The Glass Blower’s Analogy: The Soul as a Vessel (Acrylic and Gold leaf on archival panel)
Blown glass bulb in the furnace
I took these photos at a glassblowing lesson I took in Chicago a couple of years ago. It was my first-ever attempt, and I knew the images of the glass coalescing in a furnace and the somewhat wonky vessel that resulted would one day inspire a painting. I mean, after all, glass blowing is literally the act of inspiration—from the Latin insparare, meaning ‘breathe into’ something, which is the same source as the word “spirit.” Shortly after the class, I discovered this description of the human soul from the late scholar, rabbi and physicist, Aryeh Kaplan. He drew from the 2nd-century CE foundational book of Kabbalah, the Zohar (III:25a), and the 18th-century text “The Way of God” by scholar and Kabbalist, Rabbi Moshe Hayim Luzatto, to explain:
“‘The soul of man is the ner (candle,flame) of the Lord. (Proverb (20:27). What is a ner? It is the acronym of Nefesh and Ruach… The Nefesh is bound to the Ruach, the Ruach to the Neshama, and the Neshama to the Blessed Holy One.’ The three thus form a sort of chain, linking man to God. The idea of these three parts is best explained on the basis of the verse (Genesis 2:7), ‘God formed man out of the dust of the earth, and He blew into his nostrils a breath of life.’ This is likened to the process of blowing glass, which begins with the breath (neshima) of the glassblower, flows as a wind (Ruach) through the glassblowing pipe, and finally comes to rest (Nefesh) in the vessel that is being formed. The Neshama thus comes from the same root as Neshima, meaning breath, and this is the ‘breath of God.’ The Nefesh comes from a root meaning ‘to rest’ and therefore refers to the part of the soul that is bound to the body and ‘rests’ there. Ruach means a wind, and it is the part of the soul that binds the Neshama and Nefesh.”