PATHS OF ROCHEL & LEAH [#16710]

November 14, 2021

QUESTION:

When I learn Torah I enjoy very much to start the sugya with chiddushim, and when I daven I want to feel more and more “light”, to daven with greater feeling. [Based on what I understand about the two different paths of “Rochel” and “Leah” in avodas Hashem which are the roots of a person’s shoresh neshamah], I think that my shoresh neshamah is rooted in “Rochel”. Yet I also feel very drawn to the Rav’s path, specifically because the Rav explains the inner workings of the soul and gives a clear path in avodas Hashem. It seems to me that the Rav’s shoresh neshamah is in “Leah”. My question is: Is the Rav a Leah-type neshamah? Also, if I am right that I’m a Rochel-type neshamah then why do I feel so connected to the Rav’s path in avodas Hashem which seems to be a path of “Leah”?

ANSWER:

From your wording, it is very recognizable that you learned the sefer B’Yam Darkecha, which explains the different types of neshamos that are rooted in “Rochel” and “Leah”. You think that your neshamah is rooted in “Rochel” and still you feel connected to the path of the other types of neshamos, which are “Leah.”
The root of this entire matter (the different paths of Rochel and Leah) is in the Arizal’s Eitz Chaim (38:3), as follows: “Now it will be explained the connection between Leah and Rochel….Rochel begins her Keser (crown, highest point) from the chazeh (chest) and below, until where the feet (endpoint) of Zeir Anpin ends, so that at the ikvei Leah (“heels” or endpoint of the area called Leah), that is where the Keser of Rochel begins, descending below the heels of Leah….Rochel is vision and Leah is humility….The feet of Leah are clothed in the Keser (head or highest point) of Rochel.” [translation here has been abbreviated and condensed].
That is the ‘meeting, connecting point’ between the neshamos rooted in Rochel with the neshamos rooted in Leah.
Understand that Rochel was first rooted in Chazeh (chest, middle) of Zeir Anpin, and that is the place of the heart, the place of emotion, and that is why the neshamos rooted in Rochel lean towards emotion. But Leah’s main place is in the head of Zeir Anpin, and that is why the neshamos rooted in Leah are more inclined towards intellect. However, the “heels” of Leah are found at the place of emotion, where the heart is. By the neshamos rooted in that place, the heels are not heels that don’t feel, but heels that can feel, and they can feel precisely in their heel. In the side of ruination, the ikvesa d’meshicha (heels before Mashiach), from Rochel’s perspective the heel is found below where it is touching the place of evil, but from Leah’s perspective , the heel is by the heart. Understand this very, very well.
The clarity of the Leah-neshamos shines through their “heel”, a clarity of intellect that extends to the clarity of emotion, for this is the heel that is found at the heart, and it shines for the Rochel-neshamos who are thirsty for the emotions of the heart, because that is where their root is, in the chazeh (chest) of Zeir Anpin, the place of the heart.