We have reached the final portion of chapter 38, on page 51a (page 101), in the first wide line that follows the narrow passage, at the end of which a new passage begins with the words «בכוונת המצוות». We have already explained the content of these lines orally, through to the end of the chapter, but we have not yet read them inside the text itself. So let us first review the essence of the idea.
In the preceding chapters the Alter Rebbe dwelt at length on the great importance of the deed specifically, of the practical mitzvos, on the basis of dirah betachtonim, the idea that G-d desires a dwelling place in the lowest realm. From this he also drew the halachah that a person who performs a mitzvah or prays with no kavanah at all, who recites Shema without directing his mind to it in the slightest, has nonetheless fulfilled his obligation with respect to all or nearly all of Shema or of the prayer. The reason: the purpose of the soul's descent into a body is primarily to refine the body and the nefesh habahamis, the animal soul. Once a person has brought the words out through his physical mouth, or carried out the mitzvah with his practical faculties, even though the inner dimension has taken no part in it, the mitzvah has been fulfilled, and the purpose of the soul's descent into this world has been accomplished. That is why «המעשה הוא העיקר», the deed is the main thing.
And yet, in chapter 38 the Alter Rebbe also brings the other side: «תפילה בלא כוונה כגוף בלא נשמה» (a prayer without kavanah is like a body without a soul). The relationship between the kavanah and the mitzvah is like the relationship between the soul and the body, as was explained at length in the previous installments. Let us review the main points.
Domem and tzomeach, the dimension of the body:
Under the heading of «body» two categories are included, the inanimate (domem) and the vegetative (tzomeach):
Domem: all that the eye perceives in it is its body alone. Certainly it possesses a soul, what the Arizal calls «nefesh hadomemes», the soul of the inanimate, but that soul is not perceptible at all.
Tzomeach: here a quality of growth is already perceptible, and nevertheless it still belongs to the world of the body. For what grows in it is the body, and it still has no quality of life in it: no feeling, no will, no vitality.
And the parallel in the performance of mitzvos: the practical dimension of the mitzvos is called «body», and within it, in detail, there are two categories, mitzvos a person fulfills through action and mitzvos he fulfills through speech. Speech is loftier than action, just as tzomeach is loftier than domem, but both alike belong to the realm called «body».
Chai and medaber, the dimension of the soul:
What is different about the animal (chai) as compared with the vegetative? The animal is an entirely different world: it has a soul, desires and emotions, and that soul is so powerful in it that one who looks at an animal sees the soul itself. He does not see a lump of flesh being driven by some inner engine; from the outset he sees a living creature. The soul is the essence, and the body is batel to it, nullified before it. This is the distinction of the animal kingdom.
And what is the distinction of the medaber, the speaker?
At first glance the medaber would seem to belong to the same general category as the animal, but in truth it is an altogether different world. The distinction of the medaber is the intellect within him. And in order to grasp the depth of that distinction, we must first establish what makes the spiritual superior to the physical.
The superiority of the spiritual over the physical:
Freedom from limitation: a physical thing is defined and bounded. It has its shape and it occupies its space, and once it is in its place there is no room there for anything else. A spiritual thing, by contrast, is abstract: it exists, yet it takes up no space, and the more spiritual it is, the more it can tolerate another spiritual thing without contradicting it, so that the two rest together.
Being drawn to what is above it: a defined physical thing remains within its framework and is what it is; it has no movement of going out beyond itself. A spiritual thing is always drawn toward what is above it, to step out of its own existence.
Both of these characteristics are evident in a being that possesses intellect. An animal is created with a fixed «color»: merciful or cruel, gentle or harsh. Every creature has its own color, dyed into it by its nature. There is no changing it and no possibility of changing it, and even if one tried to persuade it to change a little it would be of no use, as in the example of the cat and the mouse brought in the previous installment. What it is, it will remain.
A human being, who possesses intellect, is also born with a natural pull toward a particular color, but by the power of his intellect he understands that he is not bound to stay stuck there, and he is capable of acting even against his color. The intellect gives him the ability to grasp the importance of doing something, and not only what his natural inclination dictates.
A further point about the intellect: its whole character is to contemplate a matter and clarify, not how the thing appears to the person, but what the truth of the matter is, how it ought to be and what the logic of it is. The nature of emotion is measured by «I feel like it» or «I don't feel like it», by attraction or by repulsion. The intellect is not like that. One who approaches a matter with a prior bias, with a built-in bribe, is not being clever and is not using intellect: «השוחד יעוור עיני פקחים ויסלף דברי צדיקים» (a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous). In such a case the intellect serves merely as an excuse, while the verdict was decided in advance.
True intellect means that a person is not locked in advance into prior assumptions and self-bribery, but approaches the matter to understand it as it is: he goes out of himself and contemplates the thing. True, there are starting points and axioms from which one begins, but even these do not stem from his personal inclinations; they are there because that is simply how the thing is. Even if he does not like the conclusion and does not want it, that does not get in the way of his understanding the matter as it truly is.
And why is this the character of the intellect? Because the intellect is a spiritual thing, and the entire nature of the spiritual is to go out of itself, not to be trapped in a single point but to rise above it, as in the verse we cited: «רוח האדם העולה היא למעלה ורוח הבהמה היורדת היא למטה» (the spirit of man ascends upward, and the spirit of the beast descends downward). Although an animal too has a soul in a general sense, in the human being that soul is something entirely different.
Why is a human being called «medaber» and not «maskil»?
If the essential distinction of a human being is his intellect, the list should seemingly have read: domem, tzomeach, chai, maskil (the one who understands). But «medaber» does not refer to the words themselves; it refers to the capacity to speak, the capacity to communicate with someone who stands outside one's own world. We use our power of speech and it seems perfectly natural, yet the very ability to step out into another's world and communicate with him runs contrary to the nature of anything physical and material.
Animals do produce various sounds, but there is no going out of the self in it. There is no forming of words and no reaching out to understand another; it all remains within the range of the animal's own needs. It has its nature and its existence, and in order to complete that existence it requires connections with its surroundings, to the extent that they concern it. But it has no concept of communicating with another for the other's sake, for the sake of the other's very being. Even the bond between parent and offspring among animals is a natural need that the Creator implanted in them; it does not arise from a consideration of the other. This exists in the human being alone, and that is precisely why he is called «medaber».
In summary: in this installment we reviewed the foundation of chapter 38. Although the deed is the main thing from the standpoint of the purpose of dirah betachtonim, nevertheless «תפילה בלא כוונה כגוף בלא נשמה», a prayer without kavanah is like a body without a soul, and the relationship between the kavanah and the mitzvah is like the relationship of the soul to the body. Domem and tzomeach are the dimension of «body», and in the parallel, mitzvos of action and mitzvos of speech; while chai and medaber are the dimension of «soul». The distinction of the chai lies in the soul that is perceptible within it, and the distinction of the medaber lies in the intellect, whose character is the character of everything spiritual: freedom from limitation and being drawn to what is above it, the ability to step out of one's natural color and contemplate the truth of a matter. And because the whole essence of a human being is this going out of himself toward another, he is called «medaber».
In the next installment we will read the words inside the text, in the Alter Rebbe's own language.