Reach Down

The Ancient Ones tell us that a person is composed of three segments.  Each part interacts with the other in an ongoing symphony.  They play off one another as each other’s foil.  They are the Neshama, Ruah and Nefesh.

The highest of them is called the Neshama.  Some call it the soul.  It is a gift of God.  Drawn from another universe, the soul maintains its strength from this otherworldly source.  The Neshama recognizes things which the other two segments do not recognize.  The Neshama is the connector to Divinity.  It knows and feels things the person cannot possibly know.  Mostly, the Neshama remains hidden from us.  We never entirely know it but at moments of enlightenment we feel its soothing touch.

If we strive to live a perfect life, a life of righteousness, the Neshama makes its voice heard.  It assists in the holy endeavor of living a sacred life.

If a person makes no effort to live a conscious life, Ruah and Nefesh operate to the exclusion of the Neshama.  It is, as it were, the animal part of our person then reigns.  We marry, live, work for the sake of the fleeting.  Hunger becomes the driving force of life.  We fight because we want more.  We tear into food because our stomach growls.  We see others as competitors in the game of life.  Existence becomes the ends, instead of the means.

Worse, a person who deprives himself or herself of the Godly Neshama becomes further compelled by the other aspect of the animal soul.  The distance between the self and the Neshama becomes greater and more difficult to embrace.

Now that the High Holy Days are gone, we wait in the month of Mar-Heshvan (the bitter Heshvan) deprived of the timely light that the Days of Awe contain.  Until Hanukka, we are left with no religious respite.  It is therefore critical, say our Sages, to keep the connection strong by accessing the best in ourselves, the Neshama.

Seek God.  Search for moments of sublime connection with something far greater.  It keeps the animal at bay and the internal light strong.