It’s a question that’s haunted mystics and philosophers for ages. And in the Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei_Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, we find a startlingly beautiful answer.
The Tikkunei Zohar asks us to consider something profound: that our soul, our neshamah, mirrors the Divine itself.
Think about it. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, sustains the entire world, so too does the soul sustain the entire body. It’s a beautiful image, isn’t it? The soul as the engine, the life force, the very thing that keeps us going.
And the parallels don’t stop there. Just as God sees but cannot be seen, the soul within us observes, feels, and experiences, yet remains unseen by the physical eye. It's that hidden observer within. The Tikkunei Zohar continues, explaining that just as the Blessed Holy One dwells in the innermost chambers – think of the Holy of Holies in the Temple – so too does the soul dwell in the innermost chambers of our being.
There’s a sense of intimacy here, a suggestion that the Divine isn’t some far-off entity, but something intimately connected to our very core.
And in perhaps the most evocative analogy of all, the text states that just as the Blessed Holy One fills the whole world, or perhaps "the earth of His glory," so too does the soul fill the entire body. We are, in essence, vessels filled with the Divine spark.
Finally, just as the Blessed Holy One judges the whole world, so does the soul judge the body. This isn’t about punishment, necessarily, but about discernment, about guiding our actions and choices.
But here's where it gets really interesting. The Tikkunei Zohar goes on to say that the "mystery of the soul being equal to the blessed Holy One" is connected to Binah. Now, Binah is a complex concept in Kabbalah, often translated as "understanding" or "intelligence," and it's one of the Sefirot, the emanations of God. Binah is also referred to as Mi, מי, meaning "Who."
The text then quotes Isaiah 40:25: "And to whom – Mi – will you liken Me, that I may be compared?" This is a direct link, suggesting that Binah, this divine intelligence, this “Who,” is the key to understanding the soul's connection to the Divine. The verse implies that the very question of comparison points us toward Binah.
The Tikkunei Zohar concludes by mentioning that the "Masters of the Mishnah" established five things, specifically five, because they relate to the aspect of the higher Hei. The Hebrew letter Hei, ה, has a numerical value of 5, and in Kabbalah, letters and numbers often hold deeper symbolic meanings. This is referencing the Divine Name, often written as YHWH, and the Hei represents an opening, a connection to the divine flow. The number five, and the letter Hei, symbolize divine grace and revelation.
So, what does it all mean? Perhaps it’s an invitation to look inward, to recognize the Divine spark within ourselves. To understand that we are not just bodies, but souls, intimately connected to something far greater. To treat our bodies, and ourselves, with the reverence due to something so profoundly sacred. It’s a potent reminder of our inherent worth and our intrinsic connection to the Divine.