Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Nefesh, ruach and neshamah
נפש רוח נשמה
Nefesh, ruach and neshamah (the three inner levels of the soul)
The three lower levels of the soul, nefesh, ruach and neshamah, which are clothed in vessels (neshamah in the brain, ruach in the heart), unlike chayah and yechidah, which stay above as makifim.
The word Each word also has a plain sense: נפש is life, a person, or the soul as a whole (as in nefesh habahamis, nefesh Elokis); רוח is wind or spirit; נשמה is usually the soul in general. When the three appear together (often abbreviated נר״נ, or נרנח״י with chayah and yechidah), they are the specific levels; Re’eh 6:5 also pairs neshamah with Binah and chayah with Chochmah.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Reeh 7, ¶9The soul has five levels, nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah and yechidah. The first three are clothed in vessels, neshamah in the brain and ruach in the heart; chayah and yechidah are encompassing (makifim).
אשר נר״נ מתלבשים בכלים נשמה במוח רוח בלב וחיה יחידה הם בחי׳ מקיפים
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19, ¶2Nefesh, ruach and neshamah are lights clothed in vessels, as intellect rests in the brain. Chayah and yechidah have no vessel in the soul to rest in and are called mazal: as the Sages say, though a person does not see, his mazal sees.
בחי׳ נר״נ הוא בחי׳ התלבשות אורות בכלים שהשכל שורה במוח כו׳
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3, ¶3Above, in Atzilus, the three levels nefesh, ruach and neshamah are lights relative to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, yet are called vessels relative to chayah of Atzilus, the supernal Chochmah; even Binah, which is neshamah, is called a bodily house for Chochmah, which is chayah.
דג׳ בחי׳ נר״נ דאצי׳ הם אורות לגבי בי״ע ועכ״ז הם נקראים כלים לגבי בחי׳ חיה דאצי׳
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 3, ¶5Nefesh, ruach and neshamah, like thought, speech and action, correspond to “I created it, I formed it, I also made it.” The mitzvos, which are likewise in thought, speech and action, make encompassing garments that surround nefesh, ruach and neshamah on every side, to be included in the Or Ein Sof.
ונפש רוח ונשמה כנגד ג׳ בחי׳ בראתיו יצרתיו אף עשיתיו
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6, ¶14For tzaddikim, in whose nefesh, ruach and neshamah there is no evil at all, the mitzvos draw down above and add light in Atzilus; for beinonim, the main purpose of their mitzvos is to refine their own nefesh, ruach and neshamah.
אבל בבינונים עיקר הכוונה במצוה שלהם צ״ל לברר הנר״נ שלהם עי״ז
Stated differently
Whether every soul has nefesh, ruach and neshamah together, or the soul in a given body is one of them
כי הנה בנפש יש נר״נ יחידה חיהThe soul (citing Bereishis Rabbah) has nefesh, ruach, neshamah, yechidah and chayah: the first three clothed in vessels, the last two without a vessel, called mazal.
והנשמה הנמשכת ומתלבשת בגוף היא נפש או רוח או נשמה דבי״ע לבדIn most of Israel, tzaddikim and beinonim, the soul clothed in the body is a nefesh, or a ruach, or a neshamah of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah only; its root in Atzilus stays hidden as a makif. In the early tzaddikim, such as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a soul of Atzilus itself was clothed in the body.
בר נש כד אתיילד יהבין ליה נפשא כו׳ זכה יתיר יהבין ליה רוחא כו׳Citing the Zohar: when a person is born he is given a nefesh; if he merits more, he is given a ruach. Ruach is a higher degree that comes afterward, like mature mochin after immature mochin.
וב׳ בחי׳ אלו יש בישראל כי יש שיש לו נפש דעשיי׳ ויש שיש לו רוח דיצירהThere are two levels in Israel: one has a nefesh of Asiyah, another a ruach of Yetzirah (citing the Zohar, Mishpatim); from both comes delight above.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Reeh 7, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Reeh 6, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Shelach 3, ¶5Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6, ¶14
Where it appears
In 54 paragraphs of 34 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶12 ¶21 ¶24 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 7 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 11 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶9 ¶10 ¶12 ¶35
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶8 ¶10 ¶14 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶1 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3 ¶3 ¶4 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 3 ¶2 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 21 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 2 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶19 ¶21 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 1 ¶2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶23 ¶34
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 4 ¶34
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶34
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 3 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶22
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.