I have four kids at different ages and stages, and that makes for some interesting Shabbat table talk, especially when it comes to sharing what they learned about the weekly parshah. They each learn the same parshah each week, but they learn it on such different levels that you see how multilayered the Torah is.

The Torah is not just a historical narrative, but chock-full of life instructions and hidden depth. The Torah has the body, its literal structure, but there is also the soul—the everlasting relevance to each and every person. So, for example, when the Torah talks about Jews going to war, on one level it is talking about Jews actually going to fight war against external enemies. But on another level, the Torah is instructing us about a totally different type of war.

The Torah says, “If you go out to war against your enemies,”1 but instead of the Hebrew word for “against,” the Torah uses the Hebrew word for “on” or “over.” The verse would thus read: “If you go to war over your enemies … .” This usage of the word implies that when you head out to war, you are already one-up; you are over your enemies and practically guaranteed to win.

But which enemy is this referring to, and how are you guaranteed this outcome?

The deeper meaning of this verse is that on a daily basis, we wage war against our evil inclination, our inner enemy. There is a battle of connection versus disconnection, selflessness versus selfishness. There is a desire to transcend, to be holy and altruistic, along with a tug to enjoy corporal pleasure and be short-sighted.

So what’s the solution? How do we ensure that we are victorious over our natural instincts instead of being victim to them?

It all depends how we look at this enemy. If we look at it at face value, we feel its emotions and passions for physicality and experience it as the enemy. But what would happen if we could see through the source of our negative impulses and recognize that while it appears to be negative, in truth it has a very high source?

This is an actual strategy, not just a theoretical question. When we look on high, at the original source of our negative impulses, it actually helps us overcome them. This is a radical approach and a totally different way of looking at our internal conflicts. Instead of fighting them, as we would think the word “war” signifies, we recognize the source of the challenge and stop taking it so literally, and find that the whole challenge loses its edge.

We think to ourselves, that while the impulses of our animal soul seem negative, they actually have a very high source in the chariot of Ezekiel. They come from a holy source, and have come down in a misguided form. So rather than just fighting them, we can guide the enemy impulses and transform them, and return the potent energy into a channel for holiness. When the animal soul is reminded of its holy source, it can literally go from negative to positive. The battle is won without a fight.

Prayer is a set time to do this “work” and to help the animal soul to gain this understanding. That is why prayer is called “a time of war” in the Zohar—because that is where our foe becomes a friend.

And this goes back to the layers of Torah. While on one level we are praying and uttering words of connection to G‑d—and even a child in kindergarten can pray—on a much deeper level, we are engaging with our own internal enemy and working with it to become a positive force and understand it on a more mature level.

For as we grow and evolve, so must our understanding of Torah.

Soul Note: Meditating on the source of the animal soul on high ensures that we actually win over our inner enemy and transform it.

Source: The Maamar, Ki Teitzei Lamilchama, in Likkutei Torah as explained in Chassidut Mevueret, Chapter 7.