Tazria: Chapter 5

"Surely a man walks in an image"

Synopsis

We learn that when a man and his wife are about to mate, God gives the spirit of the child who will be conceived to a minister, and tells him where it should go. God commands the spirit to be righteous, and then the spirit descends with an image. As long as he has that image with him, he exists in the world, but when it leaves him he dies. We read about the witchcraft described in the book of the sorcerers of Asmodeus, where they knew how to give over their images to the Other Side. We are told that one must never throw objects in his house because they are then of the other side. When that man who gave over his image to the other side dies, the evil spirit that was attached to his supernal image takes it away from him, so that it will never return. Before a soul is born it is shown the reward of good and evil, and the holy image stands by it; when it is born the image becomes part of it, and his life depends on it.