כִּֽי־נֶ֣פֶשׁ כָּל־בָּשָׂ֗ר דָּמ֣וֹ בְנַפְשׁוֹ֮ הוּא֒ וָֽאֹמַר֙ לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל דַּ֥ם כָּל־בָּשָׂ֖ר לֹ֣א תֹאכֵ֑לוּ כִּ֣י נֶ֤פֶשׁ כָּל־בָּשָׂר֙ דָּמ֣וֹ הִ֔וא כָּל־אֹכְלָ֖יו יִכָּרֵֽת׃
Sapagkat ang buhay ng lahat ng laman ay ang dugo nito, ito ang kanyang buhay. At sinabi Ko sa mga anak ni Israel: Huwag kayong kakain ng dugo ng anumang laman, sapagkat ang buhay ng lahat ng laman ay ang dugo nito; sinumang kumain nito ay ihihiwalay.
Sha'arei Kedusha
The character traits are naturally embedded in the lowly, elemental soul of man. This soul is comprised of four aspects; inanimate, vegetative, animate and articulate.34Inanimate-Domem-דומם, vegetative-Tzome’ach-צומח, animate-Chay-חי, and articulate-Medaber-מדבר. They too are a composite of good and evil. Therefore, the good and bad character traits depend on this soul. They constitute a seat, foundation and root for the upper, intellectual soul, upon which the 613 mitzvot of the Torah depend, as mentioned above in gate one. Because of this, the character traits are not included as part and parcel of the 613 mitzvot. Nonetheless, they are essential prerequisites to their fulfillment or negation, for the simple reason that the intellectual soul is powerless to fulfill the mitzvot with the 613 organs of the body, except through the agency of the elemental soul which is connected to the body. This is the secret meaning of the verse,35Leviticus 17:14 “For the soul of every flesh; its blood is its life.” This being the case, bad character traits are actually much worse than the transgressions themselves.