Nefesh HaChaim נפש החיים

(The explanation of the details of the process of their rectification and their connection to each other via repentance) For when a person blemished the aspect of his soul-Neffesh, or even if he caused (heaven forefend) all [lower] nine of her s’feerote to be interrupted from or cut off from [the s’feera of ] Chokhma and below, from her connection that was described previously, it then plummets to the fathomless depths of the kleepote (heaven forefend). Then, as a result of sincere verbal confession originating in the depths of the heart, via the expression of his lips (the soul-Neffesh component of the soul-Ruakh), [it] awakens via the sound of his words what is on high and even higher, and causes extra holiness to be emanated from Him (blessed be His name), first to the soul-root-of-the-Neshama, and from there to his soul-Neshama and soul-Ruakh. And the soul-Ruakh shines his great light that is being impressed upon him also upon the component of the soul-Neffesh, from the perspective of the connection that still remains between them (as we mentioned above), to obliterate and utterly consume the powers of evil and the levels of unholiness/impurity, and to free from imprisonment all of her components, and to return them and to re-connect them as before with the component of soul-Ruakh.

And similarly, if he blemished and damaged the component of his soul-Ruakh (heaven forefend) with spoken words that are not good, or with other sins dependent on the component of soul-Ruakh (and outweighing them all is the wasting of time that could have been spent learning Torah), and the power of the soul-Ruakh of the side of unholiness/impurity overcame it in this case (may the Merciful save us), then the component of his soul-Neffesh also isn’t complete as it was before, for she receives the flow of life-sustaining energy and her light via the soul-Ruakh, as is known. In this case, via sincere regret in the heart/ mind, and experiencing bitterness about the enormity of his sin (as in the context of “their heart screamed out to God-ADN”Y (Eikhah 2:18)), and via pondering on stirrings of repentance in his thinking mind (which is the dwelling place of the sparks of the light of the soul-Neshama—and this is the Malkhoot of T’voona), he similarly creates an arousal above to first cause to flow extra holiness and light on the soul-root-of-Neshama, and from there to the soul-Neshama. And she shines the brilliance of her light that is flowing upon her upon the component of soul-Ruakh also (“God-Elohi”m desires a broken spirit-Ruakh as a sacrifice”), and it shatters the power of the soul-Ruakh of unholiness/impurity that previously dominated as a result of his sin, and purifies the component of his soul-Ruakh of holiness to re-connect with the component of the soul-Neshama as it was previously. From there, obviously it will influence also upon his soul-Neffesh to restore her to her initial state of perfection.

Similarly, if he sinned (heaven forefend) with an impure thought, and caused thereby that the sparks of his brilliant soul-Neshama (that until this moment were a shining lamp over his head) should depart, then via involvement with Torah with an extra measure of rationality with the depths of intellect, he stimulates that an extra measure of holiness will be emanated upon his soul-root-of-Neshama. From there it flows to his soul-Neshama so that her light is again shining upon him to enwisen him in the Torah with an extra measure of intellect from the hidden recesses of her purity. And from that holiness and the light, it unfolds and flows also upon his soul-Ruakh and soul-Neffesh to perfectly complete them.

Therefore, they (OBM) said (Shabbat 119:2): “All who answer ‘May the great Name be blessed’ with all his strength, the writ of judgment is torn up. And even if he has within him a scintilla of [the sin of] foreign worship, he is pardoned.”

For the main intention of this praise is that an increase of blessing and an abundance of supernal energy/light will be emanated and influence all of the four worlds ABY”A [*]. This is “May the great Name be blessed”. Namely, that blessing and an increase of holiness will be emanated from Him (blessed be His name) to “the world” (the world of Ahtzeeloot), and from there to the “worlds” (they being the two worlds of B’reeya [and] Y’tzeera), “world” [fem.] is the world of Ahseeya, and they are the roots of the four levels of man, the soul-root-of-Neshama and N”RN.

When man intends, with the holiness of his thoughts, via the verbalization of this praise, to arouse and influence by his actions an increase in holiness and blessing upon his soul-root-of-Neshama, and from there upon his soul-Neshama, soul-Ruakh and soul-Neffesh, he creates the effect that all iniquity and sin that he sinned in any of these three components are utterly consumed and perish, and it is as if they never existed. This is the complete essence of the sincere repentance, as we described above, and therefore he is pardoned for all his sins.

Annotation: And what they (OBM) stated “with all his power” bears two explanations: either (1) the full power of the one who answers, or (2) that the name Y”H should be blessed with all His powers, as in the context of “and now, please, may the power of God-YHV”H be enlarged” [B’midbar 14:17].

However, these two explanations go together, for the root of the source of holy influence and blessings is part of the name Y”H, and from it [the world of Ahtzeeloot] the world of B’reeya unfolds and is filled out; it being the world of thought, from the meeluiof hei of the name Y”H using yud. And from the world of B’reeya is filled out the world of Y’tzeera, it being the root of the beginnings of speech and the stirrings in the heart, from the meelui of hei using alef. And from the world of Y’tzeera is filled out the world of Ahseeya, it being the world of action, from the meelui of the letter hei that’s in the name of Y”H using the letter hei.

And they [fem., emphatic] are the root of the NR”N of man, them being all of the powers of the One -who-answers, and all the powers of the name Y”H -namely all of its meeluim—and that is “y’hei” the name [where “name” is spelled shin-mem] Y”H rabba m’vo-rakh…”. Refer to the Tosafote in Brakhote 3:1 that starts with “and they respond…”.

And this is also the context of what they (OBM) said (Avoda Zara 8:1): “The ox that First Adam sacrificed, it was that its horns preceded its hooves”—that he intended via his sacrifice to correct what he had damaged, to build the demolished, to bring near that which he made farther away, and to unify that which he separated. He caused the purity of his holy thoughts and intentions to ascend, and to initially emanate the influence of the light and holiness upon the upper components and levels within him, “horns” being a metaphor for the soul-root-of-Neshama and soul-Neshama.

And from there, after that he drew [it] upon his soul-Ruakh and soul-Neffesh, to purify all of the limbs/organs of his body, from his head until his feet, per the context of “and it will be when to the heel you will attend” (Devarim 7:12), commandments that a person repeatedly visits with his heels, and those are the hooves of the animal soul-Neffesh b’heimeet. And this is what is stated (in Va-yikra Rabba 2 and in Kohelet 7) that the ball of his heel would eclipse [the sphere of the solar disc] [*].

Annotation: And this is what King Dovid (OBM) stated (T’hillim 19), “God’s-YHV”H Torah is perfect, restoring the soul-Neffesh”—that when he is involved with God’s Torah, when he makes it [fem.] as perfect as it deserves to be, it [fem.] completely restores man’s soul-Neffesh [connection] to its root. He closed there (Tehillim 19) [with]: “also, when your servant is scrupulous in them, in observing them, there is great reward”. The word “scrupulous” is derived from the phrase for “they will shine”; that is, in keeping all the commandments (each of which corresponds to a specific part of the first Adam’s body), his soul-Neffesh and body were refined, until even in his heel there was great light and brilliance, per the context of “the ball of the First Adam’s heel would eclipse… [the solar disc]” (Va-yikra Rabba 2).

And the inner meaning of the matter of “also, when your servant is scrupulous in them…great heel” [is]the purpose of the ascent of the aspect of King Dovid (OBM) in the root of its supernal root, in the Reisha D’lo It’ya-da that is the Malkhut of Ahdam Kadmone, the soul-root-of-Neshama of First Adam. And per the context of (Divrei Ha-yameem 1, 17:16 and 17): “Who am I… that You should have brought me here?” (and “ha-lome” is nothing other than sovereignty). “And yet, this was insufficient in Your eyes, O God-Elohi”m, so you have spoken of your servant’s household in the distant [future], and you have considered me as befits a man of exalted stature, O God-YHV”H-Elohi”m”, and in (Shmuel Bet 7:19 and 20): “v’zote toraht ha-ahdam”, and tore is a giloofeen of God-Adona”i—the intelligent will understand. Therefore First Adam left over for Dovid his last seventy years, the lower seven [s’feerote] of Malkhut of Ahdam kadmone. And he was worthy to have lived another thirty years, to complete his three heads, per the context of (Shmuel Bet, 23:1): “n’oom ha-gevver hoo-kahm ol”, and he is also the root of the soul-Neshama of the Messiah, about whom is written (Yeshayahu 52:13): “ya-room v’neesa v’ga-va m’ode”, and they (OBM) commented on this from Avraham, and from Moshe and from First Adam (meaning after the sin), and this is (Shmuel Bet, 23:1): “n’oom ha-gevver hoo-kahm ol, m’shee-akh Eh-lo-he”i Yaakov”, for then the honor of His (blessed be He) kingship will be enlarged and ascend to the original position of its root.