G!d breathes life into man

[Dondi]

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." - Genesis 1:7

This is in regard to a brief discussion in the Lounge with Dauer in this thread.

My question is: When does G!d's participation in creating a living soul occur? Upon conception or when the oxygen system of the fetus begins operating in the womb, or when the child is born and takes it's first breath of air? Or what?

[dauer]

I vaguely remember a discussion in the gemara with different opinions about that. But in discussion of abortion, for example, the fetus is regarded more like a part of the mother than as something independent because it couldn't exist on its own, kinda like an appendage. Here's a little piece: "When a woman has difficulty giving birth, the fetus is to be cut up in her womb, and is to be brought out, limb by limb, because her life takes precedence over its life. But if its greater part has emerged, it may not be touched, because we do not set aside one life because of another life."

that's from Mishnah Ohalot 7:6, from Ben Zion Bokser's The Talmud: Selected Writings. If you'd like I can go look that up in my mishna and see what else it says later.

Dauer

[Dondi]

That would be great if you would, dauer. Thanks.

However, I'm not asking this because of the abortion issue. I'm just curious about the G!d-breathed soul.

[wil]

I sort of imagine as G!d breathed soul into Adam, it was into all mankind(or life as some may argue)...every little cell....connected...so to me, conception.

[dauer]

Yeah, the soul is connected to breath. neshama which can refer to the soul or one of the souls, like neshima, breath. There's a meditation I learned in a class with Reb Dov-Ber Pinson of Chabad, I forget who it originated with, but on focusing on how with each breath G!d is breathing in and out of us, inflating and deflating our lungs.

I've argued in the past, and would still suggest it, that in its original context many of the words we translate as soul didn't really refer to a soul at all, at least in the sense that we think of it.

Dauer

[bananabrain]

there's also the concept of G!D as a glassblower - there is the intention to blow into the glass vessel ("yehida"), the origination of blowing within the "lungs" of the "Blower", as it were, ("hayah") the breathing from the mouth ("neshama"), the movement of the breath within the recipient ("ruah") and then finally coming to rest ("nefesh") in the vessel.

b'shalom

bananabrain

[Faithfulservant]

Originally Posted by bananabrain

there's also the concept of G!D as a glassblower - there is the intention to blow into the glass vessel ("yehida"), the origination of blowing within the "lungs" of the "Blower", as it were, ("hayah") the breathing from the mouth ("neshama"), the movement of the breath within the recipient ("ruah") and then finally coming to rest ("nefesh") in the vessel.

b'shalom

bananabrain

beautiful