Animal soul (נפש הבהמית)
The “Four Holy Faces”
Nefesh HaBahamit (נפש הבהמית). Kabbalah (specifically referencing the Zohar) teaches that animal souls originate from “Holy Creatures,” with domesticated animals descending from the face of the ox in the Divine Chariot. Animals have basic souls that originate from the Creator and follow a journey of repair (Tikkun). Souls may reincarnate through the four realms—inanimate, vegetative, animal, and human—to evolve.
In Kabbalah, the animal soul (Hebrew: נפש הבהמית, nefesh habehamit) is one of the two souls Jews possess, and the only one that gentiles have. The animal soul animates the living body and is the source of both animalistic desires and inherent Jewish traits like kindness and compassion, as noted in Tanya, a primary text of the Chabad movement and much of Hasidism, in general. While its primary inclination is to seek worldly, physical pleasures, the animal soul can be trained to primarily pursue spiritual pleasures with the guidance of the divine soul.