Breathe deeply and reconnect with your soul TB Brachot 10

Today’s daf TB Berachot 10 has many beautiful and insightful midrashim and some important halachot. I chose to share with you the midrash about a person’s neshamah, soul.

Rav Shimi bar Ukva, who said to Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi: I meant to say to you as follows: Corresponding to whom did David say these five instance of “Bless the Lord, O my soul”? He answered him: He said them about none other than the Holy One, Blessed be He, and corresponding to the soul, as the verse refers to the relationship between man’s soul and God. The five instances of “Bless the Lord, O my soul” correspond to the five parallels between the soul in man’s body and God’s power in His world.

Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, fills the entire world, so too the soul fills the entire body.
Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, sees but is not seen, so too does the soul see, but is not seen.
Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, sustains the entire world, so too the soul sustains the entire body.
Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, is pure, so too is the soul pure.
Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, resides in a chamber within a chamber, in His inner sanctum, so too the soul resides in a chamber within a chamber, in the innermost recesses of the body.
Therefore, that which has these five characteristics, the soul, should come and praise He Who has these five characteristics. (sefaria.com translation)

I believe one of the most important aspects about ourselves is that our soul is pure and since it comes from God that nothing can sully it. Every morning at the very beginning of the bircat hashachar, the morning blessings, we affirm this as we pray, “אֱלֹהַי, נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַֽתָּ בִּי טְהוֹרָה הִיא -My God, the soul you have given me is pure.”

Based upon this prayer Rabbi Diane Elliot teaches that our soul is “Tehorah hi – it is pure. The mystics speak of five levels of soul, neshamah being the level that corresponds to the mind and heart, the wise, universal intellect. Reminding myself that each soul-breath I inhale from Source is tehorah, pure, becomes a touchstone for my day. Whatever challenges greet me, whatever missteps I take, I can return again and again to the gift of pure breath, soul, that remains unsullied, unshaken by the vicissitudes of the moment—refreshed, awakened, fully alive.” (https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/elohai-neshama-breathing-the-soul-alive/)

 Let’s breathe deeply and connect with our God-given soul over and over again.