Nefesh haChayim Gate 1 - 003 Spiritual Dimensions

 נפש החיים 003 שער א פרק ג

 1]The Nefesh HaChaim (Shaar 1, Perek 3) writes that Hashem created upper realms that are more spiritual than our current one, and that man has the power to affect these spiritual realms with his actions.

This is a concept that we really need to understand well. What does it mean that a person does something here on this world, and it has effects on other worlds? It doesn’t just mean that what we do here causes some result on another realm. Rather, it means that our actions we do here are also taking place there in those higher realms!

2] The Nefesh HaChaim brings proof to this concept from the fact that our sins caused the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash[1].

We can ask the following. We know that we must await the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdash. Why is this that we wait for? Isn’t the purpose of Creation that we should come to acknowledge the greatest recognition of Hashem?

The answer to this is that both of these goals are the same concept. The Beis HaMikdash is what allowed us to reveal Hashem in the world. Hashem is revealed precisely through His creations, and for that we need the Beis HaMikdash.

Only humans can reveal Hashem; all other life-forms, such as animals, plants and rocks, are not able to achieve the revelation of Hashem. Only people can reveal Hashem, and that is why we need the Beis HaMikdash.

3] The Nefesh HaChaim continues that the Sages state that when the Jewish people does the will of Hashem, power is given to the Heavenly realms. What does this mean? It means that even in the upper Heavenly realms, Hashem has to become more and more revealed. When we reveal Hashem’s will on this world, even the upper realms gain a greater recognition of Hashem’s existence.

When a person learns Torah, he has to look at this as more than just “giving a nachas ruach” (satisfaction on High) to Hashem. Learning Torah is much more than that! It gives the upper realms a greater recognition of Hashem, and it gives the person himself as well a greater recognition of Hashem.

Learning Torah and doing the mitzvos is not just about getting rewarded in the future. When we learn Torah and do mitzvos, the Nefesh HaChaim states that we are building the upper realms – and we are building our own realm. Learning Torah reveals in us a greater recognition of Hashem, and this builds our world. This is the meaning of the possuk, “Give strength to G-d.” We “give strength” to Hashem, so to speak, when we reveal Him more and more.

4] This is what the Nefesh HaChaim is trying to convey to us when he describes the meaning of “Elokim.” It is to tell us that our entire avodah is to reveal a recognition of Hashem more and more on this world.

This is how we build our form, our tzelem elokim – and through this, we can become the container (kli) that holds the spiritual illuminations of Hashem (ohr).