When we speak about the soul, we must first clear away a fundamental misconception: the soul is not something personal that exists inside an individual from birth. The soul is rather a collective phenomenon, a mutual desire that exists between people.

The Torah describes a single created being, which it calls “Adam,” and which later became divided into many parts. We are its parts. Accordingly, the soul is not something individual, but a system of connection between these parts, a collective desire in which we are all interconnected.

If we want to understand this in a practical way, we should look at our world. When people connect “as one man with one heart,” in mutual love, reciprocity, and bestowal, when they truly relate to one another with the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself,” then a special force is created between them. This collective force, which appears in their connection, is what we call “the soul.”

This means that no individual possesses a soul on their own. A person’s soul is their connection with others. It is found outside of them, in their attitude toward others. When a person exits themselves, rises above their egoistic desire for self-benefit alone, and desires to be included in others, to connect with them in equality and mutual bestowal, then such a connection becomes their soul.

Even if no one knows about it, even if a person sits quietly and internally develops a desire to connect with others and to help them unite, they already participate in this collective system. Through this, they acquire the soul, the mutual field of connection.

This is why the soul is also called the “assembly” or “gathering,” a collective of desires that come together into one system. Ultimately, this includes all people, all of humanity, as one unified soul.

If a person has no desire to connect with others, then they do not yet have a soul. The soul is precisely that common desire, like cells in a body that work harmoniously for the sake of the whole. Each cell retains its individuality, but all are integrated into one living system. The life of that system is the soul.

Within this connection, a person begins to feel the upper force of love and bestowal, which in Kabbalah is called “the Creator.” Since the Creator is the force of love and bestowal, and when a person acquires this same quality toward others, they become similar to Him. This similarity is called “adhesion.”

Therefore, the extent to which a person is connected to others in love and bestowal is the extent to which they have a soul, and the extent to which they are connected to the Creator.

When this connection becomes whole, i.e., when a person is connected with everyone, they attain the complete soul, humanity’s single common soul called “Adam.”

At the same time, individuality is not lost. On the contrary, each person attains this collective soul from their own unique point. Like a cell in a body, each contributes something unique while serving the whole.

This is why it is said that from love of the created beings to love of the Creator. There is no other way. Within this general system, there are different roles. There are those desires that have a special inclination toward initiating connection, toward moving “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-El). These are called “Israel.” It is not that it is easier for them, but they have a stronger sense of urgency and responsibility for connection. At the same time, they are also given stronger egoistic resistance, so that they can have free choice.

Other desires, called “the nations of the world,” do not naturally feel this same urge toward connection. They are more individualistic. However, they are all part of the same system, and all must ultimately be included in the same unified soul.

Historically, the group called Israel had a stronger sense of mutual connection and responsibility. This was expressed in mutual aid, shared destiny, and internal closeness. But today, this feeling has become shattered, because humanity has entered a stage of intensified egoism.

Now, however, the world itself is becoming globally interconnected, whether we want it or not. This is the law of nature that unfolds. We were meant to consciously align with it, to build connection willingly, but we did not. Therefore, we experience crises.

The role of those who feel this inclination toward connection is to begin realizing it, i.e., to build unity and demonstrate it. This is what it means to be “a light unto the nations,” to show the method of connection. If this is done, the entire system will begin to correct itself. If not, the pressure will continue to grow.

Exile, in this sense, is not a physical location. It is a lack of connection. And redemption is the restoration of connection. Therefore, wherever a person is, their task is the same: to build connection with others, to reveal the collective soul. This is the future state of humanity: to become one connected system, one soul, in which the Creator becomes revealed.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)