Hello Rabbi...I Was Wondering Something About Part Of The Answer You Gave To The Question, Can we be sure God created man? And That Is The Reference From Breishit 2, 7 That States "and He breathed into mans (Adams) nostrils the breath of life". I Was Wondering If Its Possible That The Meaning Of This Is Actually Meant To Mean Symbolically, Consciousness, And Not Literally Breath? Considering It Specifies Distinctly Only Man Instead Of All Other Living Creatures. Humankind Are The Only Ones In This World That Have A Conscience Is The Reason Why Im Suggesting This May Be The Actual Meaning. I Come To This Site To Learn, So If Im Mistaken Then Please Correct Me.

One can surely say that the conscience you refer to, is clearly part of man's distinction, differentiating between us and the other creatures. On the other hand, the term used there specifically is "nishmat chayim", from the root: neshama. Now we know that what's called the "soul" is generally divided in Judaism into 3 levels (from the bottom upwards): nefesh, ru'ach and neshama. The conscience is generally associated with the nefesh- more closely related to this world and the body, as opposed to the verse which is referring to the higher more Godly neshama level.