What is a Neshama?

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.”

נעשה אדם WE WILL MAKE MAN — Although they did not assist Him in forming him (the man) and although this use of the plural may give the heretics an occasion to rebel (i. e. to argue in favour of their own views), yet the verse does not refrain from teaching proper conduct and the virtue of humbleness, namely, that the greater should consult, and take permission from the smaller; for had it been written, “I shall make man”, we could not, then, have learned that He spoke to His judicial council but to Himself. And as a refutation of the heretics it is written immediately after this verse “And God created the man”, and it is not written “and they created” (Genesis Rabbah 8:9)

AND G-D SAID: ‘LET US MAKE MAN.’ There was a special command dedicated to the making of man because of his great superiority since his nature is unlike that of beasts and cattle which were created with the preceding command.
The correct explanation of na’aseh (let us make) [which is in the plural form when it should have been in the singular] is as follows: It has been shown to you that G-d created something from nothing only on the first day, and afterwards He formed and made things from those created elements. Thus when He gave the waters the power of bringing forth a living soul, the command concerning them was Let the waters swarm. The command concerning cattle was Let the earth bring forth. But in the case of man He said, Let us make, that is, I and the aforementioned earth, let us make man, the earth to bring forth the body from its elements as it did with cattle and beasts, as it is written, ... he will be similar to the earth from which he was taken, and in spirit he will be similar to the higher beings, because it [the spirit] is not a body and will not die. ain matter are called similar to each other.

And God created humankind in the divine image,
creating it in the image of God—
creating them male and female.

בצלמנו IN OUR IMAGE — in our type.

My God! the soul which You bestowed in me is pure; You created it, You formed it, You breathed it into me and You preserve it within me. You will eventually take it from me, and restore it in me in the time to come. So long as the soul is within me I give thanks to You, Adonoy my God, and God of my fathers, Lord of all creatures, Master of all souls. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Who restores souls to dead bodies.

The first Soul is from Kelipa (outer shell) and the other (unholy) side, and it is enclothed in a person's blood to give life to the body, and as it's written (Leviticus 17,11): ''for the Soul of the flesh (Nefesh) is in the blood''. and from it (the soul) comes all bad character traits, from the four evil elements within it. Which are: anger and arrogance from the element of fire which rises. and desirable pleasures are from the element of water, for water plants all sorts of pleasure.

The second soul in Israel is truly "a part of God above," as it is written: "and he blew into his nostrils a soul of life"(Genesis 2:7); "And You blew it into me." (Siddur, Morning Prayer). It is written in the Zohar "he Who blows, blows from within him," that is to say, from his inwardness and from his innermost being. For it is of his inward and innermost vitality that a man emits through blowing with force.

The lifebreath of man is the lamp of the LORD
Revealing all his inmost parts.