Oneness for Everyone

In the following selection, the case that mystical meditations should be reserved for the spiritual elite is sternly refuted. Generally speaking, Kabbalah speaks of five levels of the soul, from the most base, namely Nefesh and Ruach, to the loftiest, Neshama, Chaya and Yechida. It is particularly Nefesh and Ruach which are most in need of repair and whose rectification is dependant upon our efforts and experiences during our lifetimes.

Each person has a unique role in the rectification of Creation, greatly influenced by the general spiritual world in which their soul is rooted. While the source of all souls is in what is called the world of Atzilut, they only become manifest from the subsequent lower three worlds of Beriya, Yetzira, and Asiya. The closer a lower world is to Atzilut, the more associated it is to the ultimate unity embodied in Atzilut. Thus, the world of Beriya is the most "unified" of the lower three spiritual worlds, followed by Yetzira and Asiya, respectively, and it could be said that a soul root from the world of Beriya is the most lofty.

However, as Rebbe Yitzchak Yehuda Yechiel of Komarno points out, the highest levels of every person’s soul are in no need of fixing, permeated with the divine oneness which actually enables the less refined levels of the soul reach completion. An instrumental vehicle for the soul’s rectification is that of "yichudim", traditional Kabbalistic techniques of contemplating the union of specific divine names of G‑d, referred to below as "mystical meditations".

Know that [the highest three levels of the soul] Neshama, Chaya, and Yechida are [those spiritual levels] which have already been clarified to the point of being completely good [as opposed to an admixture of good and bad], and they have returned to their [original pre-Creation] levels [of holiness], to the aspects of G‑dliness and Atzilut, which shines in all the worlds, Beriya, Yetzira, and Asiya. And they [the highest levels of the soul] are the ones which effect true Oneness within all the [lower three] worlds, to bind them and unite them within the Infinite [Ein Sof], to draw down new [spiritual] influx.

And what I saw in a particular text, that a person whose soul [root] isn’t from the world of Beriya shouldn’t bring about Unifications [via mystical meditations] because his [particular level of] oneness isn’t [true] oneness – is a mistake and a complete lie, for even a soul from the world of Asiya is an aspect of G‑dliness, a "piece of G‑d on high", unique in its [own particular aspect of G‑d’s] oneness. And also we find that our master, the Ari, gave over mystical meditations to those who transgressed in particularly grave sins in order to rectify their souls – "and that which is helpful for the sick is all the more so good for the healthy – and there is no joy for the holy Divine Presence other than holy mystical meditations, totally lighting up the soul.

Therefore, my son, accustom yourself in order to become an expert in holy names and in holy mystical meditations – that your soul should be bound to the Life of All Life, every moment, for this is the life-force of the soul of every Jew. And even a person who only has a soul [Nefesh] from the world of Asiya (and all the more so a Ruach from Asiya) can perform Unifications [via meditation on divine names] and connect himself with the righteous, and his meditation will ascend with the righteous.

In conclusion, the idea written in that book is a mistake and a complete lie, for every holy thing fitting for our teacher Moses is fitting for the lowest of the lowest [souls], like me.

Translated and adapted by Baruch Emanuel Erdstein from Heichal HaBracha, parashat Veyakhel, pg. 304a

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