TWO CREATIONS: A) MAN, B) A LIVING SOUL
From the above, we can clearly understand the verse: “And the Lord God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living (Chayah) soul (Nefesh)”
(Genesis 2:7). Here we find two creations:
A. Man himself;
B. The living soul itself.
And the verse says that in the beginning, man was created as dust of
the ground, a collection of molecules in which resides the essence of
man, meaning his will to receive. That force, the will to receive, is
present in every element of reality, as we have explained above. Also,
all four types: still, vegetative, animate and speaking emerged from
them. In that respect, man has no advantage over any part of creation,
and this is the meaning of the verse in the words: “dust of the
ground.”
However, we have already seen that this force, called “will to
receive,” cannot exist without dressing and acting in a desired
object, and this action is called, “life.” And accordingly, we find
that before man has arrived at the human forms of reception of
pleasure, which differ from those of other animals, he is still
considered a lifeless, dead person. This is because his will to
receive has no place in which to dress and manifest his actions, which
are the manifestations of life.
This is the meaning of the verse, “and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life,” which is the general form of reception suitable for
humans. The word, Nishmat, (breath) comes from the word, Samin,
(placing) the ground for him, which is like “value.” And the origin of
the word “breath” is understood from the verse (Job 33:4): “The spirit
of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life,”
and see the commentary of the MALBIM there. The word, “soul”
(Neshama), has the same syntax structure as the words, “missing”
(Nifkad), “accused” (Ne’esham), and “accused” (Ne’eshama—female term
of Ne’esham).
And the meaning of the words, “and breathed into his nostrils” is that
He instills a soul (Neshama) in his internality and an appreciation of
life, which is the sum of the forms that are worthy of reception into
his will to receive. Then, that force, the will to receive, enclosed
in his molecules, has found a place in which to dress and act, meaning
in those forms of reception that he had obtained from the Creator. And
this action is called “life,” as we have explained above.
And the verse ends, “and man became a living soul.” This means that
since the will to receive has begun to act by the measures of those
forms of reception, life instantly manifested in it and it “became a
living soul.” However, prior to the attainment of those forms of
reception, although the force of the will to receive had been
imprinted in him, it is still considered a lifeless body, since it has
no place in which to appear and to manifest in action.
As we have seen above, although man’s essence is only the will to
receive, it is still taken as half of a whole, as it must clothe in a
reality that comes its way. For that reason, it and the image of
possession it depicts are literally one, for otherwise it would not be
able to exist for even a moment.
Sorry for hurting your eyes.
I'll be grateful if someone will find another English source, not from this site and replace it.
