Spiritual Intelligence

After stating at the outset that his book contains few novelties, the Ramchal challenges us in his introduction with nothing less than a new approach to the fear of God.

Luzzatto’s understanding of the mitzvah of יראה actually has two novel aspects. His first point is that the fear of God is not elementary; it requires study. He supports this contention with a biblical verse, “Fear of God is the one wisdom” (Job 28:28), and he spells out the takeaway. “Fear is a wisdom and it is the only wisdom. Certainly, a topic that lacks a course of study cannot be called a ‘wisdom.’ But the truth is, a great amount of study is required…”

The second point Luzzatto makes is that “fear” itself is a misnomer.

יראה is the awe of God’s preeminence. One should be awed before Him as one is awed before a great and magnificent king. His greatness should make a person self-conscious of every move that he wishes to make. 

According to Luzzatto, the Hebrew יראה, usually translated as “fear,” refers not to fear of divine punishment, but to feelings of awe and reverence in the presence of the Almighty God. (A more detailed description of this awe is provided in chapter nineteen.)

Although Luzzatto goes through the trouble of supporting his first point with evidence from Scripture, nowhere does Luzzatto provide any evidence for his second and more radical contention. The reason is obvious; point number two follows perforce from point number one. Fear of punishment is instinctive; even animals learn it easily. If we accept Luzzatto’s thesis that the fear of God is an abstract concept which requires study, then we must reject the literal definition of fear. Awe, on the other hand, is a function of a higher intelligence. Thus, if יראה is a “wisdom” it must mean awe, not fear. (None of this is meant to belittle the fear of divine punishment; in chapter four Luzzatto himself admits that most people require it, at least as a starting point. See Shaarei Teshuva 1:37; Ohr Yisroel, letters 8-9.)

Although awe may not be as simple as fear, Luzzatto still sounds like he is engaging in hyperbole. How can he claim that the awe of God is the only wisdom? Surely calculus, physics and molecular biology also require study! Moreover, even if Luzzatto does consider the theology of awe to be more challenging than the sciences, where does that leave the average man? Most people can barely grasp the laws of nature; how will they fare with something more abstract? Is the awe of God reserved for the elites? 

Food for Thought

Explaining the importance of keeping kosher in chapter eleven, Luzzatto introduces yet another novelty in a book supposedly devoid of novelties.

Forbidden foods deliver real impurity into the heart and soul of man, to the point that God’s sanctity departs and distances itself from him… for sin clogs man’s heart; כי מסלקת ממנו הדעה האמתית ורוח השכל שהקב"ה נותן לחסידים   –  it removes from him the perception and the spirit of intelligence that God grants the devout, as the verse states, “God grants wisdom” (Mishlei 2:6)... Forbidden foods have a greater impact in this regard than any other sin, for they literally enter man’s body and become part of his flesh.

Although the idea is esoteric, Luzzatto did not invent it. Five hundred years before Luzzatto, the Ramban wrote the same. In light of his position that the purpose of Mitzvos is the refinement of man, the Ramban explains the Torah’s statement that non-Kosher foods “are impure for you” (Vayikra 11:28).  ורמז שהוא להיותנו נקיי הנפש, חכמים משכילי האמת  –  “This alludes to the idea that we should be people with clean souls, wise and understanding of the truth” (Ramban to Devarim 22:6). The Ramban presumes what Luzzatto states explicitly. Non-kosher foods have deleterious effect on the mind of the Jew.

This concept is hard to accept. Are non-observant Jews less intelligent than their Orthodox brethren? Ivy League universities and top law firms are filled with Jews who eat shrimp and pork and yet still manage to maintain sky-high IQs. What is Luzzatto saying?!

The answer can be found in the mystery, the flexibility, and the potency of the human mind. There are different types of intelligences. There is the right hemisphere of the poet and the left hemisphere of the physicist. We know of mathematical minds, artistic talent, and emotional intelligence. But there is altogether different type of intelligence, a higher form. We can call it “spiritual intelligence.” This is the aptitude for humility, modesty, and prayer. Spiritually intelligent man lives with an existential awareness of both human mortality and divine eternity. He is cognizant of the fact that life depends on the good graces of the Creator. 

Non-kosher food damages the spiritual intelligence of the Jew. IQ is unaffected, but sensitivity to non-corporeal realities is deadened. As Luzzatto wrote, “it clogs man’s heart.” The biblical tragedy in the Garden is illustrative. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they were ejected from Paradise and distanced from God. Every non-kosher food has the same effect.

When Luzzatto said the fear of God is the “only wisdom” he meant it is a wisdom unlike all others, a mindfulness of the invisible Divine Presence. A person blessed with this type of intelligence lives a life filled with awe, and one who lacks it cannot be called wise. "Anyone who is haughty, if he is wise, all wisdom departs from him" (Pesachim 66b).

Spiritual intelligence is indeed a challenge for the human mind, but it is a challenge available to all.

Guilt Complex?

Rabbenu Yona, a nephew of the Ramban and a leading Talmudist of the 13^th century, wrote the following in his classic work on repentance.

The level and quality of Teshuva is determined by the intensity of bitterness and the degree of grief. This is the Teshuva which emerges from the purity of the soul and the clarity of its intelligence, for in accordance with man’s intelligence and the more he opens his eyes, so will the feeling of grief increase and intensify for his many sins… כי היגון יבוא מאת טהר הנשמה העליונה  –  This grief is the product of the purity of the elevated Neshama… (Shaarei Teshuvah 1:13)

Like awe, remorse for misdeeds is a natural feature of a spiritual intelligence. It comes neither from the right hemisphere, nor from the left. It comes from the soul.