Questions tagged [soul]
Questions pertaining to the soul.
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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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Nefesh, neshama and ruach as words for "soul"
All three words can mean something like "soul", e.g., neshama in גלגול נשמות, and ruach in וַתְּחִי רוּחַ יַעֲקֹב אֲבִיהֶם (Bereshit 45:27). So, what is the difference?
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What's "chelek Eloak mimaal"?
I have frequently heard the human (or only the Jewish?) soul referred to as "חלק אלוק ממעל", literally "portion/section/piece/allotment of God (from) above".
What does this mean?
Who's the first to ...
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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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Reincarnation vs. resurrection of the dead
Some Jews believe in reincarnation. They are also supposed to accept the Resurrection of the Dead, where actual bodies are resurrected. In that case, for each soul, which body is resurrected?
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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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Is the "I" consciousness from the body or from the soul
Where does the sense of "I" (i.e. the sense of self-awareness) originate from? Is it from the physical body (the brain) or is it from the spiritual soul which wears the body (as brought down in ...
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Do converts represent a "farblondzshet" neshama?
Before our wedding, a mikvah lady learned that my wife was marrying me -- a convert to Judaism. Her response was that I must represent a "farblondzshet neshama" (a confused or a lost Jewish soul). ...
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Is there really a distinct "Jewish soul"?
I have heard many times about Jews having a "special soul" or a "Jewish soul" - a soul which is either lacking and/or fundamentally different than that of non-Jews.
However, the sources which are ...
user3342
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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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Is there any proof of the existence of the soul?
Judaism asserts that a human being is a composite of a body and a spiritual soul (see Talmud Sanhedrin 91b for example) which lives on after death.
Is there any way to prove the existence of the soul?...
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Can the living negatively affect the dead?
As far as I know, living people can positively affect the dead. This is the reason we say Kaddish and learn Mishnayos for the souls of the deceased. (Feel free to comment with more examples of this.) ...
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How to make amends for my previous mistakes?
According to the Talmud...
"Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."
- Mishnah ...
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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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Is the brain the seat of the soul?
There are disturbing ideas in the Feb 21, 2011 Time magazine cover article 2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal. The article attributes to Raymond Kurzweil the prediction that within the next 25 years ...
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What is the importance of the human body after death?
On one hand, we are told that the body is a simply container holding our soul. We have to take care of it while alive because we are borrowing it for our time on Earth. It is widely believed that our ...
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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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How does punishment in the World to Come make sense?
If a person is able to make choices in this world, and especially if a person is able to disbelieve that there is a Divine order of any type, how does it make sense for a person's soul to be punished ...
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Parable of man visiting diamond-filled island
I've read and heard many times a parable about a poor man who visits an island where the roads are paved with diamonds and/or jewels. Over time, however, he starts amassing what's valuable there - ...
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What are the implications of karet?
Does karet mean the soul will not ever enter the olam haba? Can teshuvah rectify the transgression which lead to the karet? Can that soul in another re-incarnation rectify the blemish of karet? By "...
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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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Does anyone have a proof text that animals *don't* have spirits?
I've heard it said that animals don't possess a רוח
However, Ecclesiastes 3:21 uses the phrase רוּחַ הַבְּהֵמָה.
Is there any text that indicates that animals don't possess a spirit?
Edit: Upon ...
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Do spirits/souls have genders?
Bodies have genders (physical anatomy and genetics) and the brain has a gender (gender identity), but do the spirits/souls or our heavenly bodies have genders as well?
Similar:
Do we retain our ...
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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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What is the timeline of the connection of the soul to the body after death?
Speaking to the Rabbi who runs the chevra kadisha in my neighborhood recently, regarding the pending cremation of the mother of a friend, he mentioned several interesting concepts with respect to the ...
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Chatam Sofer and soulmates
I've been looking for the exact text, or at least a link to the Chatam Sofer bringing down the Ari on the topic of soulmates in Shu”t Chatam Sofer 7:34. I've seen it quoted in several articles, but ...
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What is the original source that a soul is split in half before conception?
Does anyone knew of the original source (from a sefer) for the idea in this quote: "According to Jewish thought, a husband and wife were originally one soul before birth, split into two halves when ...
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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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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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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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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/...
user8726
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Soulmate for someone who died unwed
I had a friend who was dating a woman. They were close but not "in love". Anyway, he passed away and she moved on. Well, she met someone new and they are in love.
My question is, what does G-d do ...
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Convert attached to another gilgul?
Someone just told me that a ger earns their Jewish status (on a kabbalistic level) by attaching themselves to a Jewish soul that has gone badly astray and needs to do a tikkun. By offering to do the ...
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Yom Kippur - Soul or Body
The Torah (Vayikra 16:31) says "וְעִנִּיתֶ֖ם אֶת־נַפְשֹֽׁתֵיכֶ֑ם, You shall afflict yourselves." - this is a reference to Yom Kippur. Artscroll translates נַפְשֹֽׁתֵיכֶ֑ם to mean yourselves, but ...
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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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According to the theory of Gilgul Nashamot, are the souls of converts reincarnations of souls that previously inhabited Jewish bodies? [closed]
As an explanation for why some gentiles feel connected to Judaism and therefore decide to convert, I have read that some rabbis see them as Jewish souls. That is to say that their souls in a previous ...
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What distinguishes humans from animals?
Both Humans and animals seem to have:
Flesh: (Bereshit 6:13) The ketz (end) of kol basar is come before Me.
Nefesh Chaya: (Bereshit 1:30) wherein is a Nefesh Chaya
Ruach Chayim: (Bereshit 6:17 & ...
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Kiddush, Learning and Mitzvos for dead/niftar neshamos
I seek an early source that giving Kiddush (so others will make a bracha for the zchus of the neshama) or other such actions that can positively affect the neshamos of those who have departed.
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What keeps the immaterial soul inside the physical body?
By what methods the immaterial soul is contained within the material body during our lifetime?
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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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What happens to the soul when dozing for a minute or ten?
Tradition tells us the soul leaves the body when sleeping. Is the same true when drowsing in a chair, which is usually not a deep sleep and you are still aware of background noise?
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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 ...
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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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How did Chazal know they were right about "who is a Jew"?
My question is predicated on the assumption that Jews were created by God as fundamentally different from non-Jews. (I am referring, for example, to the idea that Jews have a special type of soul. And ...
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A reference to the soul of a Tzaddik like an eyelash in milk
I know that somewhere in something I have read there is a comment that someone (Yaakov avinu?) was so spiritually pure/holy that his soul did not cling to the earthly shell that was his body but came ...
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Why do we need a neshama yesera?
On shabbos we get an additional soul (tannis 27b) - what is the utility of this soul? Is it the same one every week? Why would we need an extra soul?
user2110
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Are Jewish souls eternal? [duplicate]
Rabbi Kaplan in Moreh Ohr 3:4 (p. 43), brings a quotation from the introduction of Shefa Tal:
“The souls of the Jewish nation are a part of God, which is hinted to
in Dev. 32:9 ‘כי חלק ה׳ עמו, For ...
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Belief in Yechidah
According to Chabad.org,
Yechidah connotes the essence of the soul--its unity with its source,
the singular essence of G-d. For the essence of the soul of man is
"literally a part of G-d above"...
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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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Humans have 613 organs?
Does the human nefesh (nefesh haAdam) have 613 spiritual organs? Tanya CH.4 says that a soul has 613 organs like the "organs of the King". I'm assuming that since man is made in the image of G-d, then ...
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