The Indestructible Godly Soul[1]

 

Many waters cannot extinguish the love, and rivers cannot wash it away. (Song of Songs 8:7)

 

Last week we began to study a very important truth; we began to learn about the Power of Teshuvah. Before we get back to our examination of the life of Yeshua through the Gospel of Yochanan, I feel we need to take some more time to dig deeper into the truth about teshuvah.

 

We will begin today by looking at a promise from God, as discussed in the Song of Songs. According to Jewish tradition, the reason this book made it into the Bible was not because God felt we needed a “handbook” on husband-and-wife relations. No, the reason this book is in the Scriptures is because the sages understood that Shlomo haMelech, King Solomon, used the love between and husband and his wife as an allegory of the love between God and His people, the children of Israel.

 

The many waters in this verse refer to the mundane financial concerns and other physical worries that seem to almost overwhelm us in this world. However, in spite of all of life’s difficulties and challenges, we are told that these concerns cannot extinguish the love of God buried in the Godly soul of each individual Jew and Gentile believer. In this verse we are promised that the many waters of this physical world will not extinguish our love for God.

 

As if this promise is not enough, we are next told that rivers cannot wash it away. Even when all of life’s problems and stresses seem to be “running over” and are about to “drown us,” God forbid, we are promised by God that these rivers of worry and doubt, which at times become very powerful, still cannot wash away the love.

 

The Source of the Godly Soul

 

In order to better follow this teaching, we need to begin, well, at the beginning. According to the Jewish mystics, the true source of the godly soul is in the very Essence of God, which is above and beyond all of His attributes and manifestations. We need to understand the difference between “essence” and “manifestation,” or “radiance.” God’s Essence is indivisible, remote, and concealed. God is beyond, beyond our finite comprehension. He has chosen to reveal Himself to us through His manifestations, His attributes, which are extensions of His Essence.

 

As an analogy: the sun is essence; its rays of light and warmth are its radiance. Although we enjoy the sunrays, they are not the same as the essence, in this case, the sun. They issue from their source, the sun, but have no independent existence. Without the sun, they would not exist. We must realize that enjoying the light, warmth, and sunshine of the rays is not identical with us actually being able to enjoy the sun. After all, if we would go to the sun, we would cease to exist.

 

This reminds of the rather bad joke by Rabbi Gordon of Chabad. Two men were talking and one said to the other, “I have always wanted to visit the sun.” The other man replied, “You fool! You cannot go to the sun. If you do, you will just burn up.” The first man replied, “You are the fool! I will go at night!” (I told you it was bad.)

 

The mystics also teach the pre-existence of the godly soul; that is, that all godly souls were created before the creation of the world. According to this teaching, the soul originated in Heaven, as it were, unhindered by the burdens of this physical life, enjoying the radiance of God’s Shechinah, the Dwelling Presence of God.

 

Before you dismiss this idea, let’s look at Genesis 2:7:

 

The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [neshamah, godly soul], and the man became a living being [nefesh, human (animal) soul].

 

The nefesh is never used of the godly soul. Instead, nefesh refers to a person’s life-force, “self,” “personality,” the human or animal soul, the “old man.” This nefesh is clothed in a physical body, and relates to others through the “garments” of thought, speech, and deed.*

 

The dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit [neshamah] returns to God who gave it. (Eccl. 12:7)

 

Said R. Assi, “The son of David will come only after all of the souls in the [repository of souls] are used up: ‘For the spirit that wraps itself is from me, and the souls that I have made’ (Is. 57:16).” (b. Yevamot 63b)

 

But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ (Luke 12:20)

 

In this passage, Yeshua is hinting at the pre-existence of the soul. After all, in order for someone to “require” your soul of you, that must mean that you do not actually own it. In this case, God must actually own it and must have simply lent it to the individual. Revelation 17:8 assumes that the names of the righteous, the tzaddikim, are “written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.” This implies some form of pre-existence of the souls of the righteous.

 

Messianic Jewish pioneer Paul Philip Levertoff, in speaking about the godly soul, refers to “the descent of the soul, in order to inhabit a material tabernacle.”[2] Hence, he also assumed the pre-existence of the godly soul. Regardless of one’s position, since we cannot be dogmatic at this point, what we do know for certain is that God is the One who creates our godly soul, presumably in heaven, and then “sends” it down into this physical world, within a body that also has an animal (human) soul within it. At the time of one’s death, the nefesh, the animal soul dies with the body while the godly soul, the neshamah, returns to God.

 

Building Character

 

With this understanding in mind, the question begs to be asked, “If we as our godly soul begin in heaven, and when we die we return to heaven, then what is the whole point of our soul having to descend and be born into this sorry world in the first place? Since we were already in heaven, would it not have been better to just leave us there, if we are simply going to return there anyways?”

 

Levertoff tells the story of a prince, the only son of the king, who is pure, wise, and good, having never known evil. The father and son loved each other very much. One day, the king sent his son to a far-off country. Wandering far from home, the son was sad and lonely. With temptations looming at his every turn, it was a real struggle for the son to keep himself pure. However, just as the king foreknew, the son grew daily in strength of character. Meanwhile, the father longed for his son; his very heart ached for his son. But how the father rejoiced, even more than the son, at the son’s victory over temptation and his return home![3]*

 

Just as a person sometimes reveals hidden strengths when confronted with adversity, God saw fit to send the godly soul into this physical world, so that by overcoming the challenges, the soul would ascend to heights far greater than would have been possible if the soul had remained in heaven.*

 

Passionate Love for God

 

I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride. (Song of Songs 5:1)

 

The soul in heaven has a familial love with God; similar to father and son, or brother and sister. However, God chose to want our love for Him to develop into a passionate, fiery love, such as between husband and wife.*Siblings are not supposed to have a passionate love for each other!

 

And what makes for the passion? Distance. Separation creates a longing in one’s heart for the other person. In similar fashion, God chose to have our souls descend to this physical world in order for us to long for the closeness we once had with Him while we were in heaven. Now, this is obviously not at a conscious level. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Through our separation from God, our Source of being, we develop a passionate love to be with Him again.* (Husband and wife)

 

Our godly soul creates a hunger and thirst within us for godliness. This desire cannot be quenched by worldly pleasures. We are to keep ourselves “unstained from the world” (James 1:27). When we sin, we diminish the godliness in our lives and within our surroundings. At this point, we feel even further removed from God and, God willing cry out to Him through teshuvah.

 

In speaking about our love for God, Levertoff remarks, “Our love for God must be pure, untainted by hope of reward or fear of punishment.”[4] Levertoff tells another parable:

 

A king made a proclamation. He invited his subjects to come and lay before him the greatest desires of their hearts … Some asked for wealth, others for honors … But one man came who, though he looked poor and wretched, asked for none of these things. What he desired was to have the privilege of seeing the king each day and of speaking to him personally …[5]*

 

When we come before the King of kings, what do we ask for? Is it about us, about our wants and desires, or is it about being in relationship with Him? Do we love God in hope of reward? Do we serve God out of fear of punishment? What do we desire most? A ticket to heaven? A ticket out of hell? Our desires to be met? Or simply to commune with our God? Hint: what we say and do in our prayer time will reveal to us our heart.

 

Who do I have in heaven but You? And I desire nothing on earth but You. (Psalm 73:25)

 

Rabbi Menachem Mendel, the Tzemach Tzedek, explained that, rather than desire for heaven or earth, one should desire nothing other than God. Our love is to be directed solely to God. Rabbi Schneur Zalman, founder of Chabad and author of Tanya, was noted on many occasions, in the midst of his d’veikut, when “cleaving to God” in ecstasy, he would exclaim, “I want nothing at all! I don’t want your Gan Eden, I don’t want your Olam Haba, World to Come … I want nothing but you alone!” May God help each of us to attain such spiritual heights!

 

I do not recall the reference, but there is a story of a rabbi, a tzaddik, who through his prayers, he was able to overturn an edict from heaven. Afterwards, he was sent a message from God that since his prayers had overturned God’s edict; he (the rabbi) had lost his place in the World to Come. Imagine that … losing one’s place in the World to Come. So how did the rabbi respond? How would we respond? The rabbi rejoiced! Why? He said, “Now I will know that my love for God and my Avodah, service for God through Torah study and mitzvot, is done not for hope of reward or fear of punishment, but solely out of love for God.”

 

Manual Labor

 

Now, we need to take a few minutes to better understand the many waters of financial worries and concern.

 

You will surely eat of the labor of your hands. You will be happy, and it will go well for you. (Psalm 128:2)

 

One must create a vessel for God’s blessings to us of livelihood. God has chosen to create this physical world in such a way that He has concealed His very presence. Just as a series of “shell corporations” are used as a way for the owner of the company to conceal his identity to the point that since nobody knows he owns the company, he is not even allowed entrance into the building; God has chosen to conceal Himself in this physical world to the point that many live their entire lives denying His very existence.*

 

You are indeed a God who concealed Himself, O God of Israel, who bring victory! (Isaiah 45:15)

 

As we learn from Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, since “all is determined in heaven except for the fear of heaven,” at Yom Kippur, God determines the spiritual status, health, and finances of each and every individual. Therefore, God has chosen that, although He is our ultimate source of everything including our finances, we must toil to produce a vessel (a job) to receive our blessings that come solely and ultimately from Him.*

 

Since God is the source of all of our blessings, including financial, just in case we decide that, since He is our source, we can do nothing and just sit around waiting for His blessings, we are told:

 

Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. (Deut. 15:18)

 

Mankind must do; one must prepare a vessel for one’s livelihood. In fact, due to God’s level of concealment in this physical world, we may even be required to work very hard to obtain an income. In spite of all of this, we must always remember that, “You will surely eat of the labor of your hands,” meaning, we are to use only the most external abilities in our work. Our internal abilities of our heart and mind must be designated only for Avodah, our service to God.

 

It is the blessing of the Lord that enriches, And no toil can increase it. (Proverbs 10:22)*

 

Since our work is only a vessel to receive God’s blessings to us, investing all of one’s mind and heart into one’s work is futile. God forbid that any of think that our work actually creates wealth; God is our only source for wealth. However, this is actually both very convicting and very liberating as well! Since we are here in this physical world to please, serve, and love God, and since He is our Provider, not our work, investing all of oneself into one’s job in the hopes of making more money is absolutely worthless.

 

We will not make a penny more than God has already determined He will give us!* How many of us spend all of our energy on work, and are unable to spend time with God daily in study, meditation, and prayer, or in the communal gathering on Shabbat? The good news is that even those of us who find ourselves in this position, God forbid, are promised that the many waters of financial, as well as legal, medical, and all other worldly concerns, are unable to extinguish the love of God in our godly souls!

 

So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. (Mattai 6:31-33)

 

And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

 

Elevation of the Godly Soul

 

There is even more good news. Not only are the many waters unable to extinguish our soul’s love for God, but they actually intensify our love for God! The descent of the godly soul into this world filled with the many waters of temptations and materialism actually fans the flames of our love, enabling our souls to attain a higher spiritual position than we enjoyed in heaven with God prior to our descent!* (Noah and the ark)

 

Since the many waters are unable to extinguish our love for God, and although at times, God forbid, we feel like we are about to “drown,” God’s purpose for these very obstacles is so that our souls can be elevated through them, leading to an intensification of our love for God!

 

Teshuvah

 

In terms of our Avodah, our service to God, the purpose for the descent of our godly souls into this physical world and its submersion within the many waters of materialism, leading us to the brink of “drowning,” God forbid, is so that our souls might actually acquire the potential for teshuvah (repentance and return to God). And teshuvah can only happen here in this physical world.*

 

“The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” (Mattai 5:3)

 

“The meek are blessed, for they will inherit the earth.” (Mattai 5:5)

 

The humble [meek] will have joy after joy in the Lord, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29:19)

 

Levertoff points out that the meek are those who have their joy increased through obedience to God’s Torah. The poor of spirit are the repentant sinners that have no merit of their own, since they suffer from poverty of righteous deeds. Levertoff states, “The sinner. In whose soul the light of the divine fire has been quenched, is greater, when he repents, than the righteous who have no need for repentance.”[6]

 

“I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.” (Luke 15:7)

 

“Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:47)*

 

Teshuvah is not limited solely to repentance from sin. That is only one aspect of teshuvah, and actually the lowest aspect of it. This form of teshuvah can better be called charatah, repentance from sin. Teshuvah is not necessarily connected with sin, but can simply mean “return.” This higher form of teshuvah is the constant striving of the godly soul to return to its source in God, the “striving of the soul to be absorbed into the Essence of the King” (Zohar 1:217b).

 

How happy is the one You choose and bring near to live in Your courts! We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple. (Psalm 65:4)

 

In light of this aspect of teshuvah, it should become clear why this experience is available to the soul only once it descends into this physical world. Since God has chosen to conceal Himself in this physical world, the godly soul’s desire to free itself from the body and return to God is greatly intensified by the very obstacles trying to destroy it! Just as the water pressure increases as the many waters come across a barrier, so the soul is spiritually elevated as it overcomes the many waters and rivers of financial, legal, medical, and social concerns that attempt to extinguish its love for God!

 

Prior to the descent of the godly soul into this physical world, souls are considered to be tzaddikim, righteous. Once the godly soul descends into this world and the person does teshuvah, either as repentance for sins or simply as a tzaddik seeking to return to God, the individual is elevated to the status of baalei teshuvah, a “master of return.”

 

[The truly penitent sinner’s] premeditated sins become [transformed] into [true] merits, which is achieved through “repentance out of love,” coming from the depths of the heart, with great love and fervor, and from a soul passionately desiring for God like a parched desert soil … his soul now thirsts [for God] even more than the souls of the righteous … (Tanya 7).

 

For R. Abbahu said, “In a place in which those who repent stand, those who are completely righteous cannot stand, as it is said, ‘Peace, peace to him that was far and to him that is near’ (Is. 57:19). “That is to say, ‘To one that was distant at the beginning but has repented and now is near.’” (b. Berachot 34b)*

 

Prodigal Son

 

Levertoff tells two parables that use the “prodigal son” motif.[7] In one, the son who is always home with his father does not realize the love he has for his father. However, when he is sent from his home to a far-away land, the longing for his home and father make him aware of his deep love for his father. Thereafter, at times the father will purposefully hide from his son so that when he again reveals himself to his son, he will once again realize his deep love for his father. When we have broken the commandments in God’s Torah, God will hide His face from us for a while, so that when we repent the light of His face will shine upon us more strongly.

 

A king had two sons, one was obedient while the other rebelled and left his father’s house and went away. “When the wanderer returned, his father’s delight over him was greater than the joy he had felt in the continuous presence of the son who had stayed at home.”

 

This prodigal motif is similar to that used by the Master in His parable of the Prodigal Son. “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” (Luke 15:32)*

 

Purpose of the Godly Soul’s Descent

 

After all of this, we should be in a much better position to understand why it is necessary for the godly soul to leave the heavenly home and descend into this physical world, filled with the many waters of temptations, financial, legal, medical, and social concerns. None of these are to be taken as punishments from God. Rather, God desires that the soul experience the most intense form of Avodah, service to God, namely, that of the baal teshuvah. Recall that teshuvah, either as repentance or as simple return, is only possible in this lower world. This idea of the godly soul returning to God is expressed in the verse, “and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit [the neshamah, godly soul] returns to God who gave it” (Eccles. 12:7).

 

Through teshuvah, which is only possible in this lower world, the godly soul does not simply return to heaven, to the place it originated before its descent. Through the distance from God and through all of the many waters of material concerns and worries in this world, which seem at times to be ready to “drown us,” God forbid, the godly soul has the potential through teshuvah to stand in the position of a baal teshuvah, which is a position more elevated than even a tzaddik. And it is God’s desire that through the very waters and rivers that rage in our lives, threatening to consume us, God forbid, that through these many waters our godly souls will actually be spiritually elevated through teshuvah. And since the purpose of these many waters is actually for our benefit, God promises us that, ”Many waters cannot extinguish the love, and rivers cannot wash it away.” (Song of Songs 8:7) May God help each of us attain spiritual elevation through teshuvah!