אור החיים ויקרא י"ח:ב'
דבר ואמרת וגו' כמעשה וגו' – צריך לדעת למה כפל לומר דבר ואמרת עוד מה חידש במאמר זה אני ה' אלהיכם וכי עד עתה לא ידעו זה. ועוד מה היא כוונתו במצות כמעשה וגו' אם אין ידוע מה המעשה שעליו תבא המצוה, וכמו כן מעשה ארץ כנען.
ורז"ל אמרו (תו"כ) שהקיש מעשה מצרים למעשה כנען ולדבריהם ז"ל קשה למה כפל המצוה, ואם להשמיענו בא שמעשה ב' הרשעים שוה, מה צורך לתורה להודיענו דבר זה עוד צריך לדעת למה ציין ארץ מצרים באומרו אשר ישבתם בה וכי יש ארץ מצרים אחרת. עוד ציין ארץ כנען ואמר אשר אני מביא וגו' שנראה שיש אחרת ולא ידענו זולת זו, ולו יהיה שתהיה ארץ כנען אחרת כיון שאינה ידועה מנין יהיו מעשיה נודעים לצוות עליהם.
ונראה כי לפי מה שהסמיך למצוה זו מצות העריות, גם ממה שאמר בסוף הפרשה (פסוק כד) אל תטמאו בכל אלה וגו' כי בכל אלה נטמאו הגוים הדברים מוכיחים ומגידים כי מעשה ארץ מצרים כמעשה ארץ כנען הוא מעשה עריות ובזה נבא לפרש הכתוב על נכון.
הנה ידוע הוא כי כל מצות אשר צוה ה' לעם קדושו הם מצות שיכול האדם לעמוד בהם ויטה עצמו אל הרצון לעשותם, זולת מצות פרישת העריות הוא דבר שנפשו של אדם מחמדתן ואונסתו עליהם לעשותם, זולת בהתעצמות הרחקת ב' דברים מהאדם, והם מרחק הרגש ראות העין, ומרחק בחינת החושב, ואם ב' אלו לא יעשה אין אדם שליט ברוח זה לכלותה ממנו, כי כל שלא תהיה לו הרחקת הרגש הראות בדבר הגם שירחיק בחינת החושב לא ישלוט בעצמו לכלות ממנו הכרח החשק. וצא ולמד (קדושין פא.) ממעשה של ר"ע רבן של חסידים שהגם היותו מושלל מבחינת החושב נתנצח מבחינת הראות, גם ממעשה רבי מתיא ב"ח (ילקוט שמעוני פ' ויחי) שבחר לסמות עיניו למיחוש הכרחה אשר מהם תבא בדבר הרע הגם שהיה מושלל מבחינת החושב כאשר מעשיו מוכיחות. גם אם יושלל מבחינת הראות אם לא ירחיק בחינת החושב מחשבותיו יחייבו לבקש ולהתלהט אחר המעשה. וצא ולמד ממעשה שהובא בש"ס (ע"ז כב:) באותו גוי שקנה ירך בשר וחטט בו כדי וכו' ובעל וכו' ע"כ. וזהו יהיה תולדות החושב הכריחתו עשות מבלי בחינת הראות. נמצאת אומר שבא' מהב' תהיה מושללת מהאדם שליטה בעצמו בדבר זה ואין צריך לומר בהצמד ב' דברים ראות וחושב הן האדם חלוש כנגד תאותו, ואין צריך לומר אם ישלח ידו ואכל מעט מן הרע הזה הנה הוא מסור ביד תאותו. מעתה תחבולות האדם להעריך מלחמה נגד בחינה זו היא בשלילת ממנו ב' דברים ובזה תהיה נרכבת באדם תכונה לבל יתלהט אחר זה וישלוט הרצון בחפץ הטבעי והוא טעם אמרו ז"ל (ברכות לד:) במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים אין צדיקים גמורין יכולין לעמוד, כי הצדיקים גמורים תכונת רצונם נוצחת החפץ מבלי צורך התעצמות מה שאין כן בעלי תשובה.
ובזה נבא אל הביאור הנה האדון ה' צבאות נתחכם בצוותו מצוה זו ודבר נגד יצר הרע, שיאמר איך יכול אנוש טבעי למשול בתאותו אשר היא אנסתו דבר זה הוא מושלל מהדעת שיחייב ה' שמירתו לכל בהשואה אלא לאנשים אשר יכולין לעמוד ויש כח ברצונה לשלול החפץ בזה והם אותם שלא באו לידי מבחן הראות והחושב באלו וכדומה דבר הכתוב אבל במי שעברו בחינה הנזכר כפי הטבע אין אדם שליט ברוחו למנוע מעצמו חשק המכריחו, ועל זה נתכוון ה' בנועם דברי אלהים חיים ואמר כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם פירוש הגם שישבתם במקום שאנשיה בני זנונים ולא תמנע מכם בחינת החושב לצד ישיבתכ' ביניהם כל הזמן ההוא כאומר אשר ישבתם בה ואין ישיבה אלא עכבה וזה יסובב תגבור' החפץ בכם אף על פי כן אנכי מצוה אתכם שתתעצמו לנצח החשק לבל תעשו כמעשיהם.
ואמר עוד וכמעשה ארץ כנען וגו' אשר אני מביא אתכם שמה וגו' פירוש אף על פי שאתם באים למקום אשר שם הרגיעה שידה של בחינת הרע הזה ונמצא בחינת החושב מתעוררת אף על פי כן מחייב אני אתכם לבלתי עשות כמעשיהם.
ולצד שיאמר אדם כי אין מעצור ברוחו בדבר זה, לכן הקדים ה' בתחלה דברו הטוב ואמר דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם אני ה' אלהיכם, כי הן אמת במין אנושי זולת ישראל ישנו בטענה זו כי לא ימצא בכחו למנוע עוצם חשקו ממנו מה שאין כן אתם בני ישראל לצד היותי ה' אלהיכם והיא השגה אלהות בכח האלהי ינוצח כח הטבעי גשמי, כי הצורה תשלוט בחומר כשיסכים איש ישראל להתדבק בה' אלהיו ישלוט בטבעו, והוא כמאמרם ז"ל (ב"ר פל"ד) שאמרו הצדיקים לבם מסור בידם והרשעים הם מסורים ביד לבם. הכוונה בזה כי החפץ והחשק ישנו בלב האדם והרצון הוא במוחו והם ב' מדריגות שנתן האדון בבני אדם וכשתזדמן לאדם דבר ערוה הלב חומדה ואין גמר בחימוד זה ויכול הרצון התלוי במוח למנוע החפץ ולא יעשנו הגם שיחמוד, הלא תמצא בבני אדם שמקבלים תענית הגם שהחפץ יתגבר בהם לאכול יבא הרצון וימנענו וכן עז"ה, וצדיקים תמיד מתנהגים כסדר זה ולבם מסור בידם שהגם שיתאוו תאוה בלבם יבחר השכל שהיא הנשמה ואם ישנו באזהרה מה' או מכללי התיעוב ישלול הרצון בו וימנע החפץ הגם שישנו, אבל הרשעים הם מסורים ביד לבם לכל אשר יבא החפץ בלב לא ימנעהו הרצון, ואולי כי אין להם נשמה או שכבר פגמוה ונכנעת היא לפני הרוח שבלב, ולכן אמר ה' כי אני ה' אלהיכם פירוש להיות שבחינת הנשמה בה ה' משרה אור שכינתו באדם בסוד (תהלים עח) אהל שכן באדם ומצד זה יש כח באדם לנצח החפץ לפני הרצון.
והוא מה שנתכוון לומר דוד המלך עליו השלום במה שאמר (שם מ) לעשות רצונך אלהי חפצתי ותורתך בתוך מעי, הכוונה היא שמרוב דביקתו באדון האדונים יתברך שמו לעד עד שגם הלב נתהפך לעשות כמעשה הנשמה, שבא החפץ בו והתאוה לעשות רצונו יתברך, שאינו מהכת החפצים דברים המרוחקים מהקדושה וצריכים למונעם בשלילות הרצון, אלא שמעצמו חפץ ברצונו יתברך לשנוא דברים אשר הלב חפץ וחושק בהם. והוא מה שדקדק לומר חפצתי כי אפס חפץ המרגשת, וזה אמר במקום אחר (שם קט) ולבי חלל בקרבי, ואומרו ותורתך בתוך מעי פירוש לרוב חשק עבודת הקודש עד שמרגיש בלומדו תורת ה' כאלו אוכל וממלא בני מעיו ממזון טבעי.
עוד אולי שנתכוון להודיע הקדמה תחת ששמעתיה משם הרב הקדוש מהר"י לוריא זצוק"ל (שער הגלגולים יט) והוא כי לפעמים יתהפך האדם וישתנה מטוב לרע בטבעו ומזגו ולא ידע מאיזה סיבה והוא עצמו יתמה איך נהפך בדעתו, ואמר כי זה יסובב לצד שלפעמים יאכל אדם מאכל שיש בו חלק מחלקי הרע או יש בו נפש רעה מהגלגולים לסיבת תחלואיהם וכאשר תכנס הנפש הרעה או ניצוץ הרע בקרבו תטהו מטוב לרע ותגבר בו בחינת הרע מעתה השומר עצמו ממאכלות הרעות יתגבר החפץ בו בדברים הנוגעים לנפש, והוא אומרו לעשות רצונך אלהי חפצתי וזה היה לי להיות תורתך בתוך מעי.
ולהשכילך במשמעות אומרו ותורתך בתוך מעי. דע כי כל הצומח בין בדברים הכרחיים לחיות הנפש בין בדברים הסגוליים בעולם בין בדברים שהם תענוגי אדם שורש הכל והיוויו הוא מהתורה אשר היא אם הכל וכשם שבתורה פשט רמז דרש סוד כן מאכלים של עולם הזה, ועיין בפירוש שיר השירים (ראשון לציון פסוק הביאני אל בית היין) שחידשתי, וכשם שבעשבים יש דברים סגוליים וטבעיים כן יש בתורה מצות סגוליות וכו', והקדמה זו גדולה ויקרת הערך, וכתבתי ראשי פרקים להבינך אומרו ותורתך בתוך מעי כי כל האוכל אשר יאכל יסוד חיותו שבה נתהוה וגדל הוא מיניקת הקדושה שהיא התורה. ומעת פגם אדם הראשון ונתערב טוב ורע בכל אוכל תמצא חלק מהרע, ולזה צוה ה' על ערלת האילנות, ולזה גדל עם החטה מוץ ותבן וסובין הנזרקים, והבדילנו ה' מכמה דברים אשר שלט בהם חלק הרע לבל שקץ נפש הנבחרת, ולזה כשאדם אוכל דבר המותר כאילו נהנה מאור העליון ממאורי אור תורה אלא שנגשם לצד הצלחת יסודי ארץ שצריכים מזון כפי הכנתם והרכבתם, וזה אמר ותורתך בתוך מעי בזה גבר חפצו ותשוקתו לעשות רצונו יתברך כי אין רע בקרבו המסיר חפץ הערב לנפש.
נחזור לענין שבאנו עליו כי בחינת החושב בדבר ערוה תגביר החפץ ותשליטנו ברצון ולא יושג הנצחון החפץ אלא דוקא באמצעות הרחקת הדבר מדעתו ומחשבתו לבל ראות הכיעור ולא יחשוב בו, אבל אם עיניו יביטו בדבר הנה הוא מסתכן, וכמעשה דוד המלך עליו השלום כשנסבב הדבר וראה מה שראה נתעורר לבו שהיה חלל ועשה מעשיו, ואפילו תחלת המחשבה בדבר זה תגרום תגבורת והולדת טבעיות החפץ ותגבורתו, ולזה נתחכם חכם החכמים שלמה המלך עליו השלום ואמר (משלי א) בני אם יפתוך חטאים פירוש בחינת החטא אל תאבה פירוש לא תכנס עם פתוייך בטוען ונטען, כי אריכות הרגשת החושב אפילו לבחינת השולל תפעיל הגברת החפץ ותהפך הרצון אליה. ומצות ה' ברה באה על הדבר בבחינת דיבור ואמירה, דיבור לומר גזירת מלך היא דבר מלך שלטון, אמירה לשון מענה רך ולשון רוממות לצד שהם ישגם במדריגה זו לאמר עליהם אני ה' אלהיכם ליחד שמו יתברך עליהם. גם מעלה גדולה היא לשומר בריתו, והיא ההדרגה שאין למעלה ממנה לזה אמר ואמרת.
דבר…. ואמרת כמעשה ארץ מצרים, "speak ….and say:…according to the doings in the land of Egypt, etc." We need to know why our verse repeated the instruction to Moses by writing both דבר and ואמרת. Besides, what news does our verse convey by having God describe Himself as "I am the Lord your God?" Was there anyone who did not know this as yet? Besides, what is the Torah's intention with the unusual introduction כמעשה? If the object of the word כמעשה was not known how would we know to what these מצות addressed themselves? This is true both for the מעשה which was presumed to be the norm in Egypt as well as the מעשה which was presumed to be the norm in the land of Canaan at that time. The entire paragraph from verse 2 through 5 is extremely vague.
Our sages in Torat Kohanim said that the Torah compared practices rampant in Egypt with practices rampant in the land of Canaan. According to their interpretation, why did the Torah have to repeat the commandment? If all the Torah wanted to tell us was that the people of both these countries committed the same kind of sins, why did the Torah have to phrase this in such a cumber-some manner? Besides, why did the have to add the gratuitous remark אשר ישבתם בה, "that you have dwelled amongst," when speaking of Egypt? Who did not know that the Jewish people used to reside in Egypt? Is there then another country called "Egypt?" We can ask a similar question concerning the land of Canaan concerning which the Torah writes: "which I am about to bring you to?" What other land of Canaan is there? Even assuming that there was another country called Canaan, one we have never heard of, how would we know anything about their practices?
It appears to us that the fact that the commandment mentioned here appears next to the various laws about incest as well as the fact that in verse 24 we are told not to defile ourselves by transgressing any of these commandments seeing that the nations mentioned have defiled themselves by ignoring these sexual mores, it is clear that the commandment introduced by the word כמעשה refers to sexual mores. Once we keep this in mind we have no problem explaining the wording of the Torah here.
It is well known that a Jew is able to fulfill all the commandments God has demanded of His people without suffering undue hardship and that he can develop a tendency to do so willingly. The only exception to this rule is the commandment to refrain from certain sexual unions. The נפש, animalistic life-force within man, exercises a powerful influence over man urging him to disregard those commandments. The Israelite can successfully battle this urge only if he a) controls his visual contact with the opposite sex and b) if he controls his fantasizing. If a person fails to control these two senses he will fall victim to temptation. If a person does not limit his visual contact with the opposite sex, the fact that he does not think about it does not guarantee that he will not be aroused through visual contact.
This brings us to the commentary on our verse. Hashem was very clever in giving this commandment. He explained to us that an ordinary person who finds himself in the throes of sexual passion need not say that the fight against his evil urge is doomed to failure anyway. God does not demand anything of us which we are incapable of delivering. If He did not know that given the proper circumstances which we ourselves can create we are able to fulfill what He expects from us, He would not have given such a commandment. God expects His commandment to test only those people who have first taken measures not to expose themselves visually to such temptation or to indulge in fantasies arousing their desire. If a person did not take the above-mentioned precautions to help him fight temptation based on his sexual urge he is not likely to withstand temptation when it comes his way.
At the same time, God continues: "though I will bring you to a country in which you will be constantly aroused by seeing sexual permissiveness all around you so that you would not even have to exercise your imagination in order to become aroused, I demand from you not to copy their activities."
As far as someone saying that he is unable to control his thoughts in this manner, the Torah introduced this commandment by the repeated דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם אני ה' אלוקיכם, "speak and say to the children of Israel I am the Lord your God," that while it is quite true that the human species as such finds it almost impossible to control their fantasies regarding their sexual passions this is not so in the case of Israelites seeing that the Lord is our God. Our affinity to God enables us to master drives which are of a purely biological nature. As soon as an Israelite has agreed to cleave to God this means that God in His turn dominates his nature, i.e. that the צורה תשלוט בחומר, "mind controls matter." This is in accordance with the statement of our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 34,11 that the hearts of the righteous are under their control whereas the wicked are controlled by their hearts. What the Midrash means is that the heart is the seat of man's desires whereas the seat of his will-power is his mind, his brain. God has granted man two separate levels of decision-making power. In matters of the libido the heart is the dominating factor, though the will situated in and controlled by the brain is capable of overriding the urges of the heart and prevent it from carrying out its urge. You find that people are able to impose fasts on themselves through sheer will-power though they have a strong urge to eat and drink, an urge that originates in their hearts. The same is true of people's ability to overrule their hearts' craving to indulge their sexual urges. The righteous always conduct themselves in this manner, their hearts being controlled by their will-power in spite of any urges originating in their hearts which they may experience. Their שכל, intelligence, i.e. their soul, makes the choice of how to act. If, moreover, God has warned us not to indulge in certain activities or that He has made it plain that certain categories of activities are abhorrent to Him, the righteous will desist from indulging his urge even if He did not spell out any specific penalty in that context. As a result, the will of a righteous person does not experience any difficulty in curbing the craving to indulge in such an activity. The wicked, on the other hand, are so captive to the urgings originating in their hearts that their will is not powerful enough to restrain their hearts. Perhaps this is due to their not possessing a נשמה, soul, or that their soul has already become too contaminated by their behavior so that it has submitted to other forces within the personality of the body it inhabits. God said: כי אני ה' אלוקיכם, that due to our נשמה in which some divinity resides, we the Israelites are able to successfully combat the cravings of our libido. Compare Psalms 78,60: אהל שכן באדם, "the tent He set within man." In this verse God refers to the soul in man as a form of Tabernacle. It is this which lends the Israelite the strength to cope with even the strongest temptations of the evil urge.
This is also what David had in mind when he said in Psalms 40,9: "my desire is to do what pleases You." David meant that he cleaved to God so much that even his heart, the seat of his desire was anxious to do God's will. David's heart did not have to be reigned in by his will-power, but it had so reformed that it would do God's will of its own free will. His heart hated those things which the heart, the seat of desire for material physical things normally desires. David alluded to this with the word חפצתי, in the past tense, meaning that whatever used to be his חפץ, the desire inspired by his heart, seat of his physical cravings, had stopped being that. David also alluded to this in Psalms 109,22 when he said: ולבי חלל בקרבי, "my heart was empty (or dead) within me;" in either event he says that the desires which normally fill a heart have departed from him. Instead, in 40,9 David says: "ותורתך בתוך מעי," "Your teachings fill my innards." David says that whereas a normal person feels that his guts have been filled with physical food, he feels that his guts have been filled with God's Torah which have replaced the need for such physical food.
You may learn a valuable lesson in the psychology of sexual attraction from the following incident reported in Kidushin 81. Rav Amram who was the Rabbi of the pious, had a number of female prisoners whose freedom was bought by the community of Nehardea brought to his house. He gave them accomodations in the upper floor in his house and disconnected the stairs to that floor to prevent men from visiting there. It happened that one of these women passed the place where the ladder used to stand and Rabbi Amram felt as if he had seen a bright light, i.e. the beauty of that woman made a powerful impression upon him and he felt a strong attraction to her. He brought a ladder which was so heavy that it took ten people to move it and moved it single-handedly to climb to the upper floor. By the time he had climbed half the rungs of the ladder he managed to control his lust and cried out: "Amram! the house is on fire!" As soon as people heard him they came running and observed that Rabbi Amram was standing half way up that ladder. The rabbis scolded him for having caused them embarassment as it was clear to all of them what had prompted Rabbi Amram to call out. So he told them it was better they should be embarassed on his behalf in this world than to have to be embarassed by him when they would meet him in the Hereafter. He made the evil urge swear an oath to stop tempting him and the latter swore such an oath. Thereupon he said to Satan: "see here, you are fire and I am only flesh; I have proven now that though I am flesh I am stronger than you." The story proves that even though Rabbi Amram had not been able to control his thoughts, as long as he was not aroused by looking at the object of his lust he was able to fight his impulses.
There is another story told in Yalkut Shimoni Parshas Vayechi in which someone had himself blinded in order to withstand the lure of the evil urge to commit sexual offenses. If exposure to even one of these causes of temptation is dangerous, how much more so is it impossible to fight off temptation which is the result of both a lively imagination and the visual allure of the object of one's fantasy. The author lists a few more examples of the deadly nature of combining fantasy with visual allure. When one is exposed to both these temptations they are almost impossible to resist. The author explains the statement in Brachos 34 that "in the place where the rehabilitated sinners stand, the perfectly righteous are not able to stand," as meaning that the perfectly righteous never had to battle his sexual urges, whereas the rehabilitated sinner "stood still," i.e. arrested his urge to run towards the object of his temptation only after a battle with his evil urge.
This brings us to the commentary on our verse. Hashem was very clever in giving this commandment. He explained to us that an ordinary person who finds himself in the throes of sexual passion need not say that the fight against his evil urge is doomed to failure anyway. God does not demand anything of us which we are incapable of delivering. If He did not know that given the proper circumstances which we ourselves can create we are able to fulfill what He expects from us, He would not have given such a commandment. God expects His commandment to test only those people who have first taken measures not to expose themselves visually to such temptation or to indulge in fantasies arousing their desire. If a person did not take the above-mentioned precautions to help him fight temptation based on his sexual urge he is not likely to withstand temptation when it comes his way.
This is what the Torah hinted at when it wrote כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם, meaning that although you resided in a country such as Egypt which is a center of sexual permissiveness and you were therefore not able to avoid thinking about such temptations, I still command you to triumph over your evil urge. The word ישיבה is a metaphor for inactivity, for an inhibition. The Torah refers to the Jewish people who displayed the ability to resist sexual temptation while they were surrounded by it. This encouraged God to legislate such resistance to temptation in an environment which would be more friendly to those who wish to resist temptation. You are not to emulate the actions of the Egyptians.
At the same time, God continues: "though I will bring you to a country in which you will be constantly aroused by seeing sexual permissiveness all around you so that you would not even have to exercise your imagination in order to become aroused, I demand from you not to copy their activities."
As far as someone saying that he is unable to control his thoughts in this manner, the Torah introduced this commandment by the repeated דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם אני ה' אלוקיכם, "speak and say to the children of Israel I am the Lord your God," that while it is quite true that the human species as such finds it almost impossible to control their fantasies regarding their sexual passions this is not so in the case of Israelites seeing that the Lord is our God. Our affinity to God enables us to master drives which are of a purely biological nature. As soon as an Israelite has agreed to cleave to God this means that God in His turn dominates his nature, i.e. that the צורה תשלוט בחומר, "mind controls matter." This is in accordance with the statement of our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 34,11 that the hearts of the righteous are under their control whereas the wicked are controlled by their hearts. What the Midrash means is that the heart is the seat of man's desires whereas the seat of his will-power is his mind, his brain. God has granted man two separate levels of decision-making power. In matters of the libido the heart is the dominating factor, though the will situated in and controlled by the brain is capable of overriding the urges of the heart and prevent it from carrying out its urge. You find that people are able to impose fasts on themselves through sheer will-power though they have a strong urge to eat and drink, an urge that originates in their hearts. The same is true of people's ability to overrule their hearts' craving to indulge their sexual urges. The righteous always conduct themselves in this manner, their hearts being controlled by their will-power in spite of any urges originating in their hearts which they may experience. Their שכל, intelligence, i.e. their soul, makes the choice of how to act. If, moreover, God has warned us not to indulge in certain activities or that He has made it plain that certain categories of activities are abhorrent to Him, the righteous will desist from indulging his urge even if He did not spell out any specific penalty in that context. As a result, the will of a righteous person does not experience any difficulty in curbing the craving to indulge in such an activity. The wicked, on the other hand, are so captive to the urgings originating in their hearts that their will is not powerful enough to restrain their hearts. Perhaps this is due to their not possessing a נשמה, soul, or that their soul has already become too contaminated by their behavior so that it has submitted to other forces within the personality of the body it inhabits. God said: כי אני ה' אלוקיכם, that due to our נשמה in which some divinity resides, we the Israelites are able to successfully combat the cravings of our libido. Compare Psalms 78,60: אהל שכן באדם, "the tent He set within man." In this verse God refers to the soul in man as a form of Tabernacle. It is this which lends the Israelite the strength to cope with even the strongest temptations of the evil urge.
This is also what David had in mind when he said in Psalms 40,9: "my desire is to do what pleases You." David meant that he cleaved to God so much that even his heart, the seat of his desire was anxious to do God's will. David's heart did not have to be reigned in by his will-power, but it had so reformed that it would do God's will of its own free will. His heart hated those things which the heart, the seat of desire for material physical things normally desires. David alluded to this with the word חפצתי, in the past tense, meaning that whatever used to be his חפץ, the desire inspired by his heart, seat of his physical cravings, had stopped being that. David also alluded to this in Psalms 109,22 when he said: ולבי חלל בקרבי, "my heart was empty (or dead) within me;" in either event he says that the desires which normally fill a heart have departed from him. Instead, in 40,9 David says: "ותורתך בתוך מעי," "Your teachings fill my innards." David says that whereas a normal person feels that his guts have been filled with physical food, he feels that his guts have been filled with God's Torah which have replaced the need for such physical food.
Perhaps David wanted to tell us something I have heard in the name of the sainted Ari Zal in the introduction to his שער הגלגולים. There are occasions when a person who was good changes into an evil person and that person himself is unable to account for such a change in his character. The sainted rabbi attributes this character change in a person to his having eaten some some food which contained forbidden, i.e. harmful natural ingredients or the residue of an evil being whose soul had undergone a transmigration. When the basically good person consumes such food it affects his character negatively as he absorbs part of the life-force of the soul of the wicked. It follows that one has to be extremely careful not to eat anything which might have absorbed the soul of a sinner in a previous incarnation. David may therefore have alluded to something of this nature when he said that even his heart, i.e. the seat of his חפץ, had become attuned to doing the will of its Creator and that his guts were full of God's Torah, i.e. food permitted by the Torah.
The following will help to understand the plain meaning of ותורתך בתוך מעי, "Your Torah is inside my guts." The origin of all plants, be they the kind that are essential for the survival of our נפש, our physical life-force, be they part of the multitude of beneficial herbs nature is full of, or be they plants which we merely eat for our own gratification, is rooted in the Torah which is the "mother" of all. Just as the Torah itself contains several levels i.e. פשט ,רמז, דרש, סוד so the various foodstuffs we find in this world may also be classified according to different levels; each level i.e. category of food, makes a different kind of contribution to our wellbeing. In my commentary on Song of Songs called ראשון לציון have explained the verse (2,4) הביאני אל בית היין that just as there are herbs which have a natural beneficial effect on those who consume them, so there are commandments in the Torah the fulfilment of which has a natural beneficial effect on the body of the person fulfilling them. This is a most important prerequisite to the understanding of the commandments of the Torah. I have mentioned here only an outline of the subject in order to make Psalms 40,9 intelligble on the basis of the plain meaning of the verse. The nutritional value of every food a person eats derives from its having absorbed some of the sanctity of Torah. Ever since the time Adam ate from the tree of knowledge beneficial and harmful effects of food have become mixed up so that every food contains a negative element also. God commanded us not to eat from the fruit of a tree which is less than four years old in order to allow time for the harmful effects to have been screened out. Wheat, (since Adam's sin) is surrounded by husks, straw, and other parts which have to be discarded. God has instructed us through the Torah to abstain from numerous foods in which the harmful elements cannot be separated from the beneficial elements so that the life-force of the chosen people not become contaminated. It follows that when an Israelite eats food which is permitted, it is as if he benefited directly from the light of Torah, the light from the celestial regions. The only difference is that this light underwent a metamorphosis in accordance with the needs of the physical universe all of whose creatures require physical food each in accordance with his specific needs. David simply said that God's Torah reached his guts via the method God had prescribed for this food to fulfil its function within man. His desire to carry out God's will was aided by his having partaken only of permitted food. His guts do not contain anything which would deter him from making his desire correspond to God's will.
Let us now go back to the main subject under discussion, the Israelite's imagination as applied to matters concerning his libido. The more he thinks about this subject the more his desire becomes aroused making it harder for his רצון, will, to control his emotions, the urges rooted in his being flesh and blood. Whereas normally, one needs to concentrate on the subject of God's commandments in order to ensure that one fulfils them in the best way possible, in this case one must avoid even thinking about it so that one does not see the object of one's desire with one's eyes. The moment one looks upon the object in question one places one's innocence in jeopardy. We know that King David fell victim to his carnal urges as a result of looking at Bat Sheva (Samuel II 11,2) bathing on the roof of her house. Up until that moment David's heart which had been devoid of lust had not been aroused. He did what he did only as a result of what he saw with his eyes. The moment one begins to think carnal thoughts one's temptation is reinforced, and as a result this makes preoccupation with carnal thoughts appear as something natural. The wise Solomon was fully aware of this and this is why he wrote in Proverbs 1,10: "my son, if sinners entice you, do not consent." He meant that one should not engage in arguing with anyone who tries to entice one to sin. The mere fact that one argues about it already strengthens the forces of temptation. When David said in Psalms 19,9 that the precepts of God are clear and brilliant, he referred to the expressions דבור and אמירה respectively, i.e. that on the one hand God gave clear directives, i.e. like the decree of a king, דבור; on the other hand, He also phrased this commandment as אמירה, as a soft-spoken one, the kind of tone one adopts with highly placed people and He asked Moses to tell them that He is their God, i.e. to bestow His Holy Name on them. There is no greater tribute God can pay to a people.
