Another significant way in which the Jewish people refine the sparks of holiness in exile relates to their suffering in their alien environment. Over the course of Jewish history, the Jewish people have been “hosted” by various nations because those nations held sparks of holiness that the Jewish people were expected to refine. When the Jewish people are oppressed by their host nations in various ways, and yet remain firm in their observance of Torah and Mitzvos, they pull out the sparks of holiness in the nations and in their countries.

When the Jewish people have completed their task of refining the sparks within a specific nation, they are released from it, and that nation is left lowly and disgraced, for it has been deprived of its extra life-force—the sparks of holiness that lay within it.[1]

When Adam HaRishon sinned, he caused the sparks of holiness to fall into the forces of Kelipah (see here),[2] and the Jewish people refine these sparks through their suffering in exile. This is the meaning of “All who cause the Jewish people to suffer become the ‘head’ [i.e., the leading nation].”[3] When the gentile nations oppress the Jewish people, we take their “head.” The head, which is above the rest of the body, represents a high level—the lofty sparks of holiness that lie within the nations, that are the true source of their prosperity.

This is the deeper meaning of the verse, “One man dominates over another man, to his detriment,”[4] for the detriment of “the evil man,” i.e., the spiritual forces of Kelipah, which give sustenance to the nations who oppress us. When they dominate over us and oppress us, it is in fact to their detriment, for in this way the sparks of holiness are refined from their midst, and then they lose the blessings that those sparks brought them.

To explain further, each nation draws its sustenance from a particular force of Kelipah. Thus, there are seventy nations, corresponding to the “seventy ministers of Nogah”—the seventy spiritual forces of Kelipas Nogah (the level of Kelipah that sustains the physical world in general, but not things that are forbidden for a Jew),[5] from which each of the seventy gentile nations draws its sustenance, respectively.[6]

As long as the Jewish people are being hosted by a particular country in order to refine the sparks of holiness trapped there, the “minister,” the angel from which that country derives its sustenance, benefits greatly, causing that angel’s nation to be blessed with material prosperity.

However, once the Jewish people have finished refining all the sparks there, then, of course, no sparks are left, and so the individual Kelipah from which that nation had drawn its sustenance becomes greatly weakened, causing the nation to which it gives sustenance to lose, or at least experience a significant decline, in its prosperity and prominent position on the world stage.

The Jewish people are then relocated to another country, in order to refine the sparks of holiness that await them there. Once they have refined all the sparks of holiness in all the lands of exile, Moshiach will come and redeem them, bringing them to Eretz Yisrael forever.
___________________________
[1] Igra DeKallah, Bereshis, p. 496.
[2] Likkutei Torah lehoArizal, Tetzei.
[3] Gittin 56b.
[4] Koheles 8:9.
[5] Cf. Tanya, Iggeres HaKodesh ch. 25.
[6] Cf. Toras Sholom p. 204.

This post was dedicated by Reb Kasriel ben Yehudis and Chana Feige bas Reizl (my parents, tzu langeh, gezunteh, zisseh yoren) in honor of their 36th wedding anniversary. This post was also dedicated by Reb Menachem Kovacs, who requested that this message be attached:

"Zachor: to mark the 6th anniversary of the expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron; we continue to pray and work for their restoration and for the Ge'ula Shlayma. Thank you."

Like what you read? The articles I write take a lot of time and effort. Please contact me to sponsor an article for $36 in honor of the birthday, wedding anniversary, or yarhtzeit of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah or the like. Also, see here concerning the tremendous merit of supporting the dissemination of Chassidus, and the blessings that one receives for doing so.