215. Rabbi Aba said to him, "With my soul (Nefesh) have I desired You in the night; with my spirit (Ruach) within me I seek You..." (Yeshayah 26:9). HE QUESTIONS: It should simply state "my Nefesh in the night," MEANING IT SHOULD SAY, 'MY SOUL IN THE NIGHT; WITH MY SPIRIT WITHIN ME I SEEK YOU.' Why write also "I seek You," when it should say, 'it seeks You,' AS IT REFERS TO HIS SPIRIT. He answered: We have established? that it resembles "in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath (lit. 'Ruach') of all mankind" (Iyov 12:10), MEANING THAT MY NEFESH AND MY RUACH ARE NOT HIS OWN NAMES, BUT ARE TWO LIGHTS - RUACH AND NEFESH - CLAD IN A BODY, AS EXPLAINED FURTHER.
216. Come and see that the Nefesh and Ruach always exist jointly in the world. We have learned the total service that man must serve the Holy One, blessed be He, is as we have learned, "And you shall love Hashem, your Elohim..." (Devarim 6:5). He needs to love the Holy One, blessed be He, with his very soul. This is referred to as an utter love, the love of his Nefesh and Ruach. Just as these NEFESH AND RUACH cling to the body and the body loves them, so must man love the Holy One, blessed be He, and cling to Him, as the love of the Nefesh and Ruach. This is in essence the verse, "With my soul have I desired You in the night," MEANING my very soul THAT IS CLAD IN MY BODY.[YB1]
217. "With my spirit within me I seek You," MEANING I will cling to You with much love at night. Man needs to rise every night out of love for the Holy One, blessed be He, to toil with His service until morning rises, so there will be drawn upon him a thread of grace. We have learned that fortunate is the portion of man that loves the Holy One, blessed be He, with this love. The world survives thanks to these truly righteous ones who so love the Holy One, blessed be He, and they have sway over all harmful edicts that appear above and below.
218. We have learned that the pious one, whose Ruach and Nefesh cling to the above, to the Holy King, with the proper love, will rule upon the earth below and what he decrees for the world will come to pass. How do we know this? From Elijah, as it is written, "As Hashem the Elohim of Yisrael lives, before whom I stood, there shall not be dew or rain these years, but acording to my word" (I Melachim 17:1).
219. Come and see: When the holy souls come from above downwards and the pious of the world draw them from the King and the Queen, NAMELY FROM THE UNION OF MALE AND FEMALE, there are few THAT MERIT it, that at the exact moment when they descend TO EARTH, they are standing AND SERVING before the King, who pleases to look at it. AFTERWARDS, IT DESCENDS INTO THE WORLD. When the Holy One, blessed be He, blew the breath INTO EVERY SINGLE SOUL AND into every angel in Heaven, all the hosts were created and stood complete, as we have established. This is what the verse says, "And all the hosts of them by the breath of His mouth" (Tehilim 33:6). Among THE SOULS, there are those that remain STANDING BEFORE THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, AS MENTIONED, until the Holy One, blessed be He, causes them to descend.
220. We have learned that from the day the world was created, THE SOULS OF THE GREAT PIOUS ONES have stood before the Holy One, blessed be He, held back IN HIS PRESENCE. THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, WATCHES THEM until the time arrives to send them below, MEANING TO BECOME CLOTHED WITH A BODY, and they rule above and below. Thus the verse, "As Hashem the Elohim of Yisrael lives, before whom I stood." It doesn't say, 'I stand,' but "I stood," MEANING BEFORE DESCENDING TO THIS WORLD. Afterwards, he returned to his place IN HEAVEN and entered his chamber. Other SOULS do not ASCEND TO THEIR PLACE until they die. This is because they never stood earlier BEFORE THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, ON THAT LEVEL of the others, NAMELY ENOCH AND ELIJAH THAT MERITED TO ASCEND TO THEIR PLACE WHEN STILL ALIVE. For this reason, Elijah became a messenger and angel above, AND ENOCH TOO. And these were those that clung most to the King, MEANING MORE THAN AN ANGEL.
221. I found in the book of Adam that all Holy Spirits above, MEANING ANGELS, do the mission OF THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, and all come from one place. The souls of the righteous COME from two levels joined into one. Therefore, they ascend higher THAN ANGELS and their levels are greater THAN ANGELS. This is so. All those that were hidden there went down and up during their lifetime, such as Enoch, who did not die. We have already established this matter regarding Enoch and Elijah.
222. We have learned that 125,000 levels of the pious souls arose in the desire OF THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, before the world was created. The Holy One, blessed be He, designated them for this world in every generation. They ascend, fly in the world, and join in the bundle of life, MEANING MALCHUT. In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will renew the world with them. About them, it is written, "For as the new heavens and the new Earth..." (Yeshayah 66:22).
223. "You shall afflict your souls..." (Vayikra 16:29). It says "your souls" in order that Yisrael be found meritorious before the Holy King, and meet with the goodwill of the Holy One, blessed be He. They must cling to Him in order that all their sins may be forgiven. Therefore, whoever eats and drinks on the ninth day and pleasures his soul with food and drink will find himself with the affliction on the tenth day doubled, and it will be considered as if he fasted on the ninth and tenth. "Your souls" includes all, body and soul, to surrender on this day in order to have atonement for sins.
224. We have learned that "for on that day will He forgive you" (Ibid.). HE WONDERS WHY IT SAYS, "On that day," when it should read 'that day.' HE ANSWERS, "On that day" is correct, as Atika Kadisha, MEANING KETER, is revealed in it to forgive everyone's sins.