Man and beast: the beinoni's bittul

במד' צדקתך כהררי אל כו' אדם ובהמה תושיע כו'.

In the Midrash: "Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains… man and beast You save" (Tehillim 36:7).

The Midrash links Hashem's righteousness, towering like mountains, to His saving of both "man and beast," and the Sefas Emes will read these as different spiritual levels of people.

מפרש על ג' הבחי' כי הצדיקים הם למעלה מן הטבע כמו מלאכי השרת.

It is expounded as referring to three categories: for the tzaddikim are above nature, like the malachei hashareis (ministering angels).

The first level is the tzaddik, whose avodah lifts him beyond the natural order so that he resembles an angel.

והרשעים תהום רבה שהם בהמה המה להם.

And the resha'im are the "great depths" (tehom rabah), for they are like a beast to them.

The second level is the wicked, who have sunk into the depths and live entirely on the level of an animal.

אבל הבינונים מכונים בלשון אדם ובהמה והם צריכין ישועת ה' כמאמר הגמ' בינונים זה וזה שופטן.

But the beinonim (the intermediate ones) are designated by the phrase "man and beast," and they are the ones who need the salvation of Hashem, as the Gemara states: "the beinonim — both this one and that one judge them."

The third level is the beinoni, in whom both the human and animal souls are active; because the two pull at him, he depends on Hashem's help, as the Gemara says both the yetzer tov and yetzer hara have a claim on him.

שיש להם דביקות בבחי' אדם ונמצא בהם נפש הבהמיות ג"כ.

For they have a connection to the level of "man," yet the nefesh habahamis (the animal soul) is also found within them.

The beinoni is bound to his higher human aspect but still carries a fully active animal soul, and that tension defines his struggle.

ואמר עוד שמשימין עצמם כבהמה אחריך נמשכנו כבהמה ופי' הענין כי כפי מה שמתקרבין אליו ית' הרי נחשבין כבהמה כמ"ש בהמות הייתי עמך.

And it says further that they make themselves like a beast — "after You we are drawn like a beast" — and the meaning is that the closer they come to Him, the more they are reckoned as a beast, as is written: "I was like a beast before You" (Tehillim 73:22).

Paradoxically, the very closeness to Hashem brings a person to bittul — he sets aside his own intellect and follows Hashem with simple, beast-like devotion, surrendering his independent will entirely.

וכ"כ ואתן צאני כו' אדם אתם.

And so it is written: "And you, My sheep… you are man" (Yechezkel 34:31).

The pasuk calls Bnei Yisrael both Hashem's "sheep" and "man" in a single breath, capturing this same duality.

פי' עם היות כי אתם המובחרים במין הבריאה אדם אתם.

The meaning: even though you are the choicest of all created beings — "you are man" —

Bnei Yisrael are indeed the crown of creation, the ones uniquely called "adam."

עכ"ז לגבי השי"ת נאמר צאני צאן מרעיתי.

nevertheless, in relation to Hashem Yisborach it is said: "My sheep, the flock of My pasture."

Yet standing before Hashem, that very greatness dissolves into the humble status of sheep wholly dependent on their Shepherd.

כולי האי ואולי נזכה להיות בכלל הבינונים שנק' אדם ובהמה.

With all this effort, perhaps we will merit to be counted among the beinonim, who are called "man and beast."

The Sefas Emes voices a humble aspiration — even reaching the level of the beinoni, who holds both aspects, is something to strive and hope for.

ומצד זה דין אדם ובהמה שוין ע"י שנמצא גם באדם נפש הבהמיות:

And from this perspective the law of "man and beast" are equal, since the animal soul is found within man as well.

Because even the elevated human being contains a nefesh habahamis, "man and beast" share a single status before Hashem — both are saved by Him, and both must be refined.

Summary: Reading "man and beast You save," the Sefas Emes distinguishes three types — the tzaddik above nature like an angel, the rasha sunk to the level of a beast, and the beinoni who carries both a human and an animal soul. The beinoni, pulled in both directions, needs Hashem's salvation. Yet there is a deeper turn: the closer one draws to Hashem, the more he becomes "like a beast" through bittul, surrendering his own intellect. Even Bnei Yisrael, the choicest of creation called "adam," stand before Hashem as humble sheep — for the animal soul within man makes "man and beast" equal in their utter dependence on Him.