All the souls of Israel derive from Adam Harishon:
Adam, the first man of creation, included the souls of the Jewish people within his G-dly soul that was blown into him by G-d. His soul was made up of all the 600,000 future souls of the Jewish people, from which all souls derive from throughout all generations.
- The divine lesson: In Kabbalah and elsewhere in Chassidus it is further explained that every single Jew receives a soul from a certain part of the soul of Adam, and on this is dependent the quality and level of the soul that one receives. One cannot compare a soul that is rooted in the head of Adam to a soul that is rooted in the heel of Adam. This is the general difference between soul levels of individuals and generations. In some generations, Jewish souls overcame evil and were on great spiritual levels, while in other generations the evil greatly overcame them, and as a result they were great Reshaim. This is also the reason why people have different challenges in service of G-d, as after Adam sinned, it tainted all of the souls of Israel with impurity, and hence every Jew contains a different impurity that he must fix and refine. The lesson that can be derived from this teaching is potentially life-changing. Some people become filled with anger at the challenges that they have in service of G-d, or in their struggle with depression and mental health and them maintaining mental and emotional well-being. At times, it becomes even more disturbing to them when they discover that it is hereditary, and hence they feel that it is unfair that they had to be the ones to carry this trait and challenge. The above gives us a new perspective, as in truth every Jew contains some challenge in the realm of impurity that he needs to overcome due to the root of every soul within the soul of Adam which became tainted as a result of his sin. Every Jew contains a job and task to refine his soul which refines the soul of Adam. Hence, don’t view your challenges as unfair and crippling but rather as emboldening that it was specifically you who was trusted with this difficult challenge of refining your part in the soul of Adam, and not anyone else. This itself must be because other people don’t have the will or power to overcome it. In this light the Rebbe once mentioned to a Jew who was in a relationship with a Gentile woman and was being challenged with breaking off the relationship, that he is jealous of him, as it is a sign that he contains greater soul powers than even the Rebbe himself contains, as seen from the fact that the Rebbe was not trusted with this challenge.