Getting to Know Your 70 Forces - 000 Editor's Intro

This is a deep and challenging series that is similar to the style of the series Da Es Middosecha. It is an offshoot of the author’s Da Es Nafshecha (Getting To Know Your Soul), which explained the 13 basic faculties of the soul. This series, Da Es Kochosecha (“Getting To Know Your Abilities”, or “Shivim Kochos HaNefesh” – “Seventy Forces of the Soul”) continues the journey into the study of our soul, based on the words of the Vilna Gaon (in Yeshayahu 11:1) who lists these seventy abilities.

The reader might be wondering (as he is trying to absorb this) why the author has given such difficult shiurim; why can’t this subject just be made easier? However, anyone familiar with the author’s other talks knows that the approach of the author is that soul matters require as much study as a complex piece of Gemara, if not more.

In fact, our soul is the most complex thing there is in the universe. Although we cannot know it completely, we have to try to understand it as much as we can, because we need to understand our soul if we are to serve our Creator properly. 

The study of this series (especially when combined with all of the information of the Rav’s other talks and series) is daunting and can get overwhelming. It is thus recommended not to read more than one chapter at a time. Or, you can read through it once, chapter after chapter, understanding it on a very basic level (albeit foggy) and return to it later, when you will be able to understand it better after having read through it once.

Here is a list of the seventy forces of the soul according to the Vilna Gaon  (see Sefer “Eitzos V’Hadrachos” (written by Dr. Yaakov Greenwald, student of the Steipler Gaon zt”l) for a brief explanation of the 70 Forces).

• “He'eder” – The state of Before Creation, which is also an ability in our soul (as we will see).
• “Hayuli” – The raw material from which we are created from, which is also an ability in our soul that has its uses.
• “Tzurah Rishonah” – Our original formation.
• Fire
• Water
• Wind
• Earth
• Speech
• Growth
• Vitality
• Coldness
• Heat
• Moisture
• Dryness
• “Markiv” – The ability to combine.
• “Memazeg” – The ability to balance.
• “Meshaneh” – The ability to change.
• Moishech – The ability to pull.
• Machzik – The ability to hold.
• Me’akel – Digestion.
• Mavdil – Separating.
• Docheh – Excreting.
• Megadel – To nurture.
• Molid – To reproduce.
• Sight
• Hearing
• Smell
• Taste
• Touch
• Mental Vision
• Mental Hearing
• Mental Smell
• Mental Taste
• Mental Touch
• Imagination
• Combining Two Imaginative Thoughts
• Holding Onto Imaginative Thoughts
• Thought
• Memory
• Desire
• Love
• Hate
• Jealousy
• Worry
• Pleasure
• Sadness
• Fear
• Bravery
• Hope
• Despair
• Anger
• Talking
• Obsession
• Walking
• Sight 2
• Hearing 2
• Action
• Intimacy
• Smell 2
• Sleep
• Fury
• ?
• Laughter
• Movement
• Tzivuy 1: Commanding the Imagination
• Tzivuy 2: Commanding the Thoughts
• Tzivuy 3: Commanding The Intellectual Desire (Cheifetz HaSichli)
• Meyasher 1: Straightening Out the Desires
• Meyasher 2: Straightening Out Anger
• Meyasher 3: Straightening Out The Intellectual Desire