Return to your Eternal Flame

Then Solomon awoke: it was a dream! He went to Jerusalem, stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Sovereign One, and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented offerings of well-being; and he made a banquet for all his courtiers.

It is known that the soul itself benefits when lights are lit and it derives pleasure and joy from its light. Once the soul is in a joyous state its joy spreads seeing the soul itself is perceived as if it were hewn out of the light of man’s intelligence. This relationship between light and intelligence is the reason why the soul is drawn after light which is of its own kind although basically the “light” of our intelligence is essentially physical in nature, whereas the light represented by the soul is of a spiritual nature. This is why Solomon was able to compare a lamp (physical light) to the soul (spiritual light) when he said (Proverbs 20,27) “the soul is the light of the Lord.”

The lifebreath of man is the lamp of the LORD
Revealing all his inmost parts.

§ Rabbi Samlai taught: To what is a fetus in its mother’s womb comparable? To a folded notebook [lefinkas]. And it rests with its hands on its two sides of its head, at the temples, its two arms [atzilav] on its two knees, and its two heels on its two buttocks, and its head rests between its knees, and its mouth is closed, and its umbilicus is open. And it eats from what its mother eats, and it drinks from what its mother drinks, and it does not emit excrement lest it kill its mother. But once it emerges into the airspace of the world, the closed limb, i.e., its mouth, opens, and the open limb, its umbilicus, closes, as otherwise it cannot live for even one hour.

And a candle is lit for it above its head, and it gazes from one end of the world to the other, as it is stated: “When His lamp shined above my head, and by His light I walked through darkness” (Job 29:3). And do not wonder how one can see from one end of the world to the other, as a person can sleep here, in this location, and see a dream that takes place in a place as distant as Spain [beAspamya].

When His lamp shone over my head,
When I walked in the dark by its light,

It [man’s soul] is called by five names: nefesh (Genesis 2:7), ruaḥ (Ezekiel 37:14), neshama (Genesis 2:7), yeḥida (Psalms 22:21), ḥaya (Psalms 143:3). Nefesh – this refers to blood, as it is stated: “For blood is the soul [nefesh]” (Deuteronomy 12:23). Ruaḥ – because it ascends and descends, as it is stated: “Who knows the spirit of the sons of man? Does it ascend upward?” (Ecclesiastes 3:21). Neshama – this refers to man’s intellect, as people say: Intellect is good. Ḥaya – because all of one’s limbs may die, but it [the soul] remains alive [ḥaya] in the body. Yeḥida – because all of one’s limbs are in pairs, but it [the soul] is solitary [yeḥida] in the body.
This is what is written: “If He directs His attention to him, his spirit [ruḥo] and his soul [nishmato] He will gather to him” (Job 34:14). Rabbi Yehoshua bar Neḥemya and the Rabbis, Rabbi Yehoshua bar Neḥemya said: If God would direct his attention to this person, his spirit would already be in His hand. “And his soul He will gather to him” – [if He would gather the soul into one single place] in his body, the entire man would die. Rather, when a person sleeps, the soul warms the [entire] body so that it does not get too cold and die. The Rabbis say: If God would direct his attention to this person, and his spirit [ruaḥ] would already be in His hand, “and his soul He will gather to Him” on High, the entire man would die. When a person is sleeping, however, the soul [neshama] [is left within him, and it] warms the body so it will not get too cold and die. That is what is written: “The spirit [neshama] of man is the lamp of the Lord” (Proverbs 20:27).
Rabbi Bisni, Rabbi Aḥa, and Rabbi Yoḥanan say in the name of Rabbi Meir: The neshama fills the entire body, and when a person sleeps, it ascends upward and draws life for him from above. Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Ḥanina: For each and every breath that a person takes, he must laud the Creator. What is the source? “Let every soul [neshama] praise God” (Psalms 150:6) – [read instead:] Let every breath [neshima] praise God.