To explain the manner in which the service called for by the verse "And you shall serve G‑d your L‑rd" must be carried out, the Torah continues [with the charge]:1 "There will not be a woman who loses her young or who is barren." A barren woman is one who does not give birth to offspring. "Offspring" refers to love and fear, the offspring of meditation,2 for love is considered as a son, and fear, a daughter.3 "A woman who loses her young" is one who bears children, but they are lost. "There will not be a woman who loses her young or who is barren" can be understood as a command, i.e., one's meditation should be carried out in a manner that should bring forth emotions and ensure that these emotions should thrive. Then the task of "And you shall serve G‑d your L‑rd" will be carried out as desired.

To explain the idea: There are two types of barren women: one is lacking a womb entirely;4 she lacks the organ necessary for conception. In the parallel in our Divine service, the womb refers to intellectual arousal that will lead to the revelation of emotions that will be felt within one's heart. The parallel to a barren woman who lacks a womb is not to one who only lacks love and fear that is consciously felt in the heart — i.e., his heart is insensitive — but to one who cannot even be aroused intellectually — his mind is insensitive.

The reason for this is that he is "lacking the organ," the ability to receive. Why can't he receive? Because he is filled with other things.5 It is man's natural tendency that a vessel which is full will not be able to hold anything else.

In spiritual terms, this refers to a person who is a full vessel — he is filled with his own desires. This does not necessarily mean the desires of the yetzer hara, i.e., desires for forbidden things, or even the desires of the animal soul for permitted things, in which instance even though the things themselves are permitted, the desire for them is a demon, a Jewish demon,6 but a demon nonetheless.7 Instead, this can even refer to the desires of the G‑dly soul, which are holy desires. If a person is full and involved with his own desires, i.e., he feels a natural attraction to one type of Divine service — he desires a particular type of Divine service, but not another — he is a full vessel. Accordingly, he will not be able to hold anything. He will not be able to grasp the truth in his mind and thoughts so that he will feel intellectual inspiration.

The second type of barren woman is one who, though possessing a womb, is still incapable of conception. In the spiritual parallel, this refers to a person who has the capacity to receive and know [spiritual truth] and become intellectually inspired as a result of it, but is yet unable to bring forth emotional activity that can be consciously felt in his heart.

[To explain:] Conceiving a child in a physical sense comes about through the male sowing seed. This is a revelation of the power of the Ein Sof.8, 9 Similarly, in order to bring forth spiritual emotions, it is necessary to sow seed, as it were, as implied by the phrase:10 "Light sown for the righteous." This refers to sowing the seed of the Torah and its mitzvos. [Like the growth produced by sowing a physical seed, the growth produced by these spiritual seeds] comes about through a higher power, an essential movement that transcends a person's reason and thought that comes at the beginning of [a new phase in a person's] Divine service and that must be manifest at least once a year.11

On the physical plane, after the sowing of the seed, there is a pattern to the days of pregnancy in which the fetus proceeds to grow until it emerges into the world at large. Similarly, in order for our spiritual emotions to blossom into conscious revelation in our hearts, there is a process of "gestation."

[The Scriptural charge, "There will not be a woman who loses her young," brings out a further point:] Even after our spiritual emotions of love and fear have been "born," i.e., emerged into conscious expression in our hearts (i.e., one has fulfilled the charge: "There will not be a woman… who is barren"), one must nurture them with the necessary care to enable them to thrive (fulfilling the charge: "there will not be [a woman]…who loses her young"). Only then is the Divine service genuine, as implied by the phrase,12 "The lips of truth will be established forever."13

Summary

The charge "There will not be a woman who loses her young or who is barren" focuses on expressing the spiritual emotions of love and fear and ensuring that they thrive. To explain: Offspring are analogies for love and fear, for they are brought into being — i.e., born — through meditation.

There are two types of barren women: one who is lacking a womb entirely, and one who, though possessing a womb, is still incapable of conception. The spiritual counterpart to the first type is a person who lacks even the intellectual arousal that could lead to emotions. This deficiency results from his being a full vessel, filled with his own concerns. The spiritual counterpart to the second type of barrenness refers to a person who cannot tap the essential energies necessary to actually produce spiritual love and fear.

The charge "There will not be a woman who loses her young," brings out a further point: Even after our spiritual emotions of love and fear have been "born," one must nurture them with the necessary care to enable them to thrive.