Come and see: on Shabbat, when the day is sanctified, souls emerge from the Tree of Life ; these holy souls flow down and rest on them [the Jews] throughout the Shabbat day. At the end of Shabbat, all these souls go up to be crowned with holy crowns above [by means of the words of Torah that they heard or said during Shabbat]. Also G‑d summons for that man [the additional Shabbat soul that we receive in honor of Shabbat]. This is the additional soul. And though this soul came to him, as for the soul he had before, the food of the first one, "her clothing, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish," according to the explanation given.

BeRahamim LeHayyim: What does the above mean for you, and why is it being revealed to you now?

What does it mean that we receive an additional soul on Shabbat? R. Eliyahu Dessler wrote in a letter to close students1 that it means an increased potential for holiness from heaven. He heard from his teacher, the Alter of Kelm, that if someone does not personally feel an added sanctity on Shabbat, it is a sign that he or she has no such additional soul! And if someone never feels holiness in his life, it is an indication that he has no soul. Only with teshuva will his soul return.

Now that's pretty harsh, Nu?! A very Mussar-like approach to holiness. And frightening to say the least. We are redeemed, however, by R. Shimshon Pincus' approach to prayer, that we actually feel holiness and the additional soul more than we think. Sometimes on Yom Kippur, or when davening at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, or maybe saying Lecha Dodi on Friday night. R. Shimshon Pincus says that based on the Rambam in The Guide to the Perplexed, if you want the Shechina to be with you, then all you have to do is think about Hashem, then voila, He is with you! To access this soul, just think about it. Which is why in Sefardi prayerbooks it says after Boi Kalah on Friday night: Think that the extra Nefesh has descended in to you. After Barchu, it tells us to think that the extra Ruach has entered, and after Ufros Aleinu, the extra Neshama. This awareness itself brings the additional Neshama from within.

Bracketed annotations from Metok Midevash and Sulam commentaries
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