# The Three Levels of the Soul — נפש, רוח, ונשמה
**נפש החיים — שער א׳, פרקים י״ד–ט״ז**
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Action corresponds to נפש, the animal level of the soul [i.e., basic biological functions], as it says:
**כִּי הַדָּם הוּא הַנָּפֶשׁ**
“For the blood is the life.” (דברים יב:כג)
For the נפש resides in man’s blood. Concentrated in the liver, blood flows to all his limbs, with which he acts and moves. Without the constant flow of blood, a limb shrivels, is immobilized and dies.
Speech parallels the רוח level of the soul, as it says:
**וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה**
“And man became a living spirit.” (בראשית ב:ז)
Onkelos renders the verse, “And man was imbued with a speaking spirit.”
Speech parallels the רוח level of the soul, as it says:
**עִם הֶבֶל פִּיו**
“With the breath—רוח—of his lips.” (ישעיה יא:ד)
This is quite obvious, for with every word you speak, you exhale a whiff of breath—רוח. The רוח is seated in the heart.
Thought conforms to the נשמה level of the soul. It is the element that gives man the ability to know and understand the holy תורה. For this reason, the נשמה resides in man’s brain, the organ of thought, the נשמה being the highest of the three levels.
## The נשמה
One may ask: How can the נשמה be the highest level of the soul when the word נשמה is related to נשימה, which means “breath,” and breathing is a bodily function and a physical thing?
We have to understand that נשמה does not refer to human breath. It denotes the “breath of G-d,” as it says:
**וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים**
“He blew into his nostrils the spirit of life.” (בראשית ב:ז)
The גמרא in סנהדרין צא ע״א compares G-d blowing the soul into man to a glass blower producing glassware.
A glass blower does his work in three stages. First, he holds his breath before blowing into the tube. Second, his breath enters the tube. Third, his breath goes from the tube into the lump of heated glass at the end of the tube, which expands until it takes on the shape the glass blower envisions, at which point he stops blowing.
The three phases of glass blowing match the three levels of the soul: **נפש, רוח, נשמה**.
נפש, the lowest level, is lodged completely inside man’s body.⁴⁴
רוח is “poured” into him from above, and the highest point of רוח is connected to the lowest part of נשמה, as it says:
**עַד יֵעָרֶה עָלֵינוּ רוּחַ מִמָּרוֹם**
“Until a spirit from on high will be poured out upon us.” (ישעיה לב:טו)
But the essence of the נשמה itself is completely hidden. Its source is the breath of G-d Himself, and no part of it enters man’s body.
Only Adam before he sinned merited to have the essence of the נשמה dwell inside his body. In the wake of his sin, the נשמה left him, but it remained hovering over him.⁴⁵
Moshe was the only one to merit having the essence of the נשמה residing within his body. Therefore, he was called “a man of G-d” (דברים לג:א). No one else was worthy of this.
All man can hope to attain is that נשמה “sparks” will glow over his head, in line with his stature and eminence.
These נשמה “sparks” give him the extraordinary perception needed to understand the mystical concepts hidden in our holy תורה.⁴⁶
Iyov expressed this idea, saying:
“But in truth it is a spirit (רוח) in man, and it is the soul from the Almighty that gives them understanding.” (איוב לב:ח)
This means that the spirit [i.e., the רוח element of the soul] is lowered into man. But the essence of the נשמה—the breath of G-d’s Mouth—dwells in the exalted heights of the nearness of G-d; it is not present inside man.
[It is the “sparks” of the נשמה] that impart to man the insight needed to grasp the profound mysteries of the holy תורה.
When the זוהר and the Kabbalists speak in terms of the נשמה residing in man’s brain, they are referring to the radiant sparks of the נשמה that transmit wisdom and understanding to man’s brain and intellect.⁴⁷
**44.** נפש is the life force that man shares with the animals. Man differs from animals in the two other levels of the soul: רוח, which gives him the power of speech, and נשמה, which gives him knowledge and understanding. (ובחרת בחיים)
**45.** After the נשמה left Adam’s body, a desire for the physical was aroused in him. (ובחרת בחיים)
**46.** This is the level of רוח הקודש (inspiration of holiness), through which things that cannot be comprehended by the human intellect are revealed to him. (ובחרת בחיים)
**47.** They do not mean the נשמה itself, because since Adam’s sin, no one has merited to have the essence of the נשמה reside within him. (ובחרת בחיים)
## Chapter 16 — The Sparks of the נשמה
[This paragraph contains profound mystical thoughts that cannot be translated. Paraphrased by ובחרת בחיים, it reads as follows:]
The three levels of the soul—נפש, רוח, and נשמה—in man are matched by corresponding levels in the higher world.
The heavenly counterpart of נשמה is called **אם הבנים**, “Mother of Children.”
Just as the condition of man on earth was changed by Adam’s sin, and man’s רוח level receives only sparks of the נשמה, so, too, in the higher realm, only the lowest part of the אם הבנים enters that world, while its main part remains in its source above, giving off its light only from a distance.
This will help us understand the Midrash on the verse:
**כִּי ה׳ יִתֵּן חָכְמָה מִפִּיו דַּעַת וּתְבוּנָה**
“Hashem grants wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” (משלי ב:ו)
Comments the Midrash:
“This may be compared to a king who had a son. Coming home from ישיבה, the son noticed that on the table there was a dish prepared for his father. When the father offered a portion to his son, the son said: ‘Father, I want to eat only from the food that is in your mouth.’ So the father gave him a bite from the food in his mouth.”
The son’s request exemplifies the desire to partake of the sparks of the light of the נשמה whose source is hidden in the breath of G-d’s mouth.
The Midrash pointedly says that the son was coming home from ישיבה, indicating that the only way to attain the sparks of the נשמה is by exerting oneself by delving deeply into the holy תורה,⁴⁸ and learning **תורה לשמה**.
[The sparks of the נשמה and the תורה] both emanate from the same source.
This is also the underlying idea of the following Midrash:
When the children of ישראל were assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai to receive the תורה, they asked to hear the commandments from the mouth of G-d Himself, as implied in:
**יִשָּׁקֵנִי מִנְּשִׁיקוֹת פִּיהוּ**
“Let Him give me from the kisses of His mouth.” (שיר השירים א:ב)
Standing at Sinai, all ישראל merited to have hovering over them and shining on them the sparks of נשמה emanating from G-d’s mouth.⁴⁹
This is alluded to in the גמרא in **שבת פח ע״א**, where it says that at Sinai the ministering angels placed two [spiritual] crowns [of Divine radiance] on the head of every single Jew.
These crowns enabled them to discern the inner mysteries of the holy תורה.
**48.** The הגאון מווילנא often was visited by מגידים (heavenly messengers) who offered to reveal to him the mysteries of the תורה without any exertion on his part.
The גאון turned down all offers, saying:
“I don’t want to use shortcuts to acquire תורה knowledge. I want to gain תורה knowledge through toil and exertion. G-d will grant me wisdom, and when I understand a concept, I know that I have found favor in G-d’s eyes.
I want only [knowledge] that comes from His mouth. Insights coming from מגידים (heavenly messengers), knowledge for which I did not toil, I do not desire.”
(ובחרת בחיים)
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