By Marco Del Monte
“He lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing over him”
The Ben Ish Chai explains in the book *Benayahu Ben Yehoyadah* on the Torah, parashat Vayera, that this sentence contains a great secret regarding the movement and union of Souls.
The Ben Ish Chai writes regarding the phrase "he lifted his eyes" that if we look at someone who is "lower" than us, it will be impossible to be humble, since we will see ourselves as superior to our fellow and could certainly become arrogant because of this. But if one "lifts his eyes", so to speak, and looks at someone who is better than him, then he can become humble and manage to grasp his own shortcomings. By becoming aware of this, he will improve himself with a feeling of humility. The Ben Ish Chai continues writing: "It is well known that when a person in this world is very meticulous in performing a mitzvah in which a great tzaddik in his turn was very meticulous, behold, that same Tzaddik comes and 'attaches' himself to this soul to help it in performing this mitzvah." In Kabbalah, this phenomenon is called "Ibbur", a term that indicates the state of being pregnant: in other words, just as in pregnancy there are two or more bodies united, in ibbur there are two or more souls united.
Regarding this, the Ben Ish Chai describes an episode that happened to the Arizal with his student Rabbi Chayim Vital (taken from Shivchei Ari"zal, end of Perek Vav), who once stood up in front of his student Rabbi Chayim Vital, and the latter was astonished, saying to his master: "What is different today from other days?" The Arizal replied: "I did not stand up in front of you, but in front of Benayahu Ben Yehoyada who is with you."
The Ben Ish Chai explains that three Tzaddikim were particularly meticulous in the mitzvah of humility: Abraham our Father; Moses our Teacher; David the King. And thus the Ben Ish Chai brings things full circle by giving an explanation of the aforementioned verse: When we are accustomed to "lifting our eyes", this means that fundamentally they are directed downwards, indicating an attitude of humility: "Behold, three men are standing with him", meaning that the three souls of the tzaddikim who were meticulous in this mitzvah will unite with his soul: the soul of Abraham, of Moses, and of David. This is the secret of the union of souls in this world with the souls of the Tzaddikim who come to strengthen us. This dynamic of the union of souls is also found in a different form on Shabbat: the "Neshamah Yeterah", that is, the additional soul. The Chachamim explain that on Shabbat an additional soul comes to us to strengthen our soul; precisely for this reason, according to halakhah, at the exit of Shabbat we make the berakhah over spices, because the spice is a nourishment for the soul. The very word Neshamah (Soul) can be read as Neshimah (Breath), as if to say that through breath we regenerate the soul, which upon its entry into Adam was breathed precisely through the nostrils. It is no coincidence that when we smell a pleasant fragrance without knowing its source, we say: "A Good Soul has passed by."
With the wish to spend every Shabbat accompanied by the Neshamah Yeterah and by other Neshamot of Tzaddikim.
Shabbat Shalom
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.