Questions tagged [soul]
The soul tag has no usage guidance.
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How did animals get their soul?
We know that in the process of the creation of Man, his body was shaped from the earth but his soul (נשמה) was blown by G-d.
Animals, IIRC, appeared from the earth and from the water already with ...
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4answers
1k views
What is a summary of basic Jewish metaphysics or theology?
Whilst wishing no disrespect to any religion, various "basic concepts" are easily found summarised or explained in introductory texts or online. For example:
Buddhist metaphysics would have to do ...
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1answer
79 views
Gain and loss of a Jewish soul - the delineations [duplicate]
If a human gains a Jewish soul at conversion, when does one lose it? Is it reasonable to say if one no longer places faith in Ad---i one loses it? Is a Jewish atheist much of a Jew, with respect to ...
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0answers
59 views
Non-Jews reincarnating in Jews
I read in the name of (Ariz"l) some Kabbalistic books that Zimri Ben Salu was the reincarnation of Shechem ben Chamor that took Dina and the story of Bnot Moav is [allegorically] a repetition of the ...
4
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1answer
71 views
Learning one mesechta l'ilui Nishmas for two people
It is customary to learn mishnayos in order to elevate the soul of the deceased. Can one learn one tractate of Mishna and have in mind two deceased people l'ilui nishmasom, or can you only have in ...
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0answers
46 views
Relation between brain damage and the soul
Physical damage to the brain can lead to various psychological and cognitive phenomena, like drastic changes in character, selective memory loss (like forgetting faces but remembering names or vice ...
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0answers
47 views
Sources that all future souls were at Mount Sinai?
What are the sources for the common understanding that all future souls were at Mount Sinai?
I saw the Chasam Sofer bring the gemarra in Shevuos (39a), but that's talking about parshas Nitzavim.
A ...
12
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2answers
514 views
What causes a person to remain in this world as a ghost?
A baraita on Berakhot 18b relates a story where a pious man sleeps in a cemetery and hears two spirits talking. One of them suggests they wander the world, and the other says she can't because she ...
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4answers
261 views
What happens the second you die?
What do our sources say about what happens the second you die. I’m pretty sure I heard somewhere that one’s soul comes out of their body and they float around the room. Are there any fascinating ...
3
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1answer
112 views
Is Aryeh Kaplan's definition of the self in Jewish Meditation accurate (“nothingness” chapter)?
Let me preface this question by stating that I'm Jewish with a background in Zen Buddhism. Eastern philosophy was my first introduction to spirituality coming from an atheistic/materialistic worldview....
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1answer
198 views
Does Judaism teach that the soul cannot rest until the body turns to dust?
In the movie "To Dust" they claim that "Judaism teaches that the soul cannot rest until the body turns to dust."
Is there any basis for this claim?
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0answers
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Self-association with God [duplicate]
I alway admired the Jews for having a belif system that their is only one God. But recently I got this message from a Christian that claimed that they associate themselves with God, by saying part of ...
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1answer
60 views
Does Orthodox Judaism endorse or prescribe exercises and acts to help counteract negative influences or inner spiritual issues and conflicts?
I know this question sounds kind of "New Age" in terms of theme but I was genuinely curious if Orthodox Judaism has any figures who endorsed such topics or books which discussed the topic (either in ...
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2answers
116 views
Why the soul comes in through the nose and comes out through the mouth?
G-d blows the soul in through the nostrils, not his mouth:
וַיִּיצֶר ה"א אֶת־הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן־הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה׃
the LORD God ... ...
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72 views
The soul and Sleep
I’ve heard from a Rabbi that the falling feeling you get while your sleeping that wakes you up (known as the hipnic jerk) is your soul falling back into your body. Are there any other sources that ...
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1answer
363 views
Do a goy (gentile), and/or an animal have ALL of these - Nefesh-Ruach-Neshama-Chaya-Yechida
Can someone please give me a clear source as to whether or not a goy (gentile), and/or an animal have ALL OF THESE FIVE Nefesh-Ruach-Neshama-Chaya-Yechida. (More specifically looking for sources about ...
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1answer
96 views
Why is laughter unique to humans?
Read in a book by Rabbi Moshe Shapiro zt'l (Shiurei Rabeinu sec.Purim) that only two truly laugh, human beings and G-d (Tehilim 2:4). If this is true, why is laughter unique to human beings of all ...
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2answers
90 views
Does the Neshama (soul) choose the body?
I think i might have read in various places i just can't find where that the neshama chooses the body based on the life missions that it needs to accomplish so it chooses the most suitable conditions ...
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3answers
200 views
Does the Torah discuss the difference between Jews and non jews?
I know that Jews are forbidden to marry non Jews. This leads me to believe that there is some intrinsic and apparently incompatible difference them. Regardless of this prohibition though, I wonder if,...
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2answers
662 views
What happens when the neshama has an aliya?
there is a common practice to learn torah for someone who is deceased 'l'iluy nishmato/a' - to raise her/his soul. There is also a common (american/ashkenazik?) custom for a relative of a deceased ...
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1answer
84 views
5 “parts” of the nefesh- What is the Rambam's source?
In his introduction to Avos (Shmomneh P'rakim), the Rambam delineates 5 "parts" of the human nefesh. Is this something that he came to on his own or does he have a source for this?
I know that the ...
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2answers
64 views
Does one get back his neshama in the exact form when resurrected?
I'm viewing the phrasing in the paragraph Elokai Neshamah:
ואתה עתיד לטלה
ממני ולהחזירה בי לעתיד לבא
My loose translation:
In the future, you will take it from me and return it to me in the (...
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0answers
52 views
Smelling Besamim before Havdallah
According to our minhag that we smell Besamim during Havdallah as part of Havdallah, if one smelled Besamim after Shabbos before Havdallah (for whatever reason), should or can that person omit the ...
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58 views
Does Judaism say that souls can or cannot be destroyed?
Does Judaism say that souls can or cannot be destroyed? Just asking because I was raised a Christian, and it didn't make any sense to me, at all, that a "soul" could be destroyed. All I know is that's ...
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1answer
115 views
sanctify the soul or sanctify the world?
I read a chabad sheet which claims (no source) that the main purpose of our religious service is to sanctify the world and not the soul and that this was the mistake of the spies who thought they ...
4
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1answer
340 views
Location of the Neshama
The gemara in Brachot 10a says that the Neshama fills the body
מה הקדוש ברוך הוא מלא כל העולם - אף נשמה מלאה את כל הגוף
On the other hand we find places that indicate the Neshama is in the brain/...
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1answer
123 views
where does the feeling of shame come from?
according to our sources, shame is unique to humans (Duties of the Heart 2:5 "reflect on the feeling of shame with which man alone has been endowed").
It does not exist in animals. Is shame a ...
3
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0answers
136 views
Is there a source in Torah that a soul chooses his parents before being born?
Many years ago, I read in a Jewish book that a soul chooses his parents before being born, but I cannot remember the name of the book. Is there an authentic Torah source that confirms this? Thank ...
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2answers
366 views
What is the Yeshiva Shel Maala?
What is the "yeshiva shel maala" (literally yeshiva on high) that is found a number of times in Chazal's writings (ex. "whoever teaches his fellow's son Torah merits and sits in the yeshiva on High" - ...
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0answers
139 views
Do you get to keep your old nefesh and ruach when you convert?
According to our tradition, converts acquire a "new soul" in, or upon emergence from, the conversion mikvah. (Not sure of the original source for this--it may be the Zohar--but there are countless ...
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0answers
125 views
Source for ability to speak before Neshama
I've always understand conventional Jewish belief is that there are different aspects to the soul, and each one provides different abilities. The נפש is common to all living creatures and it is the ...
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1answer
205 views
Unconsciousness in Jewish Thought
Yes, that pun was intended.
We know that sleep is 1/60 of death, and dreaming is 1/60 of prophecy (Brachos 57b). This is because it's a partial death, in which a piece of the Neshamah leaves the ...
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2answers
109 views
How can Nefesh mean a dead person?
In Vayikra 21:1 it's stated that one should not defile himself for any (dead) nefesh (person).
How can a word like nefesh which seems to be the force that animated the body and gave it it's life, ...
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0answers
58 views
At Techiyas Hameisim what will happen to reincarnated souls? [duplicate]
At Techiyas Hameisim what will happen to all the bodies that had souls that came down again as gilgul (that the soul had already been in another body)?
Which body will arise by Techiyas Hameisim if ...
3
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1answer
179 views
Does the concept of ibur exist today?
The shaar hagilgulim frequently addresses the concept of iburim, that souls from passed on people may enter new bodies.
For source, see for example shaar hagilgulim 1.8:
"According to this, you can ...
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1answer
233 views
Is the soul tied and can one break that tie? [closed]
I have heard that the soul is tied to your wife or husband, but if so, can you break off that "soul-tie" ?
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1answer
80 views
Where in Judaism does it describe the journey of the soul in the afterlife? [duplicate]
Where in Judaism does it describe the journey of the soul in the afterlife? Sources, that I am looking for stem from kabbalah teaching or the zohar. Also,I am searching for primary sources, so if they ...
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1answer
167 views
Jewish Meditation for Soul Travel? [closed]
I know that there is meditation and practices for a soul to transcend the body. I have found these meditations across many religions, however, I am wondering if Judaism has a specific meditation for ...
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7answers
2k views
Am I a body with a soul or a soul with a body?
I've always thought that our true essence, who we actually are, our personalities are our souls. To me, bodies are just temporary "homes" for the soul. My body can perish, but my soul will continue ...
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2answers
170 views
Role of the soul in living things
Are the bodies of living things (bacteria, plant, animals, humans) running like a purely physical machine or are they coupled with some kind of spiritual soul to breathe life into this machine.
Our ...
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1answer
332 views
Can a soul be destroyed to non-existence?
Can a soul die (make choices that will lead to its being completely destroyed)?
The Zohar 1:131a states that the souls of transgressors will became ashen cinders under the feet of the righteous. From ...
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3answers
273 views
Where do human souls come from?
In the kabbalah of the Arizal, which world does the g-dly soul inherant in a human come from?
Do they for example come from the world of Atzilut?
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1answer
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If the sages removed the desire for yetzer hora of avodah zora, what is left in terms of yetzer hara?
During the time of the second Beit HaMikdash, the 120 sages of the Great Assembly were granted the ability to rip out the desire for idolatry (yetzer hora of avodah zora) from the collective soul of ...
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1answer
88 views
“The feelings reveal the soul.”(Pieseszner Rebbe). Is this idea accepted by contemporary Orthodox thought?
In “Experiencing the Divine: A Practical Jewish Guide,” by Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira
(the Pieseszner Rebbe), translated by Yaacov Dovid Shulman, the Rebbe says, (p 28):
Every feeling that is ...
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0answers
178 views
Souls (Neshamos) of converts
When I was in Yeshiva many years ago I heard one of the rebbeim (teachers) of the yeshiva speaking to a young man that had converted to Judaism and that was very successful in learning about "his ...
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2answers
2k views
What does it mean for one's soul to “be like dust to everyone”?
From the end of the Amidah: "To those who curse me, let my soul be silent; and let my soul be like dust to everyone". What does it mean, for one's soul to be like dust? And why is it a good thing?
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2answers
113 views
What is the chassidic version of ruach?
In my understanding by comparing the Arizal's works to the Tanya, the animal soul = nefesh, the G-dly soul = neshamah. But what about ruach?
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2answers
353 views
What is the tzror hachaim (bond of life)?
On tombstones one finds the acronym for t'hay nafsho/ah tzrurah b'tzror hachaim (may the soul be bound to the bond of life).
What is this bond of life? Do we have any sources which explain what this ...
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1answer
95 views
How are angels categorized in Judaism?
Are they Neshamot or are they something else? Because if they are Neshamot they would be like us, so what forms a angel are they like Only Yetzer Hatov so they only have the desire to do God's will?
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2answers
229 views
Rebbe maamer modifying Tanya on non-Jew's soul root?
I heard from a friend that the Rebbe gave a maamer somewhat modifying the statement in Tanya that all non-Jews' souls are from the klippot. Can anyone provide the exact source for it?
