Serving Hashem as man and beast

במד' אדם ובהמה שערומין בדעת כאדם ומשימין עצמם כבהמה.

In the Midrash: "man and beast" (Tehillim 36:7) — those who are shrewd in knowledge like a man, yet make themselves like a beast.

The Sefas Emes cites the Midrash on "man and beast You save, Hashem," which praises those who, though wise as a man, humble themselves to be lowly like an animal.

ומה שבח יש בזה.

And what praise is there in this?

He raises the question: why would lowering oneself to the level of a beast be considered a virtue?

וביאור הענין שיש באדם בחי' אדם ובהמה.

And the explanation of the matter is that within a person there is an aspect of "man" and an aspect of "beast."

Every person contains two dimensions of avodah — a higher "human" mode and a lower "animal" mode — and both are necessary.

שצריכין לעבוד הש"י בכח הגוף והוא כעבודת בהמה כשור לעול וחמור למשא.

For one must serve Hashem with the power of the body, and this is like the labor of a beast — "like an ox to the yoke and a donkey to the burden."

The "beast" aspect is plain physical avodah: harnessing the body in Hashem's service through effort and toil, accepting the yoke without needing lofty comprehension.

ויש ג"כ בחי' אדם לעבדו ית' ע"י השגת כבוד גדולתו ויראתו ית'.

And there is also the aspect of "man" — to serve Him through the comprehension of the honor of His greatness and the yiras Shomayim (awe of Him).

The "human" aspect is the higher avodah of the mind and heart: serving Hashem out of an apprehension of His greatness and a developed yiras Shomayim.

וא"י לבוא לבחי' זו רק בהקדם עבודת הגוף בחי' בהמה.

And one cannot arrive at this aspect except by first preceding it with the bodily service, the aspect of "beast."

The elevated service of comprehension is unreachable without first laboring in the simple, physical "animal" avodah; the body's toil is the gateway to the soul's heights.

ולעולם יראה אדם עצמו כבהמה.

And a person should always regard himself as a beast.

This is the praise of the Midrash: one should never imagine he has graduated past the "animal" stage, but always view himself as still needing to toil like a beast.

פי' לידע שעדיין לא עמל כראוי במעשה כענין מאמרם ז"ל כל שמעשיו מרובין מחכמתו כו':

That is, to know that he has not yet toiled as he ought in deed — in the spirit of Chazal's teaching, "Anyone whose deeds exceed his wisdom..." (Avos 3:9).

Seeing oneself as a beast means recognizing one has not yet labored enough in actual deeds. As Chazal teach, the one whose deeds exceed his wisdom has enduring wisdom — action and bodily toil must outweigh mere intellect.

Summary: A person contains two modes of serving Hashem — the "beast," plain physical toil and acceptance of the yoke, and the "man," service born of comprehending Hashem's greatness and yiras Shomayim. The higher mode is reachable only by first laboring in the lower; therefore the praiseworthy person, however wise, always regards himself as a "beast" who has not yet toiled enough in deed.