The soul is the way we refer to a person’s abstract spiritual dimension. The human being, created in the image and likeness of God, is the most intelligent and sophisticated of all creations, and possesses a mind and spirit that is totally independent of his body. The soul, which is eternal, is the medium whereby a person is able to perceive and experience spirituality.
The soul is man’s spiritual dimension:
The soul of any being is its God-given spiritual form. The superior mind that is characteristic of the human soul is the [special] spiritual form of a person whose mind is developed. Concerning this spiritual form the Torah states: “[God said], ‘Let Us make man in Our image (betzalmeinu), in Our likeness (kidmuteinu)’” (Genesis 1:26). This means: Mankind will have a spiritual form that can perceive and grasp non-material spiritual beings, like angels that have a purely spiritual form, without any physical component – and a human can eventually become similar to them. This verse does not refer to man’s visible physical form, such as a mouth, nose, jaws, and the rest of the body’s makeup. That would be referred to as the to’ar [rather than the tzelem and demut mentioned in the verse]. This also does not refer to soul which is the life force present in every animal, through which it eats, drinks, reproduces, feels, and thinks. Rather, it refers to man’s mind, which is the [special] spiritual form of his soul. That is what is meant by “in Our image, in Our likeness.”
The soul is eternal:
The spiritual form of the soul is not composed of physical elements, which would result in it eventually decomposing. It is also not a product of the life force (neshama), which would make it dependent on the neshama, just as the neshama is dependent on the physical body. Rather, it is from God, from heaven. Therefore, when the material body, composed of the physical elements, decomposes, and the neshama, which only exists in combination with the body, ceases to exist, that spiritual form [of the soul] remains intact, for it does not depend on the neshama in order to function. Rather, it perceives and understands those spiritual beings which are entirely non-physical [i.e., the angels], it perceives the Creator of all things, and it is eternal. This is what Solomon said, in his wisdom: “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who provided it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). (Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 4:8–9)
