Thread by @shevereshtus

A Jew has many souls. They all subdivide in multiple parts. So, are there two? Five? Seven? Twenty-five? Even more? Just one?

A short thread on very deep concepts.

https://twitter.com/ilanblock/status/1951394110566490231

Sefer HaTanya, the cornerstone of Chabad Chassidut, opens by telling us that man is made up of two “nefesh,” (in English, often translated as souls but not quite) which are: Nefesh HaBahamit (the Animal Soul), and Nefesh HaElokit (the G-dly soul).

Both are made up multiple parts

If you keep reading further on, however, you realize that there’s a third soul that gets mentioned: the Nefesh HaSichlit (the Intellectual soul).

Sometimes, the Nefesh HaChiyunit (vital) and Nefesh HaTivit (natural) are mentioned as well. So that’s five, but not quite!

The Nefesh HaTivit and Nefesh HaChiyunit really are just either other names for the Nefesh HaBahamit, or in the case of the Nefesh HaTivit, a more refined part of it, but still part it.

So, man has really three souls:

Bahamit/Animal
Sichlit/Intellectual
Elokit/G-dly

The Nefesh HaBahamit (Animal Soul) is what is in charge of everything that has to do with bodily function and physical survival of the body. The desire for food, sleep, all things that help, fortify, give pleasure to the body, etc… the same things that also drive animals.

The Nefesh HaSichlit (Intellectual Soul) represents a bridge between the Nefesh HaBahamit and Nefesh HaElokit.

While the Animal Soul is centered on the Self and its needs, and the G-dly soul is centered on G-d and His needs, the Intellectual Soul is the arbiter between both.

It really deals with everything that has to do with human intellect & understanding in an impartial, cold and clinical way. This is what makes decisions that are driven by more than unthinking natural desires, or comes to control and channel those desires into something else.

By refining your intellect, you can come to refine your animal nature, and you can come to approach all of your animal needs as a human being instead of as an animal (eating healthy, refraining from eating too much, making the right choices, etc…).

The Nefesh HaElokit is the eternal soul. This is not a created being, as nothing created is eternal. As the Tanya describes it, it is a ‘part’ of G-d Himself. This is what G-d “blew” into Adam the first man in order to make him a living creature at the beginning of Creation.

While the Animal Soul mainly expresses itself through emotions, the Divine Soul expresses itself mostly through the brain.

The G-dly soul represents the essence, or real Self, of a Jew.

Our beliefs, words or actions are only garments that cover our essential Self.

When we believe, say and do the right things, then the G-dly soul is in control of our Intellectual Soul and then in control of our Animal Soul.

When we don’t, then our Animal Soul is the one that takes over our Intellectual Soul, but not the G-dly Soul itself.

As the Tanya explains, most of our lives will be a tug of war between the Animal Soul and the G-dly as to which one will be able to convince the Intellectual Soul to take its side according to its ‘arguments’

Now, the G-dly soul itself divides into five parts, which are the Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya and Yechida. And those parts themselves divide into Five (Nefesh of Nefesh, Ruach of Nefesh, Neshama of Nefesh, etc..).

Ultimately, they are like limbs and not separate, so to speak.

There is far more to say (the subdivisions in the Animal Soul, which differ from the G-dly soul, to begin with!), but to continue would require a far longer thread (or series of threads), for which I do not have time, as it is Erev Shabbat and Erev Erev Tisha B’Av.

Instead, for the few who kept reading after the opening post, I will wish for all of us to live according to our G-dly soul, for our brains always to make the right decisions, and for our animal nature to act like a man, and not the opposite.

Shabbat Shalom, and an easy fast!