Musar for Psalms 104:1

When we appreciate this relationship, we understand that when David said in Psalms 104,1: ברכי נפשי את ה', "Bless the Lord, O my soul," he indicated that ברכה is connected to נפש. This נפש needs to pronounce one hundred benedictions, which correspond to the level of ישראל. Of these hundred, ten i.e. מעשר, penetrate up to the level of רוח, which corresponds to the levels of the Levites. Of these remaining ten per cent, one, i.e. 1% of the original total penetrates to the level of נשמה, corresponding to the level כהן. As a result, if the ordinary soul, נפש, does not pronounce the one hundred daily benedictions every day, then the higher soul נשמה, will not benefit from even a single blessing, seeing that the next lower level, רוח, did not receive its share of blessings which it should have received as a result of the Israelites pronouncing the one hundred blessings. The Priests and Levites are viewed as recipients of blessings bestowed by the Israelites. This is the deeper meaning of the whole legislation of the respective tithes for the Priests and Levites. Israel and the Levites respectively fulfilling their obligations will trigger G–d's blessings to filter down to the nation from Heaven. The meaning of אי"ק, בכ"ר is now clear. When there is no ק i.e. 100, there cannot be a י i.e. 10; when there is no י i.e. 10, there cannot be an א i.e. 1. The one hundred benedictions are like the one hundred silver sockets in the Tabernacle which serve as receptacles for G–d's bounty. Thus far the Shaarey Orah.

And then he prospers in all his ways and in clarity of perception and the Holy One Blessed be He sends a spirit of Holiness within him and his heart rejoices and is filled with love of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and his soul is united with joy and reveals secrets and new intepretations from above, and all this because he reveres God, Blessed is He and is upright. And reason enters him. And this is what Solomon said : "My soul failed me when he spoke" (Eccl. 5:16). "Yea my body will rejoice when my lips speak right things" (Prov. 23:16). And thus said David : "Bless the Lord, O my soul" (Ps. 104:1). Because the soul which comes from above and strives upward knowing its own secret loves her Creator and eagerly assimilates His Commands, and when this soul reaches the veil (partition) and the degree which is suitable to it then she causes him (the owner) to rejoice with her hidden charms and brings him delight in her hidden chambers and at every moment his love longs for his soul and remembers it in the night as he lies upon his couch. Then God, Blessed is He, sends into her the longing for joy and the heart burns passionately from the great desire of love as it is said "I will rejoice in the Lord, my soul will be joyful in my God" (Is. 61:10). And happy is the soul that merits and experiences such joy.

This is alluded to in 11,2: זאת החיה אשר תאכלו … אך זה לא תאכלו. Our sages say that Moses had difficulty understanding this paragraph and that G–d showed him what the various categories of animals looked like (Chulin 42). In Vayikra Rabbah 13,4 we are told that G–d showed Moses a head of fire, explaining that if the protective skin around the brain was pierced such an animal was unfit to eat regardless of the size of the hole. It is difficult to understand what Moses' problem was. We could have understood his problem if the chapter would have listed free-roaming animals which Moses had never seen. After all, Moses was not a hunter. However, the Talmud meant that Moses had difficulty understanding the reason for this legislation. He wanted to know why certain categories of animals were permitted, whereas others were prohibited. G–d showed Moses the positive spiritual impact which consuming certain animals would have on the people eating them, and the negative spiritual impact of certain other animals. He showed Moses the respective influence of those animals in the higher regions. Thereupon Moses understood why some categories of animals are termed "pure," whereas others are termed "impure." This is the mystical dimension of Deut. 14,23: ואכלת לפני ה' אלוקיך, "You shall eat in front of the Lord your G–d;" this is a reference to the "Table", i.e. a reference to the sacred element of the act of eating. Psalms 104,1: "Bless the Lord, O my soul," as well as Exodus 24,11: "They ate and drank and had a vision of G–d," are reminders of the impact consumption of food has on our spiritual faculties. This means that even when the Israelites consume food which has not first been specifically sanctified as a sacrifice, such meals are considered as if an act of spiritual significance had been performed. When Gentiles eat, on the other hand, this is a totally profane activity.