Q&A: 'The Worlds' in Nefesh HaChayim
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
'The Worlds' in Nefesh HaChayim
Question
Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin writes in his book Nefesh HaChayim that a person gives life to all the upper worlds. What does an "upper world" mean, of which a person is the root?
Thank you
Answer
I assume you understand it the same way I do. The assumption is that there are spiritual worlds (“upper” is not a geographic description), and they and the beings in them have no mass and do not occupy space in any sense familiar to us. The claim is that what happens there is a result of what we do here.