Halakhah su Salmi 36:78

Therefore G-d found it necessary to create man on the sixth day, and He created him with competing drives: Man possesses a spiritual soul that enables him to recognize the creator as does an angel, as the verse states: “Man’s soul is G-d’s lamp…” (Mishlei 20:27). He also possesses an animalistic nature due to his physical body, which drives him to animal behaviors, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping.This state of affairs gives rise to a constant struggle within man all the days of his life, with his animal nature pining for physical desires, while his pure soul opposes such pursuits, inspiring man to turn to his real purpose, to serve G-d like an angel. His soul further insists that even necessary physical needs, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping, should be done with intent to better serve G-d, and on this the verse has been stated: “I have placed G-d before me constantly.” (Psalms 16:8). After man’s death he is shown on high that all his actions were recorded, as though in a book, with his own signature. If he has followed the path of Torah and mitzvos, he inherits heaven (Lit. 'Gan Eden') which is a limitless and endless spiritual joy. Of these people the verse proclaims "They will be sated from the fat of Your house, and with the stream of Your delights You give them to drink. For with You is the source of life; in Your light we will see light. " (Psalms 36:9). If G-d forbid his actions were the opposite, he inherits Gehenom, to which all the pains of this life are as naught in comparison. On these people the verse states: "And they shall go out and see the corpses of the people who rebelled against Me, for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring for all flesh." (Yishayahu 66:24). There are seven descriptions given to Gehenom: Nether-world (or Sheol), Destruction, Pit, Tumultuous Pit, Miry Clay, Shadow of Death and the Underworld. (Eruvin 19a). One who is seduced by his base inclinations falls there, and that is why it is also called 'seducer', as the verse states "For Tophteh (Heb. related to the word 'seduce') is set up from yesterday, that too has been prepared for the king (Sennacherib and his army), it deepened, it widened its pile, of fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord is like a stream of brimstone, burning therein.(Yishayahu 30:33). (Eruvin 19a).

And how much must one strengthen himself not to give these people an opening in the beginning; that is, not to argue with them, but to strengthen himself greatly not to associate himself with them at all, as it is written (Mishlei 1:11-16): "If they say, 'Come with us… keep your feet from their path. For their feet run to evil, etc.'" And Chazal have said in Eduyoth 5:6: "Better that a man be called a fool all of his days and not be wicked one moment before the L–rd." "called a fool" is stated because of the matter discussed there; but in truth, it befits a man to commit folly, even actively, so that the epithet "wicked" not apply to him, even for one moment, above. As we find in Scripture (viz. I Samuel 21:16) that David made himself [act] like a fool in the house of Avimelech so that he not fall into his hands. How much more so [should one follow this stratagem if necessary] for the sake of the King of kings, the Holy One Blessed be He! And (Chullin 5b): "(Psalms 36:7): 'Man and beast do You save, O L–rd' – these are men who are wise in knowledge, but who make themselves [act foolish] like a beast [for the sake of the L–rd]." And see Berachoth 19b: "If one finds sha'atnez in his garment, etc."

Whether denial of rights to animals is, or is not, barbaric is a value judgment regarding which reasonable men may differ. Whether or not Judaism actually denies such rights to animals is a factual matter which is readily discernible. The Bible abounds in passages which reflect concern for animal welfare. Concern for the welfare of animals is clearly regarded as the trait of a righteous person: "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel" (Proverbs 12:10). Divine concern for the welfare of animals is reflected in numerous passages: "And His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalms 145:9); "The eyes of all wait for Thee, and Thou givest them their food in due season. Thou openest Thy hand and satisfiest every living thing with favor" (Psalms 145:15-16); "He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry" (Psalms 147:9); "Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry unto God and wander for lack of food?" (Job 38:41); "… and should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons … and also much cattle?" (Jonah 4:11); and "Man and beast thou preservest, O Lord" (Psalms 36:7). De minimis, these verses serve to establish the theological proposition that divine mercy extends, not only to man, but to members of the animal kingdom as well.

(Mem) Aside from all that we have written, we will [also] say that at the beginning of the creation of man – when the Creator assembled all of [the world’s] parts and made him the head of His legion to command all of the creatures – He placed his thinking soul in its house as the matron. All of [the body’s] forces would go out at its command and come at its command. And that soul did not become embodied in the midst of its forces. Rather the soul stood by itself across [from the body]; and the physical forces [were also] by themselves, except that they would heed its discipline according to that which it would command. And [the soul] was not in the body, but rather [man’s] composition was a neighborly [association]. However when man was created, he did not guard his soul and dislodged it from [its position of] being [the] matron. And then – through his evil deeds – the spiritual forces and the bodily forces mixed together. And a new constitution was created from the mixture of the soul with the physical, and he became a new lesser creature. And it is as the scientists have written, a reconstituted composite item will not retain the form of either one of the separate components in this [new] item that they formed. Rather there is a new form, ‘and new faces have come to here.’ It is like sangben (a honey-vinegar drink), which does not have the form of the honey or the vinegar at all, but rather a new constitution is acquired. As there is not one part that is all honey and one part that is all vinegar, but rather all of its parts become a composite item. And for this reason, when a man follows his desires more than is appropriate, a new composite item comes out and a new form results. And it is not half man (spiritual) and half physical, but rather [something with] a new constitution. Yet a righteous person is able – through his deeds and his Torah [study] – to extract the soul from the mud of physicality and [recalibrate himself to] only be composed of a neighborly [association. The latter] is like the hands, the foot, the eyes, the ears and that which is like them – such that their composition is [one of] individual limbs, each one having its original nature and its original constitution. And [the limb] does not have the nature of the whole, nor its constitution; as a part of the hand is not part of the foot. And even though they are composite, their composition is called a composition of neighborly [association]. And see that which is written in Tashbatz 2:4,⁴⁷Tashbats is the Responsa of Rabbi Shimon ben Tsemach Duran (Spain and Algeria, 1361-1444). The explanation regarding a half slave is found earlier in Tosafot 88b, s. v. lisa shifcha. that a mule is not a forbidden mixture (kilayaim), even though it comes from a horse and a donkey, because its composition is reconstituted and it is a new form; whereas a half slave and half free man may not marry his own type (a woman with the same status) because the slave side will come and have sexual relations with the side of the free woman – and that is [because] this is a composition of neighborly [association], and [so] the side of slavery stands by itself. See there. And the final intention is that ‘the spirit returns to God like He bestowed it and the dust returns as it was,’ as I have written in Paragraph Yod in the name of Akeidat Yitschak. And this is the intention of the statement of [the Sages], may their memory be blessed, in the first chapter of Chullin,⁴⁸Chullin 5b. that every place that “man and beast” is written positively, it is where the form of man and the form of beast are each distinct and separately recognizable; whereas this is not the case if they are mixed together with each other. Then he does not have the form of a man – meaning the soul – nor the form of a beast, which is the physical. Rather it is [then] a new and strange creature. And such is not the purpose of creation. And this is [the meaning of], “Man and beast do you save O Lord” (Ps. 36:7) – and that is positive, to ‘return it as it was bestowed.’ And understand [this].