Have you ever seen your neshamah? You can’t put it under a microscope, yet it’s the most real part of who you are.
Think of your body like a glove—or an outfit. You don’t see the neshamah itself, but you can see its expression through the body. Just like you don’t actually see love—you see it clothed in action. When a mother cradles her baby or a father embraces his son, you’re not just witnessing a physical act. You’re seeing two neshamos connect.
We’re not bodies that do spiritual things—we’re neshamos having a physical experience. Every mitzvah we do isn’t just about following a rule; it’s an expression of the soul, a connection to the Infinite. The body becomes the instrument through which the neshamah plays its deepest song.
Take matzah. It’s not just a symbolic food or a historical reminder. The Zohar HaKadosh calls it “meichla d’mehemnusa”—the food of faith. Matzah does something to your soul. Imagine pressing a key on a keyboard—the matzah may be physical, but it activates something within your inner world. It fills your neshamah with emunah. It’s not just a memory—it’s a mechanism.
But how do we connect with something we can’t see? Through imagination.
Not the fantasy kind, but a holy imagination — the ability to see beyond the surface
The bridge between what’s visible and what’s real. The Hebrew word for imagination, dimyon, shares a root with domeh—meaning similar or parallel. Holy imagination lets us glimpse the parallel soul-world that lies behind every physical reality. Which brings us to Pesach.
The core mitzvah of the Seder is imagination: “Chayav adam liros es atzmo k’ilu hu yatza m’Mitzrayim.” We’re not just remembering — we’re reliving what it means to be free. A slave lives functionally: “What do I need to do? How do I survive?” There’s no depth, no vision, no imagination. But true freedom means being able to see beyond what meets the eye.
R’ Yisroel Salanter writes that man is “Shackled by his intellect but liberated by his imagination.” Although throughout the year we need the structure created by our mind, on Seder night we are given freedom to dream.
This is true about all aspects of Yiddishkeit. A Yiddishkeit that is purely rational and technical is still in shackles. Living a life of pnimius is to be unchained from the bonds of superficiality and liberated from the constraints of rationality.
Children excel at this. They may not have a developed intellect, but their imagination is vibrant. They don’t just see the world as it is — they feel what’s beneath the surface.
Although throughout the Seder we give to our children, there’s a moment when they give us something—the afikoman. That part of the Seder is called “Tzafun,” which means “hidden.” It’s hinting to us that our children hold something hidden that we need—a pure imagination that can see what lies beneath.
The most essential tool for emunah is a holy imagination. Even when life looks dark, with emunah, we can see with our soul-eyes that everything is really Hashem’s infinite love.
The Me’or Einayim says that on the night of Yetziyas Mitzrayim, the Yidden sat in Egypt at a Seder just like ours. They spoke of miracles that hadn’t happened yet—but with their unshakable emunah, they imagined themselves already free. That ability to visualize the redemption while still enslaved was the very zechus that caused their redemption.
So no matter what you’re going through — close your eyes. Imagine that things are good. Imagine you’re a tzadik. Imagine the ultimate geulah.
This year at the Seder, don’t just say the words “Leshana haba’ah beYerushalayim habenuya —” feel them. Don’t just imagine yourself leaving Mitzrayim — imagine yourself in a rebuilt Yerushalayim, dancing up the steps of the Beis Hamikdash. Smell the korban Pesach. Taste the freedom.
Because when you feed your neshamah holy imagination, you stop living in exile — even if you’re still technically in it.
And in the zechus of believing in the hidden good—even when we can’t see it—may we finally get to see it with our eyes, this year in Yerushalayim, amen.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 31 Special Pesach.
