Mysteries of Soul and Scent

The House of Israel

Thus in a general way the question has been answered, why, for the most part, only the three levels, nefesh, ruaḥ, neshamah, are mentioned. Are there not two additional levels, ḥayyah and yeḥidah? The ḥayyah and yeḥidah are the secret of the additional soul in the World to Come and the nefesh, ruaḥ, and neshamah the secret [of the soul] in this world. Do not object on the basis of what is found in the later kabbalists concerning the secret of these five [aspects of the soul]. [They say that the parts of the soul] are divided according to the times: nefesh during the intermediate days of a Festival and during the additional prayer on the New Moon, ruaḥ during Holy Days, neshamah on the Day of Atonement, ḥayyah on the Sabbath, yeḥidah in the World to Come. As an indication of this, they interpret the five words “olah hu’ ’isheh reaḥ niḥoaḥ (it is a burnt offering, by fire, of pleasing fragrance).” The level of reaḥ (fragrance) stands for the Sabbath. Thus we smell spices at the end of the Sabbath. This [teaching] is a very subtle spark from [the kabbalists]. It is consistent with a saying of our rabbis, of blessed memory, “Sabbath is one-sixtieth of the World to Come.” However, essentially, ḥayyah and yeḥidah pertain to the World to Come, which is the letter yod of the Divine Name with its tip. They said in the Tiqquney Zohar and it is quoted in Pardes, Sha‘ar Mahut ve-Hanhagah, that Adam and Eve are Ḥokhmah and Binah. For although they were considered together as d’’u parzufim (in Binah), nevertheless the level of Adam is superior. This is in accord with what is written in [the Gemara], chapter Ha-Roeh, concerning d’’u parzufim: “Which of them goes in front? Rav Nahman bar Isaac said, ‘It is evident that the male goes in front.’” The soul of Adam was from Ḥokhmah, which is the soul level called ḥayyah. Thus the verse says: And Adam became a living [ḥayyah] soul. It alludes to the secret of the ḥayyah. This is despite the fact that the verse said earlier: And He blew in his nostrils the soul of life. And we explained nostrils as referring to Adam and Eve and soul of life as Binah.

It has already been explained that the higher aspect of Binah is also yod. And Eve also approached him, as indicated in the secret [of the verse]: for she is the mother of all life [ḥay]. She should have been called ḥayyah, but was called Ḥavvah (Eve), because she inclines toward Binah, in the secret of the root of the six extremities. Thus yod became a vav, and the name ḥayyah became Ḥavvah. Nevertheless, Rashi explained Ḥavvah as being the same as ḥayyah, just as these words have the same meaning. Understand this. This ḥayyah was the source of “life of the king,” from which comes “soul of life.” The verse said: and Adam became a nefesh ḥayyah [living soul].” In other words, he contained the soul levels from nefesh to ḥayyah, including ḥayyah: nefesh, ruaḥ, neshamah, ḥayyah. [ . . . ]

The House of Wisdom

[ . . . ] The conclusion that follows from all of the above discussion is that the material entity cleaves to its spiritual essence and is it. “Fullfill them today” and tomorrow, cleave to the reward for the deed. For “the reward for a commandment is the commandment” itself. There is a great allusion [to this matter] in the words of the Tanna in the Mishnah, Pesaḥim. “As a person acts during the week, so is his action on the Sabbath.” For the very deed that a person does during the “six days of action,” that is, the period of six thousand years during which this world will exist, will be his deed during the Sabbath, in the world that is entirely Sabbath. Only, during the week his deed is material, while on the Sabbath it is spiritual.

This is the secret of [the passage from], And He completed the heavens and the earth . . . until which God created to do. Nahmanides already wrote in his commentary on the Torah that the six days of creation allude to the six thousand years that this world will exist and the seventh day corresponds to the world that is entirely Sabbath. It seems that an allusion concerning this comes in the verse: Work will be done six days and on the seventh day, it will be sacred for you, a Sabbath of Sabbaths. A question arises, What need is there to say work will be done? Is it obligatory to do work? There is another problem. The verse says, and on the seventh day, when it should have said “and the seventh day.” However, this peculiarity is a great allusion concerning the work of keeping the commandments, “fulfill them today.” And on the seventh day refers to those actions which were mentioned as “fulfill them today.” The verse said, and on the seventh day, which is the world to come, the work will be “sacred,” in other words, spiritual. This is the work that was done on the seventh day, as it is written, and God finished the work that he had done on the seventh day. [This verse is understood], according to the secret of this allusion. For God created free will in man and the bestowing of a reward [for choosing good]. Thus the verse ends, which God created to do. “Fulfill them today.”

This is the secret of Rashi’s commentary on the verse which follows a saying of the rabbis, of blessed memory. “What did the world lack? Rest. When the Sabbath came, rest came to the world.” The question arises, How does creation apply to rest? For rest is the opposite of activity. But the “rest” is the world to come. But the rabbis, of blessed memory, said, “Scholars have no rest either in this world or in the world to come, as it is written, They go from strength to strength.” Know that the reward of the commandment, which is “rest,” is beyond measure and infinite. Even if a person merits a portion of it, as the sages said, “all of Israel has a portion of the world to come,” that portion is not the whole. Moreover, the portions are not equal. Thus if a person desires to merit to progress from one degree of “rest” to another, his deeds are examined. For there are those who are worthy of the lower Garden of Eden and those who are worthy of the upper Garden of Eden. The possible degrees are innumerable, as indicated in the Mishnah, Hagigah.

The clothes of an ‘am ha-’arez can take on uncleanness of the first degree [midras] for perushin, the clothes of perushin can take on uncleanness of the first degree for those who eat the heave-offering, the clothes of those who eat the heave-offering can take on uncleanness of the first degree for those who eat Holy Things, the clothes of those who eat Holy Things can take on the first degree of uncleanness for those occupied with the sin offering . . .

So when a righteous person wishes to merit additional “rest” beyond that which he has attained, an inquiry is made concerning the judgements of that righteous person. Even if his judgments have been examined at first, when “he goes from strength to strength,” the judgments are examined again. It depends entirely on the majority of his deeds. If he never rested in this world, but constantly increased holiness to holiness, then he will also go “from strength to strength” in the world to come and be innocent in his judgments. And “they have no rest” means that there is no end to rest.