Knowing the Ruach
Knowing the Ruach
How do we know the difference between the leading of the Ruach HaKodesh
and our own emotions? How do we distinguish the guidance of YHWH
from a warm fuzzy feeling?
The Two Souls
To begin with it is important to know that man has two inclinations, an evil inclination called the “Yetzer HaRa” and a good inclination called “Yetzer Tov”. The unusual spelling of Yetzer (“formed”) in Gen. 2:7 points us to the fat that man has within him two such inclinations. As we read in the Talmud:
R. Nahman b. R. Hisda expounded:
What is meant by the text, Then the Lord God
formed [va-yetzer] man? [The word va-yetzer] (Gen. 2:7)
is written with two yods, to show that God created
two inclinations, one good (tov) and the other evil (ra).
(b.Ber. 61a)
It has been taught: R. Jose the Galilean says,
The righteous are swayed by their good inclination,
as it says, My heart is slain within me. (Ps. 109:22)
The wicked are swayed by their evil inclination,
as it says, Transgression speaks to the wicked,
methinks, there is no fear of God before his eyes.
(Ps. 36:1) Average people are swayed by both
inclinations, as it says, Because He stands at
the right hand of the needy, to save him from them
that judge his soul. (Ps. 109:31) Raba said: People
such as we are of the average.
(b.Ber. 61b)
Likewise we read in the Wisdom of Ben Sira:
It was He who created man in the beginning.
And He left him in the power of his own inclination (Heb: yetzer).
If you will, you can keep the commandments,
and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.
He has placed before you fire and water:
Stretch out your hand for whichever you wish.
(Sira 15:14-16)
The word for “average” above (in b.Ber. 61b) is “benoni” referring to an “intermediate one”, one who is caught in the conflict between these two inclinations.
Paul writes of this conflict in the benoni as follows:
14 For we know that the Torah is of the spirit,
but I am of the flesh and I am sold to sin.
22 For I rejoice in the Torah of Eloah in the inward son of man.
(Romans 7:14, 22 HRV)
Because of this, we are not weary, for even if our
outer man is corrupted, yet that which [is] inside
is renewed day by day.
(2Cor. 4:16 HRV)
for the flesh desires a thing which is opposed to
the Spirit and the Spirit desires a thing that is
opposed to the flesh and the two of these are
opposed to each other, that you do not do the thing
which you desire.
(Gal. 5:17 HRV)
And as we read in the Tanya:
Just as two kings wage war over a town,
which each wishes to capture and rule,
that is to say, to dominate its inhabitants according to his will,
so that they obey him in all that he decrees for them,
so do the two souls— the Divine and the vitalising animal soul…
wage war against each other over the body and all its limbs.
(Tanya Chapter 9)
Elsewhere the Tanya says:
The second soul of a Jew is truly a part of G-d above, as it is written, "And He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," (Gen. 2:7) and "Thou didst breathe it [the soul] into me." And it is written in the Zohar, "He who exhales, exhales from within him," that is to say, from his inwardness and his innermost, for it is something of his internal and innermost vitality that man emits through exhaling with force.
(Tanya 2)
This Second Soul that each believer has is a spark of the divine. In the Tanya this second soul is called the Nefesh Elohit. This spark of the divine is the Ruach HaKodesh:
21 And Yeshua said to them again: Shalom to you. As My Father has sent Me, also I send you.
22 And when He had said these things, He breathed on them, and said to them: Receive the Ruach HaKodesh.
(John 20:21-22 HRV)
The Anatomy of the Soul
The next thing we need to know is a little basic anatomy, not anatomy of the body, but anatomy of the soul. By “soul” I refer to the incorporeal self.
The soul of man has two major parts, the mind (sechel) and the emotions (middot) as we read in the Tanya:
Similarly is it with the human soul, which is divided in two— sechel (intellect) and middot (emotional attributes). The intellect includes chochmah, binah and da at (ChaBaD), whilst the middot are love of G-d, dread and awe of Him, glorification of Him, and so forth. ChaBaD [the intellectual faculties] are called “mothers” and source of the middot, for the latter are “offspring” of the former.
(Tanya Chapter 3)
And as we read in 4th Maccabees:
21 Now when Elohim fashioned man, he planted in him emotions and inclinations,
22 but at the same time he enthroned the mind among the senses as a sacred governor over them all.
23 To the mind he gave the law; and one who lives subject to this will rule a kingdom that is temperate, just, good, and courageous.
(4Maccabees 2:21-23 RSV)
But now that we have laid this ground work, let us return to our original question:
How do we know the difference between the leading of the Ruach HaKodesh and our own emotions?
How do we distinguish the guidance of YHWH from a warm fuzzy feeling?
The Torah Inside
We read in the Talmud:
The Holy One, blessed be He, speak unto Israel:
“My children! I have created the yetzer hara
and I have created the Torah as its antidote”
(b.Kiddushin 30b)
The Torah is the Wisdom of YHWH. When we receive a precept of the Torah as Wisdom and then we subject that precept of Torah to Understanding, exploring every nuance to the best of our intellectual ability, this results in Knowledge, in that the given precept of the Torah become part of our own Knowledge and thinking. As we read in the Tanya:
Now, when an intellect conceives and comprehends a concept with its intellectual faculties, this intellect grasps the concept and encompasses it. This concept is [in turn] grasped, enveloped and enclothed within that intellect which conceived and comprehended it.
The mind, for its part, is also clothed in the concept at the time it comprehends and grasps it with the intellect. For example, when a person understands and comprehends, fully and clearly, any halachah (law) in the Mishnah or Gemara, his intellect grasps and encompasses it and, at the same time, is clothed in it. Consequently, as the particular halachah is the wisdom and will of G-d, for it was His will that when, for example, Reuben pleads in one way and Simeon in another, the verdict as between them shall be thus and thus; and even should such a litigation never have occurred, nor would it ever present itself for judgment in connection with such disputes and claims, nevertheless, since it has been the will and wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, that in the event of a person pleading this way and the other [litigant] pleading that way, the verdict shall be such and such— now therefore, when a person knows and comprehends with his intellect such a verdict in accordance with the law as it is set out in the Mishnah, Gemara, or Posekim (Codes), he has thus comprehended, grasped and encompassed with his intellect the will and wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, Whom no thought can grasp, nor His will and wisdom, except when they are clothed in the laws that have been set out for us. [Simultaneously] the intellect is also clothed in them [the Divine will and wisdom].
This is a wonderful union, like which there is none other, and which has no parallel anywhere in the material world, whereby complete oneness and unity, from every side and angle, could be attained.
(Tanya Chapter 5)
Moreover Torah study and observance brings forth the offspring of emotions (the middot) within us. As we read in the Tanya:
Da’at (knowledge), the etymology of which is to be found in the verse: “And Adam knew (yada) Eve,” implies attachment and union. That is, one binds his mind with a very firm and strong bond to, and firmly fixes his thought on, the greatness of the blessed En sof, without diverting his mind [from Him]. For even one who is wise and
understanding of the greatness of the blessed En Sof, will not— unless he binds his knowledge and fixes his thought with firmness and perseverence— produce in his soul true love and fear, but only vain fancies. Therefore da’at is the basis of the middot and the source of their vitality; it contains chesed and gevurah, that is to say, love with its offshoots and fear with its offshoots.
(Tanya Chapter 3)
Specifically: the faculties of ChaBaD in his soul are clothed in the comprehension of the Torah, which he comprehends in Pardes, to the extent of his mental capacity and the supernal root of his soul. And the middot, namely fear and love, together with their offshoots and ramifications, are clothed in the fulfilment of the commandments in deed and in word, namely, in the study of Torah which is “The equivalent of all the commandments.” For love is the root of all the 248 positive commands, all originating in it and having no true foundation without it, inasmuch as he who fulfils them in truth, truly loves the name of G-d and desires to cleave to Him in truth; for one cannot truly cleave to Him except through the fulfilment of the 248 commandments which are the 248 “Organs of the King,” as it were, as is explained elsewhere; whilst fear is the root of the 365 prohibitive commands, fearing to rebel against the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He; or a still deeper fear than this— when he feels ashamed in the presence of the Divine greatness to rebel against His glory and do what is evil in His eyes, namely, any of the abominable things hated by G-d, which are the kelipot and sitra achra, which draw their nurture from man below and have their hold in him through the 365 prohibitive commands [that he violates].
(Tanya Chapter 4)
Thus when we have the Torah, the mind of Messiah within us, we have an outpouring of joy that others cannot comprehend.
So the Torah within us tells us not to sin, as we read in Romans:
7 What therefore are we saying? Is the Torah sin? Absolutely not! But I did not learn
sin except through the Torah. For I had not known covetousness, except that the Torah
said, Do not covet.
(Romans 7:7)
Thus we also read in 4th Maccabees:
9b In all other matters we can recognize that reason rules the emotions.
10 For the law prevails even over affection for parents, so that virtue is not abandoned for their sakes.
11 It is superior to love for one's wife, so that one rebukes her when she breaks the law.
12 It takes precedence over love for children, so that one punishes them for misdeeds.
13 It is sovereign over the relationship of friends, so that one rebukes friends when they act wickedly.
14 Do not consider it paradoxical when reason, through the law, can prevail even over enmity. The fruit trees of the enemy are not cut down, but one preserves the property of enemies from the destroyers and helps raise up what has fallen.
(4Maccabees 2:9b-14 RSV)
The 4th Book of Maccabees gives us an Example in Joseph:
2 It is for this reason, certainly, that the temperate Joseph is praised, because by mental effort he overcame sexual desire.
3 For when he was young and in his prime for intercourse, by his reason he nullified the frenzy of the passions.
4] Not only is reason proved to rule over the frenzied urge of sexual desire, but also over every desire.
5 Thus the law says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife...or anything that is your neighbor's."
6 In fact, since the law has told us not to covet, I could prove to you all the more that reason is able to control desires.
(4Maccabees 2:2-6 RSV)
The Ruach HaKodesh is guides us to observe Torah as we read in Ezekiel:
17 Therefore say, Thus says the Adonai YHWH: I will even gather you from the
peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered: and I will give you the land of Yisra’el.
18 And they shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof, and all the abominations thereof, from thence.
19 And I will give them--one heart--and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the--stony heart--out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh,
20 That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them: and they
shall be My people, and I will be their Elohim.
21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads, says the Adonai YHWH
(Ezek. 11:17-21 HRV)
25 And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your uncleannesses and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away, the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you, a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them.
(Ezekiel 36:25-27 HRV)
And as our Messiah Yeshua taught us:
But when the Spirit of Truth has come,
She will lead you in all Truth,
for She will not speak from the mind of the nefesh:...
(Jn. 16:13a HRV)
And what is truth? The Torah is truth (Ps. 119:142, 151)
So how do we know if we are being led by the Holy Spirit and when we are only being led by our own warm fuzzy feelings?
How do we know the difference between the leading of the Ruach HaKodesh
and our own emotions? How do we distinguish the guidance of YHWH
from a warm fuzzy feeling?
The Two Souls
To begin with it is important to know that man has two inclinations, an evil inclination called the “Yetzer HaRa” and a good inclination called “Yetzer Tov”. The unusual spelling of Yetzer (“formed”) in Gen. 2:7 points us to the fat that man has within him two such inclinations. As we read in the Talmud:
R. Nahman b. R. Hisda expounded:
What is meant by the text, Then the Lord God
formed [va-yetzer] man? [The word va-yetzer] (Gen. 2:7)
is written with two yods, to show that God created
two inclinations, one good (tov) and the other evil (ra).
(b.Ber. 61a)
It has been taught: R. Jose the Galilean says,
The righteous are swayed by their good inclination,
as it says, My heart is slain within me. (Ps. 109:22)
The wicked are swayed by their evil inclination,
as it says, Transgression speaks to the wicked,
methinks, there is no fear of God before his eyes.
(Ps. 36:1) Average people are swayed by both
inclinations, as it says, Because He stands at
the right hand of the needy, to save him from them
that judge his soul. (Ps. 109:31) Raba said: People
such as we are of the average.
(b.Ber. 61b)
Likewise we read in the Wisdom of Ben Sira:
It was He who created man in the beginning.
And He left him in the power of his own inclination (Heb: yetzer).
If you will, you can keep the commandments,
and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.
He has placed before you fire and water:
Stretch out your hand for whichever you wish.
(Sira 15:14-16)
The word for “average” above (in b.Ber. 61b) is “benoni” referring to an “intermediate one”, one who is caught in the conflict between these two inclinations.
Paul writes of this conflict in the benoni as follows:
14 For we know that the Torah is of the spirit,
but I am of the flesh and I am sold to sin.
22 For I rejoice in the Torah of Eloah in the inward son of man.
(Romans 7:14, 22 HRV)
Because of this, we are not weary, for even if our
outer man is corrupted, yet that which [is] inside
is renewed day by day.
(2Cor. 4:16 HRV)
for the flesh desires a thing which is opposed to
the Spirit and the Spirit desires a thing that is
opposed to the flesh and the two of these are
opposed to each other, that you do not do the thing
which you desire.
(Gal. 5:17 HRV)
And as we read in the Tanya:
Just as two kings wage war over a town,
which each wishes to capture and rule,
that is to say, to dominate its inhabitants according to his will,
so that they obey him in all that he decrees for them,
so do the two souls— the Divine and the vitalising animal soul…
wage war against each other over the body and all its limbs.
(Tanya Chapter 9)
Elsewhere the Tanya says:
The second soul of a Jew is truly a part of G-d above, as it is written, "And He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," (Gen. 2:7) and "Thou didst breathe it [the soul] into me." And it is written in the Zohar, "He who exhales, exhales from within him," that is to say, from his inwardness and his innermost, for it is something of his internal and innermost vitality that man emits through exhaling with force.
(Tanya 2)
This Second Soul that each believer has is a spark of the divine. In the Tanya this second soul is called the Nefesh Elohit. This spark of the divine is the Ruach HaKodesh:
21 And Yeshua said to them again: Shalom to you. As My Father has sent Me, also I send you.
22 And when He had said these things, He breathed on them, and said to them: Receive the Ruach HaKodesh.
(John 20:21-22 HRV)
The Anatomy of the Soul
The next thing we need to know is a little basic anatomy, not anatomy of the body, but anatomy of the soul. By “soul” I refer to the incorporeal self.
The soul of man has two major parts, the mind (sechel) and the emotions (middot) as we read in the Tanya:
Similarly is it with the human soul, which is divided in two— sechel (intellect) and middot (emotional attributes). The intellect includes chochmah, binah and da at (ChaBaD), whilst the middot are love of G-d, dread and awe of Him, glorification of Him, and so forth. ChaBaD [the intellectual faculties] are called “mothers” and source of the middot, for the latter are “offspring” of the former.
(Tanya Chapter 3)
And as we read in 4th Maccabees:
21 Now when Elohim fashioned man, he planted in him emotions and inclinations,
22 but at the same time he enthroned the mind among the senses as a sacred governor over them all.
23 To the mind he gave the law; and one who lives subject to this will rule a kingdom that is temperate, just, good, and courageous.
(4Maccabees 2:21-23 RSV)
But now that we have laid this ground work, let us return to our original question:
How do we know the difference between the leading of the Ruach HaKodesh and our own emotions?
How do we distinguish the guidance of YHWH from a warm fuzzy feeling?
The Torah Inside
We read in the Talmud:
The Holy One, blessed be He, speak unto Israel:
“My children! I have created the yetzer hara
and I have created the Torah as its antidote”
(b.Kiddushin 30b)
The Torah is the Wisdom of YHWH. When we receive a precept of the Torah as Wisdom and then we subject that precept of Torah to Understanding, exploring every nuance to the best of our intellectual ability, this results in Knowledge, in that the given precept of the Torah become part of our own Knowledge and thinking. As we read in the Tanya:
Now, when an intellect conceives and comprehends a concept with its intellectual faculties, this intellect grasps the concept and encompasses it. This concept is [in turn] grasped, enveloped and enclothed within that intellect which conceived and comprehended it.
The mind, for its part, is also clothed in the concept at the time it comprehends and grasps it with the intellect. For example, when a person understands and comprehends, fully and clearly, any halachah (law) in the Mishnah or Gemara, his intellect grasps and encompasses it and, at the same time, is clothed in it. Consequently, as the particular halachah is the wisdom and will of G-d, for it was His will that when, for example, Reuben pleads in one way and Simeon in another, the verdict as between them shall be thus and thus; and even should such a litigation never have occurred, nor would it ever present itself for judgment in connection with such disputes and claims, nevertheless, since it has been the will and wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, that in the event of a person pleading this way and the other [litigant] pleading that way, the verdict shall be such and such— now therefore, when a person knows and comprehends with his intellect such a verdict in accordance with the law as it is set out in the Mishnah, Gemara, or Posekim (Codes), he has thus comprehended, grasped and encompassed with his intellect the will and wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, Whom no thought can grasp, nor His will and wisdom, except when they are clothed in the laws that have been set out for us. [Simultaneously] the intellect is also clothed in them [the Divine will and wisdom].
This is a wonderful union, like which there is none other, and which has no parallel anywhere in the material world, whereby complete oneness and unity, from every side and angle, could be attained.
(Tanya Chapter 5)
Moreover Torah study and observance brings forth the offspring of emotions (the middot) within us. As we read in the Tanya:
Da’at (knowledge), the etymology of which is to be found in the verse: “And Adam knew (yada) Eve,” implies attachment and union. That is, one binds his mind with a very firm and strong bond to, and firmly fixes his thought on, the greatness of the blessed En sof, without diverting his mind [from Him]. For even one who is wise and
understanding of the greatness of the blessed En Sof, will not— unless he binds his knowledge and fixes his thought with firmness and perseverence— produce in his soul true love and fear, but only vain fancies. Therefore da’at is the basis of the middot and the source of their vitality; it contains chesed and gevurah, that is to say, love with its offshoots and fear with its offshoots.
(Tanya Chapter 3)
Specifically: the faculties of ChaBaD in his soul are clothed in the comprehension of the Torah, which he comprehends in Pardes, to the extent of his mental capacity and the supernal root of his soul. And the middot, namely fear and love, together with their offshoots and ramifications, are clothed in the fulfilment of the commandments in deed and in word, namely, in the study of Torah which is “The equivalent of all the commandments.” For love is the root of all the 248 positive commands, all originating in it and having no true foundation without it, inasmuch as he who fulfils them in truth, truly loves the name of G-d and desires to cleave to Him in truth; for one cannot truly cleave to Him except through the fulfilment of the 248 commandments which are the 248 “Organs of the King,” as it were, as is explained elsewhere; whilst fear is the root of the 365 prohibitive commands, fearing to rebel against the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He; or a still deeper fear than this— when he feels ashamed in the presence of the Divine greatness to rebel against His glory and do what is evil in His eyes, namely, any of the abominable things hated by G-d, which are the kelipot and sitra achra, which draw their nurture from man below and have their hold in him through the 365 prohibitive commands [that he violates].
(Tanya Chapter 4)
Thus when we have the Torah, the mind of Messiah within us, we have an outpouring of joy that others cannot comprehend.
So the Torah within us tells us not to sin, as we read in Romans:
7 What therefore are we saying? Is the Torah sin? Absolutely not! But I did not learn
sin except through the Torah. For I had not known covetousness, except that the Torah
said, Do not covet.
(Romans 7:7)
Thus we also read in 4th Maccabees:
9b In all other matters we can recognize that reason rules the emotions.
10 For the law prevails even over affection for parents, so that virtue is not abandoned for their sakes.
11 It is superior to love for one's wife, so that one rebukes her when she breaks the law.
12 It takes precedence over love for children, so that one punishes them for misdeeds.
13 It is sovereign over the relationship of friends, so that one rebukes friends when they act wickedly.
14 Do not consider it paradoxical when reason, through the law, can prevail even over enmity. The fruit trees of the enemy are not cut down, but one preserves the property of enemies from the destroyers and helps raise up what has fallen.
(4Maccabees 2:9b-14 RSV)
The 4th Book of Maccabees gives us an Example in Joseph:
2 It is for this reason, certainly, that the temperate Joseph is praised, because by mental effort he overcame sexual desire.
3 For when he was young and in his prime for intercourse, by his reason he nullified the frenzy of the passions.
4] Not only is reason proved to rule over the frenzied urge of sexual desire, but also over every desire.
5 Thus the law says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife...or anything that is your neighbor's."
6 In fact, since the law has told us not to covet, I could prove to you all the more that reason is able to control desires.
(4Maccabees 2:2-6 RSV)
The Ruach HaKodesh is guides us to observe Torah as we read in Ezekiel:
17 Therefore say, Thus says the Adonai YHWH: I will even gather you from the
peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered: and I will give you the land of Yisra’el.
18 And they shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof, and all the abominations thereof, from thence.
19 And I will give them--one heart--and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the--stony heart--out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh,
20 That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them: and they
shall be My people, and I will be their Elohim.
21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads, says the Adonai YHWH
(Ezek. 11:17-21 HRV)
25 And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your uncleannesses and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away, the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you, a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them.
(Ezekiel 36:25-27 HRV)
And as our Messiah Yeshua taught us:
But when the Spirit of Truth has come,
She will lead you in all Truth,
for She will not speak from the mind of the nefesh:...
(Jn. 16:13a HRV)
And what is truth? The Torah is truth (Ps. 119:142, 151)
So how do we know if we are being led by the Holy Spirit and when we are only being led by our own warm fuzzy feelings?
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