Note 14 — I.

But even in the present form, the righteous are above the angels,14 and every man is still the microcosm, and every member of his body corresponds to a constituent part of the visible universe. “What is man? Is he simply skin, flesh, bones, and veins? No! That which constitutes the real man is the soul, and those things which are called the skin, the flesh, the bones, and the veins, all these are merely a garment, they are simply the clothes of the man, but not the man himself. When man departs, he puts off these garments wherewith the son of man is clothed. Yet are all these bones and sinews formed in the secret of the highest wisdom, after the heavenly image. The skin represents the firmament, which extends everywhere, and covers everything like a garment—as it is written, ‘Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.’ ( Ps. clv, 2 ) … The flesh represents the deteriorated part of the world;… the bones and the veins represent the heavenly chariot, the inner powers, the servants of God.… But these are the outer garments, for in the inward part is the deep mystery of the heavenly man. Everything here below, as above, is mysterious. Therefore it is written—‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him’ ( Gen. i, 27 ); repeating the word God twice, one for the man and the other for the woman. The mystery of the earthly man is after the mystery of the Heavenly Man. And just as we see in the firmament above, covering all things, different signs which are formed of the stars and planets, and which contain secret things and profound mysteries, studied by those who are wise and expert in these signs; so there are in the skin, which is the cover of the body of the son of man, and which is like the sky that covers all things, signs and features which are the stars and planets of the skin, indicating secret things and profound mysteries, whereby the wise are attracted, who understand to read the mysteries in the human face.” (Sohar, ii, 76 a.) He is still the presence of God upon earth (‏שכינתא תתאה‎), and the very form of the body depicts the Tetragrammaton, the most sacred name Jehovah (‏יהוה‎). Thus the head is the form of the ‏י‎, the arms and the shoulders are like the ‏ה‎, the breast represents the form of the ‏ו‎, whilst the two legs with the back represent the form of the second ‏ה‎. (Sohar, ii, 42 a.)15