Chapter III

Torah is intellect and wisdom. Intelligence therefore is a prerequisite to Torah study. Each person is born with his own degree of intelligence, as the famous saying1 goes, "People differ in their understanding." We observe that some people are born with a great deal of intelligence while others are not. There are those who already show signs of genius in their earliest childhood while others, though advanced in years, are far from bright. This demonstrates conclusively that intelligence is an inborn trait. This being so, how is it possible for intellect to be affected by desire?

The matter is as follows: Most important of all is will and desire, and they can affect the intellect. For even the person who is not overly intelligent is so only on a revealed level. Only regarding this level are some more intelligent than others. In truth, even the unintelligent person possesses due to the completeness of his soul as great a degree of latent intelligence and understanding as does the greatest intellectual. The person who truly desires to excel intellectually will manifest the necessary intellect, for will affects the latent intellectual powers of the soul. His desire will cause his powers of intellect to be revealed to a greater degree than they were previously. This is the meaning of the Talmudic2 saying: "A wise man when he so desires" when he truly desires he becomes wise, since will affects the intellect.

Will affects intellect because will is an encompassing power, while intellect and emotions are particular powers, each particular power bound to a specific organ. The powers of intellect are in the brain. The three powers of chochmah, binah and daas each have their own vessel the particular part of the brain wherein each power resides. The emotive powers, too, have their own particular vessel the heart. The same holds true regarding the other powers and the organs in which the particular powers reside, e.g., the power of sight is found in the eye, etc. Each organ is created in a manner that makes it compatible with the function of the particular power that resides within it. Thus it follows that intellect, the highest and most refined of all the particular powers, resides in the highest and most refined vessel of the body the brain. The emotive powers not intellect are manifest in the rest of the body.

Summary: Will acts upon the soul's power of intellect, causing it to be revealed to a greater degree. The concept of becoming wise when one so desires. Each of the powers of intellect, emotion, sight, sound, smell, taste and movement, resides in its own particular compatible organ. The most refined organ of all is the brain.