Rav Meir Simchah haKohein has a lot to say about parashas Bo. I chose his comments on Shemos 12:21, which discuss the roles of intellect and emotion in Judaism — and is also quite long. (In contrast to their relative roles in paganism.) The topic both touches on hashkafah and how we relate to Divinity and on mussar and how we relate to emotion — I couldn’t pass it up!

What I am about to write are only the highlights. I recommend investing the time to listen to the shiur rather than reading it here. (Also: Spoilers alert!)

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The Meshekh Chokhmah opens with a medrash on Mishlei that identifies intellect in the head and emotion in the heart.

(I should point out that while this metaphor is the usual one today, it is not taken for granted by everyone that people in the past knew enough about the connection between brain and thought for the notion that we think with are heads was part of the metaphor. After all, Aristotle thought the brain was an organ for cooling blood. Because of this, there are academics who believe that translating the title of the book “Duties of the Heart” is inaccurate because “heart” today means something different than it would have to Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paquda when he wrote the book. However, this medrash shows they’re underestimating what our tradition did know about brains.)

The head is that the melekh ha’eivarim, the king of the limbs, because the brain is the most elevated of our organs and indeed commands the others. Include the pituitary gland, and it’s in the driver’s seat via the endocrine system.

(I liken this to an orchestra. The intellect is the conductor, whose job it is to make sure that each instrument comes in at the right time and with the right tempo. Over in the back we can see temper, playing the tympani, on the left,  empathy is on the first violin and sadness is over there on the front left, among the oboes and bassoons. Joy is behind them on the trumpets. Each middah has its role, and through the intellect they are coordinated into a harmonious whole.   One can make beautiful music with just one violin, but in a symphony it combines with all the other instruments to make something far richer.)

Rav Meir Simcha then lauds Judaism in that we worship a G-d who can really only be approached intellectually. In contrast to paganism which invented gods for anything physical that moves them emotionally — gods of beauty, might, thunder, etc…

Emotion is intimately tied to physical experiences, they are what move us. This is why Hashem commanded mitzvos. Mitzvos are a means of honing our emotions. (Mussar places great emphasis on the need to have experiences in order to change our middos. Even when learning, it is done behispa’alus, making the study more than an intellectual exercise.) The mishnah says “HQBH wanted lezakos es Yisrael, therefore He gave them a lot of Torah and mitzvos.” We usually translate the phrase as “to bring merit to the Jews”, but haRav Meir Simchah haKohein translates it based on “lezakos‘ in the sense of refinement — Hashem wants to hone our emotions, so He gave us many mitzvos by which to do so

Along the way Rav Meir Simchah describes the avos as the discoverers of the sekheil‘s conception of the Divine, and the crossing of the Yam Suf as the moment in which their children inherited it. This is when we merited accepting Hashem as Melekh and when Yehudah, which entered the water first, merited the worldly throne.

Last (of the material I covered), the Meshekh Chokhmah uses this dichotomy of the intellect vs. the empirical and the emotional to describe the source of sanctity. Sinai was only sacred as long as it was the place of revelation. Religion didn’t declare Jerusalem permanently holy; in the Torah it is merely “the place I will show you”. It is the relationship human beings and our tie to our history built up with the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Israel, etc… in which the holiness resides. A notion of a physical place being holy is an inherently pagan worldview; being emotionally moved by a mountain, and declaring it special.

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Audio:

 

Video:

שמות יב:כא-כב

וַיִּקְרָ֥א מֹשֶׁ֛ה לְכָל־זִקְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֑ם מִֽשְׁכ֗וּ וּקְח֨וּ לָכֶ֥ם צֹ֛אן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתֵיכֶ֖ם וְשַׁחֲט֥וּ הַפָּֽסַח׃ וּלְקַחְתֶּ֞ם אֲגֻדַּ֣ת אֵז֗וֹב וּטְבַלְתֶּם֮ בַּדָּ֣ם אֲשֶׁר־בַּסַּף֒ וְהִגַּעְתֶּ֤ם אֶל־הַמַּשְׁקוֹף֙ וְאֶל־שְׁתֵּ֣י הַמְּזוּזֹ֔ת מִן־הַדָּ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֣ר בַּסָּ֑ף וְאַתֶּ֗ם לֹ֥א תֵצְא֛וּ אִ֥ישׁ מִפֶּֽתַח־בֵּית֖וֹ עַד־בֹּֽקֶר׃

Moshe then called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, pick out lambs for your families, and slaughter the Pesach offering. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and to the two doorposts; none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. 

משך חכמה

מִֽשְׁכ֗וּ וּקְח֨וּ לָכֶ֥ם צֹ֛אן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתֵיכֶ֖ם כו׳ וְהִגַּעְתֶּ֤ם אֶל־הַמַּשְׁקוֹף֙ וְאֶל־שְׁתֵּ֣י הַמְּזוּזֹ֔ת. הענין דנחלקו במדרש משלי החכמה היכן מצויה בלב או בראש. והברור דההרגשות המה כולן בלב כמו נקימה אומץ, גאוה, כעס, מורא, וזה שכתוב לבי יחיל בקרבי, יתור לבו ממקומו, לבו כלב הארי. אולם המושכלות הן בראש, שם מקור המושכלות, והציורים, והמדמה, והזוכר, וראש מלך שבאיברים (שבת ע”א). והנה ההרגשות כולן באין לאדם מיום הולדו וזה שאמרו אימת יצה”ר נתון באדם, פ’ חלק, אבל השכל הוא בא כשנשתלם האדם ולכך קראוהו (נדרים ל”ב) יֶ֥לֶד מִסְכֵּ֭ן וְחָכָ֑ם, לא כן ליצה”ר קראו מֶּ֤לֶךְ זָקֵן֙ וּכְסִ֔יל.

[ט֛וֹב יֶ֥לֶד מִסְכֵּ֭ן וְחָכָ֑ם מִמֶּ֤לֶךְ זָקֵן֙ וּכְסִ֔יל אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹֽא־יָדַ֥ע לְהִזָּהֵ֭ר עֽוֹד:

Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer has the sense to heed warnings.
– Mishlei 4:13]

והנה אמרו על ישראל שהן מאמינים בני מאמינים (שבת צ”ז) וצריך להבין הלא באומות העולם שאמרו ההמיר גוי אלקיו (תענית פ”ק) אלו כותים וקדרים שהללו עובדין למים כו’ הלא מאמינים בטפשות כאלה וכל העמים כן וא”כ כח אמונתם גדול, אמנם מצאנו במדרש שוחר טוב פ’ ל”א אמונים נוצר ד’ אלו שעונים באמונה אמן אומרים ברוך מחיה המתים ועדיין לא בא א”כ האמונה בעתיד אך הלא יש מהעמים שמאמינים ג”כ ביעודים עתידים.