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Divine Soul
In kabbalah, the divine soul (; ''nefesh ha'elokit'') is the source of good inclination, or ''yetzer tov'', and Godly desires. The divine soul is composed of the ten sefirot from the side of holiness, and garbs itself with garments of the soul, three garments of holiness, namely Godly thought, speech and action associated with the 613 commandments of the Torah. Because its desire is to cleave to Godliness, it is usually in conflict with the ''nefesh habehamit'', whose desire is initially for physical pleasures.Likkutei Amarim ch. 9, Tanya Reluctance of the soul to be born In Pirkei Avot 4:22 it is stated: Regarding this, Obadiah ben Abraham, Bartenura explains that the soul does not desire to leave the pure place where souls reside before coming down to earth. An angel forces it to leave its heavenly abode and enter the mother's womb, after which an angel again forces it to come out and be born. On the same passage, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, notes ...
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Kabbalah
Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (). List of Jewish Kabbalists, Jewish Kabbalists originally developed transmissions of the primary texts of Kabbalah within the realm of Jewish tradition and often use classical Jewish scriptures to explain and demonstrate its mystical teachings. Kabbalists hold these teachings to define the inner meaning of both the Hebrew Bible and traditional rabbinic literature and their formerly concealed transmitted dimension, as well as to explain the significance of Jewish religious observances. Historically, Kabbalah emerged from earlier forms of Jewish mysticism, in 12th- to 13th-century Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain, al-Andalus (Spain) and in Hakhmei Provence, and was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical renaissance in 16th-century ...
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Shneur Zalman Of Liadi
Shneur Zalman of Liadi, (; September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O.S. / 18 Elul 5505 – 24 Tevet 5573) commonly known as the Alter Rebbe or Baal Hatanya, was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. He wrote many works and is best known for '' Shulchan Aruch HaRav'', '' Tanya'', and his ''Siddur Torah Or'', compiled according to the '' Nusach Ari''. Names Zalman is a Yiddish variant of Solomon and Shneur (or Shne'or) is a Yiddish composite of the two Hebrew words "shnei ohr" (שני אור "two lights"). He is also known as Shneur Zalman Baruchovitch, using the Russian patronymic of his father Baruch, and by a variety of other titles and acronyms including "Baal HaTanya VeHaShulchan Aruch'" ("Author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch"), "Alter Rebbe" (Yiddish for "Old Rabbi"), " Admor HaZaken" (Hebrew for ″Our Old Master and Teacher″), "Rabbenu HaZaken" (Hebrew for "Our Old Rabbi"), "Rabbenu HaGadol" (Hebrew for "Our Great Rabb ...
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Hasidic Thought
Hasidic philosophy or Hasidism (), alternatively transliterated as Hasidut or Chassidus, consists of the teachings of the Hasidic movement, which are the teachings of the Hasidic ''rebbes'', often in the form of commentary on the Torah (the Five books of Moses) and Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). Hasidism deals with a range of spiritual concepts such as God, the soul, and the Torah, dealing with esoteric matters but often making them understandable, applicable and finding practical expressions. With the spread of Hasidism throughout Ukraine, Galicia, Poland, and Russia, divergent schools emerged within Hasidism. Most if not all schools of Hasidic Judaism stress the central role of the Tzadik, or spiritual and communal leader, in the life of the individual Etymologically, the term, ''hasid'' is a title used for various pious individuals and by various Jewish groups since biblical times, and an earlier movement, the Hasidei Ashkenaz of medieval Germany was also called by this name. ...
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Kabbalah
Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (). List of Jewish Kabbalists, Jewish Kabbalists originally developed transmissions of the primary texts of Kabbalah within the realm of Jewish tradition and often use classical Jewish scriptures to explain and demonstrate its mystical teachings. Kabbalists hold these teachings to define the inner meaning of both the Hebrew Bible and traditional rabbinic literature and their formerly concealed transmitted dimension, as well as to explain the significance of Jewish religious observances. Historically, Kabbalah emerged from earlier forms of Jewish mysticism, in 12th- to 13th-century Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain, al-Andalus (Spain) and in Hakhmei Provence, and was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical renaissance in 16th-century ...
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Yetzer Hara
In Judaism, () is a term for humankind's congenital inclination to do evil. The concept is prominent in rabbinic texts and in the works of the Syriac poet Narsai. The term itself is drawn from the phrase "the inclination of the heart of man is evil" (), which occurs twice at the beginning of the Torah ( Genesis 6:5 and Genesis 8:21). The Hebrew word having appeared twice in Genesis occurs again at the end of the Torah: "I knew their devisings that they do". Thus from beginning to end the heart's (plan) is continually bent on evil. However, the Torah which began with blessing anticipates future blessing which will come as a result of God circumcising the heart in the latter days. In traditional Judaism, is not a demonic force; despite this, Samael is considered the source of the ''yetzer hara'', through man's misuse of things the physical body needs to survive. Thus, the need for food becomes gluttony due to the . The need for procreation becomes promiscuity, and so on. Th ...
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Spirit (animating Force)
In philosophy and religion, spirit is the vitalism, vital principle or animating essence within humans or, in some views, all life, living things. Although views of spirit vary between different belief systems, when spirit is contrasted with the soul, the former is often seen as a basic natural force, principle or substance, whereas the latter is used to describe the organized structure of an individual being's consciousness, in humans including their personality. Spirit as a substance may also be contrasted with matter, where it is usually seen as more subtle, an idea put forth for example in the ''Principia Mathematica''. Etymology The word ''spirit'' came into Middle English via Old French . Its source is Latin , whose original meaning was "breath, breathing" and hence "spirit, soul, courage, vigor";See Spirit (vital essence)#polysemy, François 2009, pp. 187–197. its ultimate origin is a Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European root *(s)peis-'. In Latin, was dis ...
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Soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that describe the relationship between the soul and the body are Interactionism (philosophy of mind), interactionism, Psychophysical parallelism, parallelism, and epiphenomenalism. Anthropology, Anthropologists and Psychology, psychologists have found that most humans are naturally inclined to believe in the existence of the soul and that they have interculturally distinguished between souls and bodies. The soul has been the central area of interest in philosophy since Ancient history, ancient times. Socrates envisioned the soul to possess a rational faculty, its practice being man's most godlike activity. Plato believed the soul to be the person's real self, an immaterial and immortal dweller of our lives that continues and thinks even after d ...
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Animal Soul
In Kabbalah, the animal soul (, ''nefesh habehamit'') is one of the two souls Jews possess. The animal soul animates the living body and is the source of both animalistic desires and inherent Jewish traits like kindness and compassion, as noted in '' Tanya'', a primary text of the Chabad movement and much of Hasidism, in general. While its primary inclination is to seek worldly, physical pleasures, the animal soul can be trained to primarily pursue spiritual pleasures with the guidance of the divine soul. Transforming the animal soul While the animal soul is still attached to worldly, physical pleasures, it is synonymous with the ''yetzer hara'', the evil inclination. However, the ''nefesh habehamit'' is not inherently evil; it merely seeks pleasure. Through persistent, joyous exposure to Torah study and observance of ''mitzvot'', the ''nefesh habehamit'' can be trained to desire spiritual and divine pleasures. In its refined state, it is often termed the ''nefesh hachiyunit'', th ...
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Divine Thought
Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single deity or abstract ideal but was recognized in multiple forms: as a radiant attribute possessed by gods, as a vital force pervading nature, and even as a quality glimpsed in extraordinary humans, laws, or acts. The Latin and its Greek counterparts (, ) conveyed something both immanent and awe-inspiring: a presence that could be felt in thunder, justice, ecstasy, fate, or beauty. Among the Greeks and Romans, divinity was not confined to a rigid theological system. Gods, heroes, and even emperors might be described as partaking in divinity, just as natural forces or virtue could be seen as expressions of divine essence. Philosophers such as Plato and the Stoics used the term to refer to the soul of the cosmos or the rational order of th ...
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Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician, serving as the personal physician of Saladin. He was born on Passover eve 1138 or 1135, and lived in Córdoba, Spain, Córdoba in al-Andalus (now in Spain) within the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravid Empire until his family was expelled for refusing to convert to Islam. Later, he lived in Morocco and Egypt and worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher. During his lifetime, most Jews greeted Maimonides' writings on Halakha, Jewish law and Jewish ethics, ethics with acclaim and gratitude, even as far away as Iraq and Yemen. Yet, while Maimonides rose to become the revered head of the History of the Jews in Egypt, Jewish community in Egypt, his writings also ...
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Zohar
The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology. The ''Zohar'' contains discussions of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of ego to darkness and "true self" to "the light of God". The ''Zohar'' was first publicized by Moses de León (c. 1240 – 1305 CE), who claimed it was a Tannaitic work recording the teachings of Simeon ben Yochai (). This claim is universally rejected by modern scholars, most of whom believe de León, also an infamous forger of Geonic material, wrote the book himself between 1280 and 1286. Some scholars argue that the ''Zohar'' is the work of multiple medieval authors and/or contains a small amount of genuinely antique novel mate ...
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