25. What are the ‘Garments of the Soul’?
In the book of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman, writes that just as there are physical garments that clothe the physical body, so there are spiritual garments that clothe the soul. These ‘garments’ are thought, speech, and deed.
The reason they are called garments is that just as physical garments can be removed and swapped, (as opposed to the person himself,) so the spiritual garments of the soul can be removed and changed (as opposed to the actual soul and its soul powers). A person can decide whether or not to do a particular deed, say a particular thing, or think a particular thought.