Tag Archives: neshamah

Shabbat, Ours and Yours

(In memory of Chaim Barukh Yehudah ben Dovid Tzvi zl) 

Ours and Yours 

[Summary: The holy Zohar teaches that as a people, the Jews are protected on Shabbat by the holy Shekhinah aka “Sukkat Shalom.” This is in addition to the personal protection a Jew has via the neshamah yeteirah, additional Shabbat soul.]

When the Shabbat spirit settles in the world, all the negative energy and evil blamers leave. There’s no need to pray for protection; Shabbat spirit and the outspread wings of Sukkat Shalom shield Yisrael.

“Wait!” you say. “The Talmud says that one shouldn’t not travel solo on Tuesday or Friday nights! He must be on the alert for evil forces. So how can you tell me there is no need to pray for protection?”

On Tuesday nights it’s true, that danger lurks because the moon was cursed and wounded. {The moon was created on the fourth day of the week, which begins Tuesday night and ends Wednesday night.–OB} Its dimmed light give license and power to the dangerous and spiteful.

But Friday night, they retreat to the Sinkhole. When they get there, they won’t have any control. But, they aren’t beamed up—or down—to the Sinkhole. They walk, slowly. So if a Jew runs into them, he could get hurt. And some of them {apparently with excess arrogance-OB}, like to leave the Sinkhole and scare a lone Jew, even though they can’t hurt him. So if you’re alone on a Friday night—watch out! Pray to God to protect you!

Now, it looks as if the Sukkat Shalom protection is not foolproof. After all, those bad guys can frighten or damage someone. But there is a difference. Yisrael, the Jews, as a people are protected. Nothing to worry on that score. But as private individuals, we are protected not by the Sukkat Shalom, but by our personal neshamah yeteirah. Your neshamah yeteirah is strong enough to protect you, but it is fragile. You have to make sure to give the full respect it deserves. If not, God forbid, those evil thugs might chisel themselves underneath the neshamah yeteirah and cause a great deal of grief, you shouldn’t know from it—or them.

And no matter what, even if you don’t fully honor your private guard (neshamah yeteirah), Sukkat Shalom does offer a fair amount of protection.

Zohar 2:205a

 

© Copyright 2014 148west.com/O. Bergman

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A Gift of Soul

(In memory of Chaim Barukh Yehudah ben Dovid Tzvi zl) 

The Secret of the Additional Soul

Summary: At the close of the Hashkiveinu blessing in the Shabbat Maariv, we invite the holy Shekhinah to be our guest (as it were). She responds by wrapping us in her protective embrace, and by gifting us with the neshamah yeteirah (Additional Soul). Finally, the zohar explains how Shabbat is the World to Come in miniature.

 

Says the holy Zohar:

Come! Expand your vision!

When Yisrael blesses and invites the Sukkah of Peace (aka the Shekhinah) to be their sacred guest—when they say “the One Who extends the Sukkah of Peace”—Supreme Holiness descends and spreads her wings over them, sheltering them as a mother shelters her child.

All the evil types withdraw from the world, leaving Yisrael under the holiness of their Master. That is when the Shekhinah gives her children new neshamot (souls). Why is it that only on Shabbat she gives new neshamot? All neshamot reside within the Shekhinah and through her that they come into the world. Since it is on Shabbat that she is present with her children, embracing them, it is then that she gives each one a new neshamah.

Rebbe Shimon said more:

That Shabbat is the World to Come in miniature is related to the Shekhinah gifting new neshamot to Yisrael. This definitely accords with the secret teachings. They parallel Shemitah (the sabbatical year) and Yovel (the Jubilee year, once every 50 years). [OB: Shemitah is Malkhut, the “daughter;” Yovel is Binah, the Mother.”]

Where does that additional neshamah come from? It come to the Shekhinah from the Masculine [Z’er Anpin] who took it from the World to Come, Binah. This addition is given to the Holy People.

That extra soul cheers them. So they forget their weekday concerns and all their suffering and troubles. This is the Shabbat tranquility of, “And it will come to pass on the day that God gives you rest from your sorrow and your anxiety, and from the difficult bondage which was forced upon you” (Isaiah 14:3).

Zohar 1:48a–b

© Copyright 2014 148west.com/O. Bergman

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