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28 โ[1] ** ืืฉืจื ืื ืคืฉ ืื ืชืชื ื ืืืฉืจืื, "And you shall not make an incision on your flesh in mourning of someone who died."** The reason the Torah emphasises the word ื ืคืฉ is to make plain that though the incision is an injury to one's body, the reason for it is the departure of someone's ื ืคืฉ, someone's soul. The Torah is careful to describe this as ืื ืชืชื ื **ืืืฉืจืื**, "do not give it **on your flesh**," to explain that the incision will not leave an injury on one's soul but only on one's flesh. The reason that the incision does not leave permanent damage on one's soul is that the body is considered the sheath of the soul, and man is very excited and hasty when he loses a dear relative to death (*Shabbat* 43). The Torah therefore continues with a different kind of bodily defacement which leaves a deeper and more permanent mark, i.e. ืืืชืืืช ืงืขืงืข ืื ืชืชื ื ืืื, "and do not tatoo yourselves;" you will note that in this instance the Torah did not use the restrictive word ืืืฉืจืื, to show you that tatoos are considered as injuring not only the body but also the soul. The reason tatooing leaves an injury also on one's soul is that it is something which requires great care, is not performed hastily like the incision called ืฉืจื. It is only natural then that it leaves a far deeper impression on one's personality than the hastily performed incision. We are told in *Baba Batra* 16 that a person is not "seized" i.e. held totally responsible, for things he does at the time when he experiences deep mental anguish.
โ[2] The Torah concludes the verse with the words ืื ื ืืฉื. The reason for this is explained by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in *Zohar* volume 3, page 247. The word ืื ื refers to G'd's throne which we are in the habit of referring to as His ืฉืืื ื, His Presence. The tetragram i.e. the name ืึพืึพืึพื on the other hand, is a reference to He who sits on that throne. With the expression ืื ื ืืฉื G'd indicates that He is punctilious regarding the honour due to Him as well as the honour due to His throne. The relationship between man's body and his soul is similar to the relationship between G'd's throne and His essence. Seeing man has been created in the image of G'd, He does not want us to injure either our bodies or our souls.
Version: Or Hachayim, trans. Eliyahu Munk
Source: http://www.urimpublications.com/or-hachayim-commentary-on-the-torah-5-vols.html
License: CC-BY