Soul Rachel Elior T he development of the Jewish conception of the soul has been determined by two basic, contradictory attitudes regarding the soul's nature and its relationship to the world. The one views man as a psychophysical unity, while the other claims a separate metaphysical existence for the soul. The former conception, founded on the biblical worldview, has little religious significance; it considers the soul subordinate to time and nature, existing within the confines of physical reality alone. The latter view, which developed under the influence of Greek ideas regarding the metaphysical, immortal nature of the soul, radiates deep religious significance. The decisive Jewish conception of the soul is thus founded to a large extent upon the assumption that man does not, fundamentally speaking, belong to the natural world; his essential being is not corporeal, for its source is divine; and the temporal and spatial distinctions governing nature do not apply to it; that is to say, the soul's existence does not depend upon its physical expression, for it existed before the body and will remain after it. The definition of man is therefore fundamentally metaphysical, belonging 888 SOUL to the supernatural order, and the laws governing the soul are therefore neither physical nor rational, but metaphysical. It is from this point of departure that judaism's attitude toward the nature and function of the soul and its role in religious thought are determined. The severance of the soul from existential experience and its bursting of the bounds of physical reality are expressed in the development of the doctrine of preexistence, in the theurgical orientation of the kabbalah, in the development of ideas of reincarnation and postexistence, and in eschatological conceptions of the soul's ultimate destiny. The pivotal role played by the metaphysical view of the soul in shaping classical jewish religious thought is explained by the fact that apart from its divine source, as expressed by the idea that man was created "in the image of God," the soul partakes of the divine in that it represents orders of existence that transcend time and nature. An interesting consequence of this orientation is that the jewish conception of the soul is without anthropocentric interest. Its interest is entirely theocentric, for it is concerned with the soul only in its metaphysical manifestations. It dwells upon the mutual influences reciprocated by the human soul and its divine source. Its point of departure is God, not man. A further dimension of this theocentric interest is reflected by the fact that the jewish conception of the soul is not primarily concerned with man's life in the present, but with what preceded it and what will follow after it~ such an outlook perforce focuses its attention upon metahistory and eschatology rather than upon history. Even where it does concern itself with the present, its interest is in the ability of the soul to burst out of the confines of physical existence and unite with the divine. According to the prevalent anthropocentric view, it is man's existence that expresses the relationship between God and his world, and it is in relation to man that God's kingship and providence are effective. The doctrine of the soul, however, takes an opposite, theocentric view, for it sees man's existence as having meaning only in relation to God. As he actualizes his potential metaphysical essence, man simultaneously distances himself further and further from his physical, material substance. The guarantee of his capacity to attain the realm of the s.pirit is to be found in the internal structure of his soul, which ascends level, by level from the material to the spiritual . If man is created in the divine image and so has a fundamental relationship to God and an innate ability to serve him, it is by virtue of the structure and elements of his soul, which reflect the divine reality and endow him with the c~pacity to conceive of God. The idea that man's essence is directed toward the spiritual dimension of existence, by which the divine aspect of his soul is drawn from the realm [44.201.94.1] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 14:57 GMT) SOUL 889 of the potential to that of the real, is bound up with the concept of the perfection (shlemut) of man. Man does not belong to the natural order, which is complete in itself. Rather, he is viewed ab initio as being destined for perfection in a realm transcending...