Why Did Our Souls Come to This World? The Kabbalistic Answer to Life’s Challenges

Many people ask why we needed to come down to this world at all. Was it to struggle, face difficulties, and undergo endless tests? Why didn’t God simply create the soul already perfect and righteous, ready to enjoy eternal bliss in Heaven without delay?

Kabbalah answers this profound question with a concept known as “Na’ama d’Kisufa” which is Aramaic for “the bread of shame.” Let’s explore what this means and why it lies at the heart of our human purpose.

The Nature of Human Dignity: Earning, Not Receiving

The Sages taught a timeless truth about human nature: “A person prefers one measure of his own effort over nine measures given by others.” (Talmud, Bava Metzia 38a)

People naturally value what they have earned through their own labor — no matter how small, more than a large gift they received for free. Most people would rather work for their own living than rely on charity, even from a generous benefactor.

Kabbalah explains that the same principle applies to the soul. In the World to Come, the soul does not want to receive free reward. A reward that costs nothing brings it shame, like bread given as a handout. Such pleasure feels empty and undeserved.

Therefore, a “Heaven” given for free would not be Heaven at all — it would be a place of spiritual discomfort and lack of fulfillment.

The Soul’s Desire for Independence and Creation

At its core, the soul is a unique, individual being created in the image of God. Just as God acts, gives, and creates from within Himself, the soul too longs to earn, create, and become — not merely to receive passively.

Thus, the soul’s deepest joy comes from achieving closeness to God through its own choices, its personal struggles, and through fulfilling mitzvot (divine commandments) with awareness and effort. That is what gives eternal meaning to its existence.

Why Did God Create the Feeling of Shame?

If the soul feels ashamed of receiving free goodness, why didn’t God simply create it without that feeling altogether?

This question assumes that “shame” is an external emotion God added to the soul — something arbitrary that could have been avoided. In truth however, this feeling is part of the soul’s very essence.

The soul was created in God’s likeness. Therefore:

• Just as God does not receive unearned good, the soul too does not want unearned good.

• Just as God is a Creator, the soul longs to create.

• Just as God loves purely and selflessly, the soul seeks to love God with that same pure love.

The Soul’s True Joy: Becoming Like Its Creator

The soul’s bliss in the afterlife is not a reward handed to it externally, but a reflection of what it has become. God is the source of all goodness, and to draw close to Him, the soul must resemble Him. To do so authentically, it must become good in truth, not merely appear good.

The process of life including our challenges, efforts, and moral choices, are all part of that inner becoming. Through them, the soul grows to resemble the Divine and thus experiences the ultimate joy of union with its Creator.

A Parental Analogy: Why God Wants Us to Grow

Loving parents want their children to become wise, kind, and independent adults. No parent wishes for their child to remain forever dependent, unable to think or act on their own. True love desires the other’s growth.

Similarly, God desires that the souls He created reach righteousness and wisdom through their own free will. When the soul chooses good on its own, it rises closer to God and experiences the greatest fulfillment possible — the joy of being good, strong, and free in the truest sense.

The Ultimate Purpose of Life

Our journey in this world is not a punishment, nor a random test, but an opportunity. Every struggle, every choice, and every act of goodness refines the soul, allowing it to earn its spiritual perfection rather than receive it as a handout.

That is the essence of Na’ama d’Kisufa — the soul’s refusal to live on “bread of shame.” It seeks real joy, the kind that only comes from creating, striving, and becoming divine through its own will.

That, according to Kabbalah, is why we are here.