Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Garments of the soul
לבושי הנשמה
The garments of the soul
Garments for the soul in Gan Eden, made from the mitzvos: encompassing lights by which it is “bound in the bond of life.” “Garments of the nefesh” usually means thought, speech and action.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 3, ¶5“Rock, shield, refuge” are encompassing levels around the soul’s nefesh, ruach and neshamah, matching thought, speech and action, so that it is “bound in the bond of life” and absorbed in Or Ein Sof. These are the garments of the soul in the World to Come; they are made by the mitzvos, which themselves come in thought, speech and action.
וזהו ענין לבושי הנשמה בעוה״ב ולבוש זה נעשה ע״י המצות
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4, ¶21As angels must put on a garment to come down into this world, the soul needs a spiritual garment to grasp and enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah in Gan Eden. Though the soul is spiritual, that radiance is G‑dliness itself, which is as far above the spiritual as above the physical.
שכדי שהנשמה תשיג ותהנה מזיו השכינה צ״ל ג״כ ע״י לבוש רוחני
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2, ¶12Through the “return” (shov) of Torah and mitzvos the light is drawn above as an encompassing light, so the mitzvos become garments for the soul in Gan Eden: garments and makifim are one thing. The Torah, though called food, is also a garment.
וע״כ נעשו המצות לבושים לנשמה בג״ע כי הלבושים והמקיפי׳ ענין א׳ הם
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3, ¶16Through the mitzvos a person draws an Or Makif from sovev kol almin, and this becomes a garment for his soul. Yet “even the sinners of Israel are full of mitzvos” and draw nothing: the higher holiness is drawn only through the joy of the mitzvah.
לפי שע״י המצות ממשיך אור מקיף מבחי׳ סובב כל עלמין לכן נעשה לבוש לנשמתו
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1, ¶3The related phrase, the garments of the nefesh, means thought, speech and action, on which the keeping of all the mitzvos depends; through them souls in a body become a “sanctuary of Havayah” for the holy and separate light.
ג׳ בחינת לבושי הנפש מחשבה ודבור ומעשה
Stated differently
Whether the garment lets the soul in Gan Eden grasp the divine radiance, or surrounds it with what lies beyond its grasp
ולכן המצות הם לבושים אשר על ידם תוכל הנשמה להשיג ולהנות התענוג והזיו בג״עThe mitzvos are garments through which the soul can grasp and enjoy the delight and radiance of Gan Eden.
מה שלא יכול להתגלות לתוך השגתו ממש כמו המזון כ״א בבחי׳ מקיף ונק׳ לבושThe garments are encompassing lights: what cannot be revealed within the soul’s grasp, as food is, comes to it only as a makif, like a scent, and is called a garment.
עד שיהיה נכלל באור א״ס ב״ה ממש בבחי׳ ביטול ההשגהThe garment is Or Ein Sof surrounding the soul from every side until it is absorbed in it, in a nullification of comprehension.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4, ¶2Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4, ¶11Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4, ¶21Likkutei Torah, Shelach 3, ¶5Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2, ¶12Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶26Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14, ¶11Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3, ¶16
Where it appears
In 28 paragraphs of 24 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1 ¶40
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 8 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 3 ¶6 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 9 ¶9 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶2 ¶11 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 1 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Metzora 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 2 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 2 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18 ¶12
Written with AI from the paragraphs of Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah, each entry checked by a second AI reader and every Hebrew quote checked by code; not yet reviewed by a person. Our English: CC BY-NC 4.0.