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In describing the creation of man, the Torah shares an interesting procedural detail:  “וייצר ה’ אלקים את־האדם עפר מן־האדמה ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים ויהי האדם לנפש חיה,” "And Hashem God formed the man of dust from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living being" (BeReishit 2:7).  After forming Adam from the earth, Hashem gave him a soul, and only then did he become truly alive.  Clearly, a living being requires both a physical body and a spiritual soul.

While Adam’s body came from the ground, something which did not exist until it was created by God, his Neshamah arrived in an entirely different way.  It did not exist before, like the dust, nor was it fashioned anew and installed right at that moment.  Rather, Hashem blew directly into Adam from His own eternal essence.  The Neshamah was not created, but shared.  To have a “Nishmat Chayim” is to be connected with the source of life; a living soul from the Living God.

The Ba'al HaTurim made a keen observation on the phrase, "VaYipach Be'Apav Nishmat Chayim,” “And He blew into his nostrils the soul of life."  One will notice how the final letters in each word, "Chet-Vav-Taf-Mem," spell out a word on their own: "Chotam,” “Seal."  (Ba’al HaTurim, BeReishit 2:7)  Not only did Hashem breathe the soul of life into humankind but within each Neshamah resides the seal of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.  Every living soul is adorned with a divine stamp.  If a person is alive, there can be no doubt that she or he is God’s handiwork.

Interestingly, the Ba'al HaTurim may have been alluding to a particular discussion in Masechet Sanhedrin.  The Gemara uses the imagery of a Chotam to illustrate Hashem’s greatness by comparing how a person mints a coin to His creation of man.  A craftsman using a metal seal can produce many coins, but they will all look the same if he only uses one mold to stamp the raw material.  In contrast, Hashem created all of humankind starting with one individual, Adam HaRishon.  Each of us bears the seal of our Creator, a living soul, and yet no two human beings are exactly alike (Sanhedrin, 37a).  Thus, one aspect of Hashem’s greatness is the way He nurtures man’s individuality even while using the same Chotam.

The Neshamah serves as a direct and eternal connection between each of us and the Ribono Shel Olam.  He shares a part of Himself with us, sealing an intrinsic stamp of godliness into every human being.  And at the same time, we do not lose ourselves in His presence.  By design, we all express that inner godliness in our own unique ways.  A living soul from Hashem makes each one of us a living being.