(1) My God! the soul which You bestowed in me is pure; You created it, You formed it, You breathed it into me and You preserve it within me. You will eventually take it from me, and restore it in me in the time to come. So long as the soul is within me I give thanks to You, Adonoy my God, and God of my fathers, Lord of all creatures, Master of all souls. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Who restores souls to dead bodies.

Rabbi Jehudah said: When the blade touched his neck, the soul of Isaac fled and departed, (but) when he heard His voice from between the two Cherubim, saying (to Abraham), "Lay not thine hand upon the lad" (Gen. 22:12), his soul returned to his body, and (Abraham) set him free, and Isaac stood upon his feet. And Isaac knew that in this manner the dead in the future will be quickened. He opened (his mouth), and said: Blessed art thou, O Lord, who quickeneth the dead.

Rabbi Abbahu said: Everything people say before the deceased, he knows, until the tomb is sealed with the top-stone. Rabbi Ḥiyya and Rabbi Shimon, son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, disagreed with regard to the meaning of this statement. One of them said that the deceased is aware until the tomb is sealed with the top-stone, which is referring to the covering of the grave (Tosafot). And one of them said that it is until the flesh decomposes.The one who said that it is until the flesh decomposes can support his position based on that which is written in the following verse: “But his flesh grieves for him, and his soul mourns over him” (Job 14:22). This indicates that the deceased is aware of the pain of his flesh in the grave. The one who said that the deceased is aware only until the tomb is sealed with the top-stone can support his view based on that which is written in a different verse: “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). This indicates that when the body returns to the earth, the spirit also returns to its place and is no longer aware of what is happening to the body.

9. The breath of (nishmath) life. It has five names: nefesh, neshamah, hayyah, ruah, yehidah. Nefesh is the blood: For the blood is the nefesh — E.V. 'life' (Deut. xii, 23). Ruah: this is so called because it ascends and descends: thus it is written, Who knoweth the ruah (E.V. 'spirit') of man whether it goeth upwards, and the ruah of the beast whether it goeth downward to the earth (Eccl. in, 21) ? Neshamah is the breath; as people say, His breathing is good. Hayyah (lit. 'living'): because all the limbs are mortal, whereas this is immortal in the body. Yehidah (unique): because all the limbs are duplicated, whereas this is unique in the body. Thus it is written, If He set His heart upon man, if He gather unto Himself mho {his spirit) and nishmatho {his soul), all flesh shall perish together, and man shall return unto the dust (Job xxxiv, 14 f). R. Joshua b. R. Nehemiah and the Rabbis discussed this. R. Joshua b. R. Nehemiah interpreted it: 'If God set His heart upon any man,' his spirit {ruho) is already in His hand; 'And if He gather his soul (nishmatho) unto him' [sc. man], which means, into his body, then all men had already perished; but when man is sleeping the soul {neshamah) warms the body so that it should not waste and die. The Rabbis interpret: If God set His heart upon him,' i.e. upon any man, his spirit {ruho) is already in His hand, 'And if He gather his soul (nishmatho) unto Himself above, then all men had already perished, but that when man sleeps the soul {neshamah) warms man that he should not grow cold and die. R. Bisni, R. Aha, and R. Johanan in R. Meir's name said: The neshamah (soul) fills the body, and when man sleeps it ascends and draws life for him from above. R. Levi said in R. Jianina's name: It repeatedly ascends. For every breath which a man takes he must give praise to the Holy One, blessed be He. What is the reason? Let every neshamah {breathy praise the Lord (Ps. cl, 6), which means, for every breath [let one praise Him],

Rabbah said: If the righteous wanted, they could create a world. What interferes? Your sins, as it is written (Isaiah 59:2), "Only your sins separate between you and your God." Therefore, if not for your sins, there would not be any differentiation between you and Him. We thus see that Rabba created a man and sent it to Rav Zeira. He spoke to it, but it would not reply. But if not for your sins, it would also have been able to reply. And from what would it have replied? From its soul. Does a man then have a soul to place in it? Yes, as it is written (Genesis 2:7), "And He blew in his nostrils a soul of life." If not for your sins, man would therefore have a "soul of life." [Because of your sins, however] the soul is not pure. This is the difference between you and Him. It is thus written (Psalm 8:6), "And You have made him a little less than God." What is the meaning of "a little"? This is because [man] sins, while the Blessed Holy One does not. Blessed be He and blessed be His Name for ever and ever, He has no sins. But the [Evil] Urge comes from Him. Can we then imagine that it comes from Him? But it originated from Him until David came and killed it. It is thus written (Psalm 109:22), "My heart is hollow within me." David said: Because I was able to overcome it (Psalm 5:5), "Evil will not sojourn with You." How was David able to overcome it? Through his study, since he never stopped [studying] day or night. He therefore attached the Torah on high. For whenever a person studies Torah for its own sake, the Torah attaches itself to the Blessed Holy One. They therefore say, "A person should always study Torah, even not for its sake, since if [he studies it] not for its sake, he will eventually come to [study it] for its sake." What is this Torah that you are discussing? It is the Bride who is adorned and crowned, and who is included in the commandments. It is the Treasury of the Torah. It is the betrothed of the Blessed Holy One, as it is written (Deuteronomy 33:4), "Moses commanded us the Torah, the heritage (Morasha) of the congregation of Jacob." Do not read "heritage" (Morasha) but "betrothed" (Me'urasa). How is his so. When Israel engages in the Torah for its own sake, then it is the betrothed of the Blessed Holy One, then it is the heritage of Israel.

Now we will understand this matter itself in regard to the body and soul. For the body has parts and specific limbs, with specific functions with limitations; but the soul, in and of itself is it not one matter, external to the matters of the body altogether, and all of its ways are other ways, different from the ways of the body entirely, even in the matter of the senses themselves, but since it actuates all of the actions of the body when it [the soul] is in it[the body], it [the soul] hears with the ears of the body, it sees with the eyes of the body, and with all like this, therefore it is called seer, hearer, and all of the other appellations, but it is not that it has any of these ways at all. For even though it is the soul alone that sees, and not the body which is inanimate, and we find that it sees things the way that people in their completeness see in truth; this is not the way it [the soul] sees at all, for it has an entirely different way from the way of the senses of the body, and this is a way that a person while in the body is unable to appreciate. But since it is affected by the rule of the eye to see according to the rule engraved in it, therefore we say the it is the seer, and so for all of the other senses. However the rule is that the soul is one type of creation distant in its matter from all the ways of the body entirely, but it is created in its rule to do all that is rooted in the limbs of the body according to their nature. And here it grasps these rules, and does all these actions with the body, and therefore they all interact with it. And behold this is precisely like the matter of His perfection may he be blessed, regarding the specific qualities which he wanted in them, for there is not matter of these qualities in perfection but rather these are the specific qualities which he wanted, limited and measured in the measures that he wanted for them. But since He may He be blessed - the perfect in his perfection - he acts according to these qualities, therefore we refer by these names and appellations, and these actions and descriptions are ascribed to him, even though according to his perfection simply in truth in all of these matters, and he has no relationship from the aspect of Himself with any of these ways and these activities at all:

There are in Gehinnom seven circuits and seven gates, each with several gate-keepers under their own chief. The souls of sinners are delivered by Duma to those gate-keepers, who then close the gates of flaming fire. There are gates behind gates, the outer ones remaining open while the inner ones are closed. On Sabbath, however, they are all open, and the sinners go forth, as far as the outer gates, where they meet other souls which tarry there. When Sabbath goes out, a herald proclaims at each gate: “Let the wicked return to Sheol.” Now God protects the souls of the righteous from being delivered into the hands of Duma, and that is the meaning of the words “he shall keep thy soul.”

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.

There are three partners in a person: the Holy One of Blessing, their father, and their mother. Their father supplies the semen of the white substance, out of which are formed the child's bones, sinews, nails, the brain in their head and the white in their eye; their mother supplies the semen of the red substance, out of which is formed their skin, flesh, hair, blood and the black of their eye. And the Holy One of Blessing gives them breath and a soul and a face and seeing and hearing and speaking and walking and understanding and the mind. When one's time of death approach, the Holy One of Blessing removes that part and leaves [the parts] of the father and mother before them.

[Forty days before the birth of a child,] the Holy One of Blessing would summon the angel in charge of souls and say to him: “Bring Me a certain soul which is in the Garden of Eden, whose name is so-and-so, and whose form is such-and-such.” All the souls that would exist in the future were fashioned with the first man, and they will exist to the end of the world. All of them were created on the sixth day of Creation. They were designated to be the descendants of Adam, as it is said: “Whatsoever cometh into being, the name thereof was given long ago” (Eccles. 6:10).