Or HaChamah: The Garment of the Soul

The 21st of Cheshvan is the Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Avraham ben Mordechai Azulai, author of Or Hachamah (November 3, 1643) A human being is the combination of a soul and body. The soul is rooted in the higher worlds, and is sent down from their perfect place in order to grow, acquire merit, and master itself..

The soul needs a garment in order to exist in this physical world. Something so spiritual is ethereal and appears ‘naked’ and unaccessible in the physical world. It does not need a garment when it returns to its spiritual home.

The garment must allow the soul access to this world, but it must be perfectly shaped so that the soul can use this world.

The garment must also be related to the soul, so that what the soul gains with the garment, the body, can become part of the soul, and return with it when it goes back to its home in the heavens.

Our body is that garment. It is perfectly shaped to allow the soul to use this world, grow from its work and retain its work when it returns to its root.

We must honor and appreciate the body, not fight it. The body is the key for our soul to use this world. The body is designed as a garment for a high spiritual creation, and must be honored as such. (Introduction to the Or Hachama)