Likutay Torah
In Parshas Ki Seitzei, the Torah discusses the laws of going out to battle against the enemies of the Jewish People. One of the laws discussed deals with capturing enemies, including women. The posuk tell us that if a soldier desires to marry a captured enemy woman, he must carry out a process: She is given thirty days to decide if she wants to convert to Judaism or not. If she decides to convert, then the soldier may marry her, but cannot take her as a maidservant or sell her; he must treat her as a regular wife. If she does not want to convert to Judaism, then he must send her free and cannot keep her.
The Torah says that if a soldier marries this captured woman who converted to Judaism only because he desired her appearance, then he will end up disliking her, since his intentions from the beginning were improper.
According to the strict law of the Torah, a man may marry more than one wife, as we find that the Forefathers, Avraham and Yaakov, both had more than one wife.
The Torah describes what happens if the person who married the converted, captured woman decides to marry another wife. He marries this second wife, who was a naturally born Jewess, with the proper intentions, and he therefore likes her. But, he also is married to his first wife, the converted, captured woman, whom he dislikes, since he married her with improper intentions.
Later on in history, after the completion of the Talmud, around one thousand years ago, the Rabbis decreed that a man should not marry more than one wife, and most of the Jewish People accepted that decree.
Now, when the wife whom he dislikes gives birth to their first child, and shortly thereafter, his second wife, whom he likes, gives birth to his second child, he is faced with a dilemma: He would rather give the birth-right of a double portion of his inheritance to the first-born child of his second wife, whom he favors. But, the fact remains that his first wife gave birth first, and her son is the eldest.
The Torah says that he is not allowed to give the birthright to the first-born child of his second wife, since the child of his first wife has the halachic status of his firstborn. We do not consider his personal feelings towards his two wives when determining the first-born status. Rather, whichever son is born first has the first-born status (in terms of inheritance), regardless of which wife he was born to.
The Alter Rebbe will explain the deeper meaning of this topic and its lesson, after a lengthy discussion of the battle between the Divine soul and the animal soul:
Chapter 1
“If a man will have two wives, one he favors and one does not like, and they will both give birth to a son, both the wife that he likes and the wife that he does not like, and it shall be that the first son will be born to the wife he does not like.
It shall be, on the day that he apportions his inheritance to his sons, he is not allowed to give precedence to the first-born son of the wife he likes over the first-born son of the wife he does not like who was born earlier.
Rather, he must designate the first-born son of the wife he does not like to give him a double portion of all of his possessions, since he is the ‘first of his strength’ and he has the law of being his first-born.” (Devarim 21:15-17)
Understanding the Verse
We need to understand the wording of the verse, “And it shall be that the first son will be born to the wife he does not like.” The verse could have just said, “If the wife he does not like gives birth first, he must give a double portion to her son.” Why does it say, “And it shall be that the first son will be born to the wife he does not like?” This implies that the firstborn should, and will, come specifically from the despised wife. What is the implication of saying that in such a situation where he has two wives (one he likes and one he does not like), the outcome should be that the wife he does not like should give birth first?
The answer to this will be understood based on what Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote in Shaar Hakedusha, that every Jew has two souls, as it is written, (Yeshaya 57:16) “For I [Hashem] will not fight [with a man] forever, and I will not be angry at him forever, if his spirit which is before me will become humbled, and his souls that I have made [will become humbled].” Since the verse is talking about a single person and still says about him that Hashem has made his “souls” in the plural form, this shows that each Jewish Person was made with two souls.
One soul is called the life-giving soul and the animalistic soul. This level becomes invested in the person’s blood and gives life to his body.
It descended from a lofty spiritual level, through many intermediaries, and through the angels referred to as ‘officers’ and the level referred to as ‘mazalos.’ As our Sages say, (Zohar I:251a) “There is nothing in this world, even a blade of grass, that does not have a ‘mazal’ above it, that ‘strikes’ it and tells it to grow.” Like it is written, (Koheles 5:7) “If you see the poor being treated unjustly, and theft from those who follow law and order in the country, do not question how Hashem could want to allow this, since there are levels upon levels of guardian angels, and they are appointed over them to mete out punishment.”
The mazalos are a spiritual level directly above the physical reality. They receive their spiritual identity and life-force from the angels (known as ‘officers’), which exist on a higher spiritual level.
In order for the animal soul of a person to descend from the level of angels into a physical body, it must go through many stages and processes that remove its purely spiritual identity and lower it to a level where it can give life to a physical body that has physical desires.
Among the levels through which the animal soul descends, one is called “officers,” who are ministering angels appointed over the nations. Another level is called “mazalos.” “Mazalos” comes from the word “nozel” (flowing). It is the spiritual level directly “above” physicality, and it “flows” into the physical world and gives life to all physical creatures, from plants to people. The level of “mazalos” is just an intermediary level between angels and the physical world. It receives its life-force from the angels and gives that over to the physical creatures.
The reason the mazal has to “strike” the creature is because the spiritual life that is transmitted from the angels into the physical world must be forced to descend and become transformed from its lofty spiritual origin to an incomparably lower, physical level.
Through the animal soul becoming distant from the Light of Hashem via this process of spiritual descent, and through the many levels which conceal Hashem’s revelation and constrict the animal soul’s awareness of Hashem, until it descends to a level where it can become invested in the physical body of a person, it is therefore comprised of both good and bad, and all the negative character traits in the person come from its four “bad elements.”
Also, the natural human intellect comes from it, since every soul of a person (whether of the animal soul or the Divine soul) has both intellect and emotions. The natural intellect of a human that figures out how to attain its physical needs and desires is also part of the animal, just like the material desires come from the animal soul.
It is only from the animal soul’s perspective that a person is able to go against Hashem’s Will, G-d forbid, like it is written, (Vayikra 5:1) “When a nefesh-soul will sin,” meaning that only from the level of “nefesh”—which is a reference to the nefesh habahamis/animal soul—can a person come to sin, and not from the higher levels of the soul, which are always faithful to Hashem.
Because of the many levels of concealment and constriction that cover over and block out Hashem’s Infinite Light, the person sees himself as having his own independent existence, apart from Hashem.
Chapter 2
However, the second soul in every Jew is called “the Divine soul,” which is “a portion of Divinity from on High.” (Iyov 31:2)
This soul comes to the person not through any intermediaries at all, as it is written, (Koheles 7:29) “And Hashem has made Adam-man directly.” Meaning, that the Divine soul—referred to as Adam (man)—was made directly by Hashem, without intermediate stage that would effect and alter the Divine nature of the Divine soul.
And like we say in the daily Morning Blessings, “And You (Hashem) blew this soul into me,” meaning “You (Hashem)” literally blew this soul into me directly, without any intermediary levels, like it says, (Breishis 2:7) “And He (Hashem) blew into [man’s] nostrils a living soul.”
Meaning that just like a person’s breath is united with the person when it is inside of him, so too is Hashem’s breath constantly still united with Him even after He blows it into us, since there is nothing outside of Hashem, as it is explained in Tanya, which is called “Sefer Shel Beinonim” (chapter 21). Therefore, Hashem’s ‘breath’ is always united with Him, since it never really left Hashem, except from our perspective.
Therefore, the Divine soul (Hashem’s breath) is constantly united with its source (Hashem) in total unity, and from its perspective there is no possibility at all for the person to sin and go against Hashem’s Will, since it is constantly united with its Divine source.
It is only that the animal soul cloaks it and covers and conceals it from seeing Hashem’s Infinite Light, as is explained in Tanya, which is called “Likutei Amarim.” (chapter 29)
(These two souls are referred to in the verse, (Bereishis 1:26) “Hashem said (to the angels), let us make man in ‘our form,’ in ‘our likeness,’” meaning that the Divine soul is referred to by the phrase ‘form.’ (The Divine soul’s ‘form’ (i.e. essence) is Divine and directly connected to Hashem). And, the life-giving animal soul is referred to by the phrase ‘likeness,’ since it shares only an external similarity with the angels from which it is derived. It remains very far removed from the holy source of the soul).
Chapter 3
Now, the descent of the Divine soul into this world was in order to become invested in the life-giving animal soul, and to fight with it, and to refine it, to thereby separate the good from the bad of the animal soul and elevate the good to Hashem. This process is called “transforming darkness into light.”
It is for this reason that we are called “Yisrael,” since the word Yisrael comes from the word “sar”—ruler, as it is written, (Bereishis 32:29) “And He (Hashem) said (to Yaakov our forefather), your name will no longer only be called ‘Yaakov’ (which means ‘winning through deception’), but also ‘Yisrael’ (which means ‘he will rule openly with strength from Hashem’), because you have ruled over angels and people and were able to overcome them.”
Meaning that the Divine soul will rule over the life-giving animal soul, to turn around all of its thoughts and feelings which are not for the purpose of serving Hashem, from bad to good.
These bad feelings which come from the ego are called “angels” as it is written, (Iyov 1:6) “And it was on a certain day and the accusing angels came to stand before Hashem, and the prosecuting angel also came with them (to make it difficult for Iyov).” The Targum-Aramaic translation translates "bnei haElohim" as “creatures who think they are great,” since the prosecuting angels who wanted to punish Iyov had to have had some ego to fuel their cruel desire to punish him for no real reason.
We see that bad feelings, like the desire to hurt others, comes from the ego of the animal soul, and that is why bad feelings are compared to prosecuting angels of destruction who think they are great and powerful.
When the verse says that Yaakov ruled over “people,” it is referring to bad thoughts, which are called “the (bad) habits of mortals,” as referred to in the verse, (Yirmiya 17:9) “The heart is filled with all (bad thoughts) and it is sick. It thinks, ‘Who will know what I am thinking about?’” And our job is to turn them around from bad to good.
Those verses can be understood to mean that when Yaakov overcame “angels” and “people,” he also overcame the “bad feelings” and “bad thoughts” of the animal soul.
This is accomplished through the Divine soul, which is united with its source in Hashem without any concealments of Hashem’s revelation, which refines and elevates the life-giving animal soul so that it nullify its ego and become part of Hashem’s Light.
This aspect (of conquering of the animal soul) is why we are called “Yisroel,” which is the same letters as “Yashar-El”—directly received Divine soul that has power, since the word “El” means “strength and dominion,” which is the power to be victorious in its battle with the life-giving animal soul.
This is the meaning of what is written, (Tehillim 90:10) “The days of our years ‘in them’ is seventy years.” The phrase “in them” implies that we live every day in two souls. This means that every day is a new battle between the two souls, and this is why people live different amounts of years—some people live longer and some live shorter. And everything depends on the battle, on the struggle to fight with the animal soul according to the portion of evil that is in it, how many years a person will live.
