Soul of Gentiles
Hello Rabbi Michael,
I happened to come across your statement in this post:
http://www.bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?whichpage=11&topic_id=3041481&forum_id=1364
There you wrote that a Gentile has no soul, but only a mind.
I happened to come across some additions that imply that even Gentiles have souls:
Tosafot Tractate Avoda Zara Page 5 Page 1
The Son of David does not come until the souls in the body are exhausted – and they were exhausted by idolaters who would give birth, and Rabbi Elchanan says that the souls of Israel and idolaters are not in the first body. And did he not say (Shabbat 30:) that a woman will come who will give birth every day until the days of the Messiah, lest there be a new body and new souls.
I thought maybe this could reinforce your statements that legitimize Gentiles in our day.
I got this idea, by the way, from Rabbi Ovadia's agreement to a Kabbalistic book that my great-grandfather wrote. Throughout the book, my great-grandfather mentions the issue of the souls of Gentiles as well, and Rabbi Ovadia wrote about the fact that Gentiles do indeed have souls, simply on a lower level, and the additions above are proof.
You surprised me. I don't remember thinking that way in the early period of 2014 either. And indeed, a check I conducted on the link you sent revealed that that's not what I wrote there (see page 9 in the thread). What I wrote is that there is such a claim and that it is not racist. And I specifically wrote there that I find it difficult to accept this distinction and that it is vague and not clear that it says anything, but not because it is racist (because it is not), but because the concepts are not well defined.
And from this you will understand that even the Toss of Ba'z that you cited is not evidence of anything. Toss speaks of the soul of a Gentile, but it can certainly be a reference to the soul of a Gentile. Toss was not a Kabbalist and did not use the Kabbalistic terminology that distinguishes between a soul and a soul. From the perspective of the revealed author, every person has a soul, and only the Kabbalists enter into a higher resolution. When Toss speaks of a soul, he comes to the epoche from a body or from pure biology like that of an animal.
My statements that see the Gentile as a person in every sense are not based on Kabbalistic terminology (which is vague and dubious in my opinion, as I also wrote there), but simply on what I see. He is a person like you and me, and there is no reason to let vague terminology (even if they are correct in some sense) change any of that. The tangible cannot be denied. He is a person in every sense and purpose, even if he lacks some spiritual dimension (which I tend to think he does not. I find it difficult to accept that upon conversion something was added to his metaphysics).
With great respect,
I am studying the Scriptures in relation to the subject of death and life and I find in the Bible a completely different story than what you are saying. Am I misunderstanding what I read? Please read what I found written in the Torah and the Scriptures and I would be happy to hear your opinion on this subject. I apologize if the passage is too long :-) I tried to make it as short as I could because there is a lot of other material on the subject that supports what I found. Thanks in advance.
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7) According to what is said in this verse, man does not have a soul. Man is a living soul composed of dust and the breath of life. That is it. God created man ready with everything in him and breathed into him the breath of life. The same breath of life that He breathed into all the animals of the world. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and let fowl fly above the earth above the earth. The sky was opened. 21 And God created the great whales and every living creature that moves with the air, which the waters brought forth abundantly, according to their kinds. Genesis 1:20-21. The difference is that man is the only creature created in the image of God. His materiality is completely different. But man has the same spirit of life as all the animals in the world. There is no difference between Gentiles and Jews in the spirit of life in them. All humans were created in the image of God and became living souls the moment God breathed the breath of life into their nostrils. The moment of their death is the moment when the soul ceases to exist. The dust returns to the earth and the spirit of life returns to God who gave it. What returns to God is the spirit of life and not a personality in the form of a soul or disembodied spirit. There is not a single mention in the Bible of the soul ascending to heaven, separated from the body. "The dead shall not praise the Lord." If the dead do not praise the Lord in heaven, then what are they doing there? "I will praise the Lord while I am alive." In the resurrection, the Lord will raise the dead and they will come out of their midst, created anew. There is no point in the resurrection if they continue to live after their death. This is the lie that was told to Adam and Eve by the serpent in the Garden of Eden. "You shall not surely die." This is the lie that continues today. People believe that after their death they ascend to heaven. But nowhere in the Scriptures are people mentioned as spirits ascending to heaven. The prophet Elijah ascended to heaven in his body. 19 For from the beginning of mankind, from the beginning of beasts, and from the beginning of one of them. As is the case with all things, so is death, and all have one breath, and the death of man is different from that of the beasts, because all things are alike. Ecclesiastes 3:18. And the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7. For there is no remembrance of you in Sheol, from whom I know you. Psalms 6:6. Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom, in Sheol, where you go. Ecclesiastes 9:10. 5 For the living know that they are dead, but the dead know no more, neither have they any more reward, for their memory is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hatred, their envy, are all perishing, and they have no more portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:5-6. The heavens are the waters of the LORD, but the earth he has given to the children of men. 17 The dead shall not praise him, neither shall all that go down be like him. Psalm 15:16-17.
With regards and appreciation
There is a simpler terminology that is the lowest level of meaning of these terms (the terminology of the Kabbalists is a higher level) and it defines them well:
Soul – what distinguishes between living and inanimate (it is necessary to discuss whether living creatures have them) and a distinction must be made between the soul of a living being and the soul of an inanimate being. In English, mind
Spirit - what distinguishes animals from humans. Only humans have it. It is related to the ability to think, speak, and choose freely (none of which animals have). In English spirit
Soul – the very essence of human personality. The encounter with the simple personality. Without attributes. What we give it a personal name. Although according to this it was also supposed to be for animals, but according to the hierarchy (soul above spirit) it is supposed to be only for humans. In English soul
But the Rabbi said that the Israelites are essentially different (or at least in their potential. They have the potential for prophecy – “the divine matter of the world”) from the Gentiles, just as humans are different from animals. Therefore, perhaps it could be said that Israel has a soul and the Gentiles only have a spirit. On the other hand, in several places it appears that a spirit is not a thing in itself, but rather something intermediate between the soul and the mind, and that it is created by the entry of a soul into a mind (i.e., as a linear line that distinguishes between two realms on the plane (the soul and the mind) and whose area is of zero dimension in relation to the area of the two realms). According to this, all humans have a soul and therefore they also have a spirit.
Perhaps this duplication can be explained in the sermon in Tractate 7, where Israel is called "man" and the Gentiles are not called "man," but on the other hand, wherever it says in the Bible "man," it also includes Gentiles. That is, Gentiles are human beings, only less human than Israel.
By the way, according to this theory (and it is also implied by the Riya'al) Moses himself is separate and distinct from the rest of the Israelites, just as they are distinct from the rest of the Gentiles and just as humans are distinct from animals. He also has an "animal" (his prophecy is the "illuminating specular"). And Adam the first before sin, and also the Messiah, who is a form of the rising of the sun. Adam the first also differs from Moses the first in the same way: they have a "unity". Their level of attainment of the Blessed One is higher than the level of any prophecy (it is what is called the "rising of the sun" I think).
As you can see, racism doesn't belong here at all if Moses and Adam are also different like this. It's simply reality.
Easy correction: "Soul - what distinguishes between living and nonliving things (it is necessary to discuss whether single-celled creatures, etc. have it) and a distinction must be made between the soul of a living thing and the soul of a plant. In English, mind
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