Chasidut su Levitico 19:27
לֹ֣א תַקִּ֔פוּ פְּאַ֖ת רֹאשְׁכֶ֑ם וְלֹ֣א תַשְׁחִ֔ית אֵ֖ת פְּאַ֥ת זְקָנֶֽךָ׃
Non arrotonderai gli angoli della testa, né rovinerai gli angoli della barba.
Flames of Faith
It was most important for the blind man to walk and the invalid to ride. Imagine if the order had been inversed, would they have achieved their goal? If the blind man had ridden atop the invalid, he would not have been able to see afar in order to protect the invalid from robbers who lay in ambush, nor would the invalid with his atrophied legs have been able to carry the blind man’s weight. The soul must control the body and have the body serve it. People in whom the soul serves the body lack the correct perspective on life, they enslave their moral thinking to legitimize base behaviors, and they torment their soul with the lowest desires.101The highest point of the soul is concentrated in the mind, that is why the prayer recited before placing tefillin (phylacteries) on the arm and head declares,
“[the tefillah box] on the head stands opposite the brain so that the neshamah she-be-mochi, the soul, whose location is in the head, together with my other proclivities and abilities will be fully committed to the service of God.” Thus, thought is associated with the soul, while impulses are expressions of the body.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that many of the commandments are in fact measures to insure that man’s soul (his logical thoughts) rule his lower animal self (his impulses and desires). See his commentary to Lev. 19:27, and Horeb Chapters 65, 68, and 69; see also his Jewish Symbolism (vol. 3 of his Collected Writings), pgs. 175-178 (where he interprets the commandment of shaatnez).
“[the tefillah box] on the head stands opposite the brain so that the neshamah she-be-mochi, the soul, whose location is in the head, together with my other proclivities and abilities will be fully committed to the service of God.” Thus, thought is associated with the soul, while impulses are expressions of the body.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that many of the commandments are in fact measures to insure that man’s soul (his logical thoughts) rule his lower animal self (his impulses and desires). See his commentary to Lev. 19:27, and Horeb Chapters 65, 68, and 69; see also his Jewish Symbolism (vol. 3 of his Collected Writings), pgs. 175-178 (where he interprets the commandment of shaatnez).
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