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Chapter 7
But the vital nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body) in a person of Israel, which is from the side of the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness) clothed in the person’s blood, as mentioned above, and the souls of beasts, wild animals, birds, and fish that are clean and permitted for eating, and the lasting and the life of every lifeless thing and every plant that is permitted for eating, and likewise the lasting and the life of every act, speech, and thought in the matters of this world that have in them no side of a ban, neither a root nor a branch of the 365 mitzvot (commanded deeds) of “you shall not do” and their branches, whether from the Torah or from the rabbis, only that they are not for the sake of Heaven, but the will of the body, its wish, and its craving, and even if it is truly the need of the body, its lasting, and its life, but his aim is not for the sake of Heaven, so as to serve Hashem (God) with his body: these acts, speeches, and thoughts are no better than the vital nefesh bahamit itself. And the whole of it, all of it, flows and is drawn from the second level in the kelipot and the sitra achra (the other side), which is a fourth kelipah, called kelipat nogah, which in this world, called the world of action, is in its greater part as in its whole, evil, and only a little good is mixed inside it, [for from it come the good traits in the nefesh bahamit of a person of Israel, as was explained above]. It is a middle aspect, between the three kelipot that are wholly unclean and the aspect and level of holiness. Therefore sometimes it is included in the three unclean kelipot, [as it is written in Etz Chaim, Gate 49, the beginning of Chapter 4, in the name of the Zohar]. And sometimes it is included and rises into the aspect and level of holiness. That is, when the good mixed in it is sifted out from the evil, and prevails, and rises, and is included in holiness. For example, one who eats fat meat of an ox and drinks scented wine, in order to widen his mind for Hashem and for His Torah, as Rava said (Yoma 76b): “Wine and scent,” and so on, or in order to keep the mitzvah of delight on Shabbat and on a festival day. Then the life of the meat and the wine, which had flowed from kelipat nogah, is sifted out, and it rises to Hashem like a burnt offering and like a sacrifice. So too one who says a humorous word, to clear his mind and to gladden his heart for Hashem, and for His Torah and His service, which need to be in joy. As Rava did for his students (Shabbat 30b), he said a humorous word before them first, and the rabbis were gladdened.
But one who is among those who gorge on meat and gulp wine, to fill the craving of his body and his nefesh bahamit, which is the aspect of the element of water from the four evil elements in it, from which comes the trait of craving, through this the life of the meat and the wine inside him goes down and is included for the time in the complete evil of the three unclean kelipot. His body becomes for them a garment and a chariot for the time, until the person turns and goes back to the service of Hashem and to His Torah. For because the meat was permitted and the wine was fit, they can turn back and rise with him when he returns to the service of Hashem. This is the sense of the words “released” and “permitted.” That is to say, it is not tied and bound in the hands of the outer forces, so that it would be unable to turn back and rise to Hashem. Only a trace from it remains in the body. Therefore the body needs the beating of the grave, as will be explained further on. [And so too the life in the drops of seed that went out from him in a bodily craving, in that he did not make himself holy at the time of intercourse with his clean wife.]
It is not so with forbidden foods and forbidden unions. They come from the three kelipot that are wholly unclean. They are bound and tied in the hands of the outer forces forever, and they do not rise from there until a day comes and death is swallowed forever, as it is written (Zechariah 13:2): “And the spirit of uncleanness I will make to pass from the earth.” Or until he makes a return so great that deliberate sins become for him like actual merits. That is a return out of love, from the depth of the heart, in a great love, a longing, and a nefesh yearning to cling to Him, blessed be He. His nefesh thirsts for Hashem like a weary and parched land. For until now his nefesh was in a parched land and the shadow of death, which is the sitra achra, and far from the light of the face of Hashem to the utmost. Therefore his nefesh thirsted with a greater force than the thirst of the souls of the tzaddikim (a tzaddik is a righteous person), as in their saying, of blessed memory (Berakhot 34b): “In the place where those who have returned stand,” and so on. About this return out of great love they said (Yoma 86b) that deliberate sins become for him like merits, since through this he came to this great love. But a return that is not from this love, even though it is a proper return and Hashem will pardon him, still they do not become for him like merits, and they do not rise from the kelipah completely until the time of the end, when death will be swallowed forever.
But the life in the drops of seed that went out from him to no purpose, even though it went down and was included in the three unclean kelipot, does rise from there through a proper return and through a mighty aim in the reading of the Shema upon the bed, as is known from the Ari (Rabbi Isaac Luria), of blessed memory, and as hinted in the Gemara (Berakhot 5a), “Whoever reads the Shema upon his bed, it is as if he holds a sword with two mouths,” and so on, to kill the bodies of the outer forces that were made into a garment for the life in the drops, and the life rises from them, as is known to those who know hidden wisdom. Therefore the sin of seed to no purpose is not mentioned in the Torah among forbidden unions at all, even though it is more severe than they are, and its sin is great in the measure of the size and the multitude of the uncleanness and the kelipot. For one begets and multiplies very greatly by the sending out of seed to no purpose, more than by forbidden unions. Only, in forbidden unions one adds power and life to a kelipah that is unclean in a greater degree, until he cannot raise the life from there by a return, [Gloss: because it was taken in by the foundation of the female of the kelipah, which receives and takes in the life from holiness. It is not so with seed to no purpose, where there is no aspect of a female of the kelipah, only that its powers and its armies clothe the life in the drops, as is known to those who know hidden wisdom], unless he makes a return out of a love so great that deliberate sins become for him like merits.
In this the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Chagigah 9a) will be understood: “Who is a crooked thing that cannot be set right? This is one who came upon a forbidden relation and fathered a mamzer, a child of a forbidden union.” For then, even if he makes a return so great, it is impossible for him to raise the life to holiness, since it has already gone down into this world and clothed itself in a body of flesh and blood.
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