TANYA on nefesh hasichlis and nefesh habahmis

Comments to mentalblog.com: Amur leopard on the brink of extinction:

Tony Montana: According to Tanya (ch. 1), the spiritual difference between Jew and non-Jew pertains also to the animal soul. The Jewish animal soul possesses such innate traits as the qualities "baishonim, rachmonim, geimlei chasodim" that chaza"l enumerate as being distinctive characteristics of the Jewish people. The question is, when a ger receives a nefesh ho'eleikis, does he also receive such a new animal soul that will endow him with these characteristically Jewish traits?

The source for the above maamor chaza"l says that when Dovid HaMelech saw that the Giveinim did not possess these traits, he knew that they were not sincere converts and excluded them from klal Yisroel. This would seem to imply that had they been true converts they would have also had a concomitantly Jewish animal soul.

However, one could argue the other way as well. The animal soul "shmislabeshes b'dom" is the vital force of the body. Dare I say that inasmuch as this soul endows one with certain character traits as mentioned above, we may refer to this soul as the "personality of the body." While the ger receives a nefesh hasheinis which is entirely additional to anything he previously had, can we say that his bodily drives are replaced by new ones as well?

I have often wondered what is meant by the Rebbe's comment that R' Akivah perceived a need for a fifth dimension of yetzias Mitrzrayim corresponding to yechidoh sh'b'nefesh while R' Eliezer felt the need only for four levels because he - R' Akivah - was a ben geirim. I wonder if this is relevant to this discussion.

berl, crown heights: It makes more sense to say that the holy (the G-dly soul) and the unholy (the animal soul) aspects of a ger are identical to a born Jew. Your question might apply to the pareve aspects, such as nefesh hasichlis, nefesh hachiyunis, etc. But I would venture to bet that the Alter Rebbe would deem even those to be the same as of a born Jews.

But where here does the Ger get his levushim? If those come directly from Avrohom avinu, then in this a true ger tzedek is not only equal to a born Jew, but is far greater. It makes the most sense to say that a ger gets a new set of everything (including the body); perhaps even retroactively!

Tony Montana: What "levushim" are you talking about? I think you are referring to "eisei levush" in the end of ch. 2, which is NOT the levushim of thought, speech, action described in ch. 4. The "levush" which one receives depending on the intent of his parents b'shas hazivug is none other than the nefesh hasichlis (see the Tzemach Tzedek's biurim on Tanya). Thus it makes sense that the Alter Rebbe attributes to this "levush" the decisive role in defining how a person consciously receives and transmits spirituality. The nefesh hasichlis is our rational consciousness; hence its quality is what determines how one actually processes signals from both the nefesh ho'eleikis and nefesh habahmis, which do not communicate directly with each other.

Avrohom and Soroh are meilid neshomeis shel geirim through their yichudim in gan eden. But the nefesh hasichlis, I believe, is transmitted immutably at conception. I do not believe that giur overrides or replaces this condition.

Nefesh hasichlis is NOT the seichel of the nefesh habahamis. It is a separate nefesh all together (see first maamar of Sefer Maamorim Yiddish).

Levushim stam refer to thought, speech and deed, but the levush referred to in ch. 2 of Tanya is SYNONOMOUS with the nefesh hasichlis (see biurim of the Tzemach Tzedek on Tanya).

It wouldn't even make sense to say that the levush at the end of ch. 2 is the same as levushim throughout the rest of Tanya. The whole point of those levushim is that "mishpot habechiroh" is granted whereas the levush at the end of ch. 2 is something you're just born with and can't control. (see the Tz. Tz. on Tanya)

Guravitzer: See Maamar Ashrei Tivchar Usekarev Melukat Hey about the Nefesh Hasichlis. There is a biur somewhere that you are born with the Machshava Dibbur Maase according to their kiddush, but you have the bechiroh to change, I'll try to remember where it is. I will take a look at the TT biur.

Tony Montana: The nefesh hasichclis has a full composition of ten faculties and is NOT a sub-stratum of some other entity.

I am familiar with the maamar of the Rebbe zy"a to which you refer. It describes the pitfalls which face the nefesh hasichlis. But it doesn't provide any proof for the error which you asserted earlier, that the nefesh hasichlis is a component of the nefesh habahamis. The nefesh habahamis is "the higher components of the Nefesh Habehamis." Farkert! The nefesh habahamis is the one that is a component (the seven emotional faculties of the nefesh hativis). Just for fun, go look and tell me where is the first place in Tanya that the Alter Rebbe even uses the term nefesh habahamis.