Chapter I

יפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים
בעולם הזה מכל חיי העולם הבא

"One hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than all the life in the World to Come."1

Life exists for the soul on two distinct levels. One level is that of the soul as it lives in Gan Eden prior to its descent into this world, and again after its departure from the body and this world. Though these two sojourns in Gan Eden are different, they are both wholly spiritual modes of existence.

The second level of the soul's existence occurs while it vivifies a body. Concerning this level, we are told that "One hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come."

This statement must be understood. After all, life in this world is corporeal. Yet even the heavenly hosts are not wholly spiritual, as the verse testifies:2 "He makes His angels of spirit, His servants of a flaming fire." Angels, then, are created from air and fire. This is one of the cardinal differences between heavenly and earthly creatures. Earthly creatures are composed of the four foundations:3 fire, air, water and earth.4 Thus earthly creatures are composed of diverse materials which, beginning with fire, are of ever-increasing density.

Air, the second of the foundations, is denser than fire, which is the most ethereal of all. As the second element, air too is insubstantial, though it is not as ethereal as fire.

Since these two elements are the most ethereal, G-d imbued them both with the characteristic of rising upwards.

Though they each display it differently, fire and air share the quality of being mighty and powerful. The might of fire lies in its ability to destroy (burn) things, while air shatters and breaks objects.

Water is denser than air, and G-d imbued it with a different nature than that of the two ethereal elements. Water descends from above to below. This is quite the opposite of fire and air which, being of a more ethereal nature, possess more spiritual characteristics and are therefore drawn upwards. Water, being more physical, is drawn downwards.5

The same holds true with regard to people. One who is of a refined nature not only likes and desires refinement, but is also drawn to refined matters and to a more spiritual mode of living. Someone with a coarser nature enjoys coarse matters and is drawn to coarseness. Herein lies one of the primary distinctions between the spiritual and material; the spiritual is refined and the material is coarse. That which is refined is drawn upwards, while that which is coarse is drawn downwards.

[With regard to the two lower elements of water and earth,] water is also mighty, while earth is the heaviest of all.

G-d created physical creatures as a composite of all four elements, while heavenly creatures are composed of only fire and/or air, i.e. the spiritual elements. This then is the meaning of the verse: "He makes His angels of spirit; His servants of blazing fire." Some angels are created as composites of fire and air, while others are created from only one of these elements.

All heavenly creatures live a spiritual life. However, all physical creatures (man included) who are a composite of fire, air, water and earth live a corporeal existence, for life in this physical world, even though it may include "repentance and good deeds," is necessarily of a physical nature. How then is it possible for life in this world to be higher ["better"] than the life of the World to Come, which is on a spiritual plane?

In summary: The life of the soul in Gan Eden both prior to its descent into this world, as well as after its departure from this world is wholly spiritual. The soul's life within the body is corporeal. Of the four foundations, fire is the most refined; air is coarser; water is physical, and earth is the coarsest. That which is refined is drawn upwards, while the physical and coarse is drawn downwards.