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Part 4: Theoretical and Practical Intuitive Intelligence
From class #4 given by Rabbi Ginsburgh, 12 Sivan 5785 (June 8, 2025)
See the video lecture for this class here
In our previous teaching in this series, we drew a correspondence between the three parts of the Bible and the types of intelligence, the faculties of the intellect, and the physical parts of the brain. As we saw, the faculty of wisdom corresponds to the right lobe of the brain, to the first part of the Bible—the Five Books of Moses—and to intellectual intelligence. The faculty of understanding corresponds to the left lobe of the brain, to the Bible’s second part, the Prophets, and to emotional intelligence. Finally, the faculty of knowledge, which corresponds to the Bible’s third part, the Writings, corresponds to the back lobe of the brain, which has a right side and a left side and thus also corresponds to the two remaining types of intelligence, intuitive intelligence to the right and instinctive intelligence to the left.
| Faculty | Part of brain | Part of Bible | Type of Intelligence | Vital Organ |
| Wisdom | Right lobe | Five Books of Moses | Intellectual | Brain |
| Understanding | Left lobe | Prophets | Emotional | Heart |
| Knowledge | Right side of back lobe | Writings | Intuitive | Kidneys |
| Left side of back lobe | Instinctive | Liver |
We will refer to this as Model 1.
An Alternate Perspective
However, often we are taught that it is wisdom and the right lobe of the brain that are the seat of intuitive intelligence and that it is understanding and the left lobe that correspond to intellectual intelligence (or simply – intelligence, the type measured by an IQ test). Given these two parallels, knowledge, which resides in the brain’s posterior lobe, which once more divides in two, the right and the left part, must correspond to the two remaining types of intelligence: emotional and instinctive.
| Faculty | Part of brain | Part of Bible | Type of Intelligence | Vital Organ |
| Wisdom | Right lobe | Five Books of Moses | Intuitive | Brain |
| Understanding | Left lobe | Prophets | Intellectual | Heart |
| Knowledge | Right side of back lobe | Writings | Emotional | Kidneys |
| Left side of back lobe | Instinctive | Liver |
We will refer to this as Model 2.
So, we have two different pictures or models of how the different types of intelligence correspond to the different faculties of the intellect and parts of the brain. As discussed earlier in this series, these faculties shine their light (or manifest themselves) in the body’s vital organs too—the brain, the heart, the liver, and the kidneys.[1]
From a Torah perspective, whenever we have two different possible models, unlike the way they would be treated scientifically, where only one can be right, we view them both as correct. It just depends on the context we are in. Let us try to explain this in depth by bringing an example from modern science.
From Theory to Application
The main difference between the two models is where to put our intuitive intelligence (in wisdom or in the right side of knowledge). But as we said, this is really a question of context. Intuition is necessary both in seeking a new theoretical discovery as well as for applying a new discovery in a practical way. Let us explain.
The different areas of science—physics, chemistry, and biology—all begin with mathematics. Mathematics represents the theoretical framework upon which every hard science needs to be based. But each scientific discipline constitutes a different application of mathematics. Mathematics and its principles are always the same, but the ways in which it is applied vary from discipline to discipline. Thus, in science, to bring about innovation, to advance and progress in science, two general forms of intuitive intelligence or insight are used and both are required. The first is the intuitive intelligence necessary for discovering a theoretical innovation. This could be a new mathematical insight. The second is the intuitive intelligence needed to apply the theoretical finding to reality. To invent a new technology that is based on the new theoretical knowledge that the intuitive wisdom in our mind has discovered. Both are important and necessary. Elsewhere, we have corresponded mathematics with the faculty of wisdom. Thus, the discovery of a new mathematical method would constitute intuitive intelligence in wisdom. The application of that method in a practical way constitutes the intuitive intelligence as it is associated with the faculty of knowledge (the right side of knowledge). More about this in a moment.
The natural order is that first there must be an innovation at the theoretical level, and then afterward there must come an innovation in how to apply it to reality, how to create or invent something new that will help mankind. Both the theoretical side and the applied side must involve insight, or intuition. To invent something new, to find a new application, certainly demands intuition. If it did not demand intuition, then it would be just an automatic consequence of the newly discovered theory. Stated in philosophical language, if finding an application was automatic, it would indicate that the application could be deduced from the discovery,[2] but in fact it requires induction to—learning something new from given facts—to find the application and this requires deep insight. Thus, discovering or inventing a new application requires a soul, a living soul that has deep knowledge and devotes itself to study, and wants to understand, wants to be able to make a positive contribution to humanity. This soul receives inspiration, which we may even refer to as Divine inspiration from above, and the person with this soul intuits how to apply the new theoretical discovery and make it practical, make it applicable and useful in our physical reality. We will call this type of intuition: applied intuitive intelligence and this is the type of intuitive intelligence that is associated by the sages with the kidneys, because they represent how to make an innovation work in practice. As the sages say, the kidneys give advice. What advice do they give? They give pragmatic advice; how to apply things to reality in the best way. But the theoretical side, making a new theoretical discovery, clearly demands great intuition, whether the discovery is in mathematics or physics or any other discipline of science (not to forget psychology, art, music, and other humanity-oriented disciplines).
So, in our first model, intuitive intelligence refers to the intuition required to discover or invent a new application. We therefore correspond the right side of the faculty of knowledge with this type of intuition. Based on this first model, we explained that wisdom itself, which enlightens all the mental faculties, corresponds to intellectual intelligence. Understanding, which shines its light into the heart, into the basic three emotions of the heart—love, fear, and compassion—corresponds to emotional intelligence. But the faculty of knowledge, which enlightens the kidneys and the liver, corresponds to intuitive and instinctive intelligence, with the two corresponding to the two halves of knowledge, the right side of knowledge (intuitive intelligence) and the left side of knowledge (instinctive intelligence), respectively.
Intellect, Emotions, and Habits
But considering Model 2 that we introduced above and its correspondence, we must rearrange intellectual and intuitive intelligence. This new model considers all 10 powers of the soul, which are divided traditionally into three parts: the intellect (mind), the emotional, and the habitual. In the mind itself, intuitive intelligence corresponds to wisdom, and intellectual intelligence to understanding. The third faculty of the intellect, knowledge, acts like a bridge that connects the mind with the emotional and habitual powers of the soul.
The way this is described is that wisdom and understanding are like a father and mother that give birth to children—the emotional and habitual powers of the soul. The process of giving birth is mediated by the faculty of knowledge, which again, divides into a right side and a left side. The right side of knowledge descends and connects the mind to the first three primary emotional powers of the soul, represented by the heart. These emotional powers are relatively right oriented, relative to the three habitual powers. The emotional powers are known, in translation to English, as loving kindness, might, and beauty (which experientially refers to mercy, or compassion: a beautiful soul is a compassionate soul).
The left side of knowledge bridges the mind with the three lower, habitual powers of the soul, which in translation to English are called: victory, acknowledgment, and foundation. They are experienced in the psyche as confidence, earnestness, and verification (or self-fulfillment), respectively. The habitual powers, as we said before, represent the powers of application. They tell us how to use or apply our intellectual intelligence and our emotional intelligence; how to apply them in practice. The three lower habitual powers are left-oriented because they are bridged by the left side of knowledge (and action-deed in relation to pure emotion is left relative to right – deed requires might (things – changing things in reality – don't come easy, whereas pure emotion is primarily an expression of love).
According to both models, the left side of knowledge is instinctive—it is the origin of instinctual intelligence and all of the habitual powers of the soul.
[1]. The sum of the Hebrew words for “brain heart kidneys liver” (מֹחַ לֵב כָּבֵד כְּלָיוֹת) is 572, or 22 times 26, where 22 is the number of letters in Hebrew and 26 is the value of God’s essential Name, Havayah, the Tetragrammaton, thus representing the revelation of God’s Name in each of the 22 letters, the building blocks of every word in the Bible. The simplest letter representation of 22 is כב and of 26 is כו. When we add them together we get the word for “star” (כּוֹכָב), one of the connotations of the Mashiach (Numbers 24:17).
[2]. The essence of Godel’s incompleteness theorem states that no axiomatic system is closed, meaning that by deduction alone, one cannot prove all the true statements in the system. One needs to step “out” of the system, as it were, to prove all of its statements.
Part 5: Retrospection, Introspection, and Extrospection in the Bible
From class #5 given by Rabbi Ginsburgh, 12 Sivan 5785 (June 8, 2025)
See the video of this lecture here
What are Retrospection, Introspection, and Extrospection?
Let's now continue to examine another important, deep way to envision the three powers or faculties of the mind, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, which correspond to the three parts of the Bible, the Five books of Moses and the Prophets and the Writings. One speaks of three different perspectives on reality. One is called retrospection, the other is extrospection, and the third is introspection.
If I look or contemplate deeply the past and try to learn from the past what to do now in the present, how to see and how to understand, how to relate to the present, how "the past teaches the present" (a Hassidic saying), that's retrospection.
If I just try to contemplate and understand the reality that appears before my physical as well as my spiritual eyes, relating to reality as an objective truth, that's called extrospection.
If I look deeply into myself and try to understand my own motives and my own inner reality, or to reckon within myself my spiritual state of being (cheshbon nefesh in Hebrew) that's introspection. Introspection arouses me to improve and better myself. This is the basis of doing teshuvah, of returning to God, and returning to a good and true path of life. Teshuvah requires introspection, meaning that relatively extrospection is objective, whereas introspection is subjective.
Retrospection: The Five Books of Moses
But it all begins with retrospection, re-experiencing the past, aware of the great influence that the past has on the present and the future.
Retrospection can mean that I recall all of my past memories in this lifetime. I try to understand, through re-living, the traumas that I have experienced from my early youth until this present day and how they have shaped my perspective on life and my attitude toward others. I think of how to heal the wounds that they have left on my psyche.
But there's a much deeper form of retrospection. In Pirkei Avot—the Ethics of the Fathers—we are taught that one should see and know, “From where did you come?” (מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ). The first word of this phrase, “from where” is actually the answer to the question, because it also means “from nothingness.” In other words, you should constantly be aware that you were created from nothing—you are something created from nothing. That is what your ultimate memory is—a deep spiritual Divine memory of how you were created ex nihilo. This is not just a statement about the past, the distant past. It is stating that at this very moment, and in every moment of life, you are being created out of nothing. It is as though in every split second, one should see himself returning to nothing and being created anew; from something back to nothing and then something again. That's what I should see, that's the ultimate retrospection: to understand where I came from and where I am constantly coming from—from the highest Divine level, from the ultimate source of the soul, from the Divine nothing.
There are many stories of great tzaddikim, great righteous souls, that said that I remember the nothing—the nothingness from which I became. The recognition of “from where did you come?” that I came from nothing, is the deepest meaning of wisdom. In the Bible, it corresponds to the Five Books of Moses.
To understand this correspondence better, we might ask what are the Five Books of Moses? In simple terms, the Five Books of Moses begin with the Creation of the world itself, something from nothing. In the Prophets and in the Writings, there is no explicit, simple description of the entire process of Creation, only at the beginning of the Five Books of Moses. Then, they describe the history of the people of Israel as well as righteous Gentiles who either physically descended from Abraham or spiritually descended from Abraham (Abraham is "the father of the multitude of nations")—all those who believe in one God.
All people who believe in the God of Abraham originate in and descend from Abraham, either physically or spiritually. All children of Abraham must retrospect and know their origin. The Jewish people, as defined in Halakhah (Torah law), are the children of the sons of Jacob, the third of the patriarchs. So, for Jews, that too is our origin. But on the universal plane, Jews too, of course, are the children of Abraham. Retrospection is to recognize your origin, where you came from, which indeed is the foundation of your life. If you know your origin, then you know who you are and what you are supposed to do in life. That will lead you and direct you in all your life's endeavors. That is the essence of retrospection, which corresponds to wisdom.
Seeing New Birth
The sages teach us that a person is wise if he can see the process of new birth. New birth can relate either to a future birth—i.e., seeing what is about to become, to be born—or it can relate to seeing how in the present moment, now, in this very moment, I am being born anew. And in general, it means seeing how the entire world, including all peoples on earth, were and are continuously being born ex-nihilo.
Seeing new birth is the ultimate form of retrospection. And once more, that corresponds to the mind of wisdom and in the Bible, that is the foundation of the Five books of Moses, particularly the first book, Genesis (the beginning), which begins with the Creation of the world, and teaches us the history, the stories of the patriarchs and the matriarchs.
The continuation of the Bible in Exodus and on, teaches us about the exile of the Jewish people, the sons of Jacob, in Egypt, and the redemption, the salvation from Egypt, and then the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Now this is all what we have to retrospect: how the Torah was given to us, how we received the word of God directly, envisioned every voice. We saw the voices of God speaking to us and teaching us to observe 613 commandments. This is all retrospection.
Extrospection: The Prophets
What about the Prophets? Prophets see the world as it is in the present moment, as it is with all its ups and downs. When they see the downs, they try to correct and rectify them by rebuking the people, all with constructive criticism so that they may understand their current situation and return to God. God asked Adam, after the primordial sin, Ayekah, meaning “Where are you?” He did not immediately rebuke him for his sin, knowing that for the chastisement to be constructive Adam must first realize 'where he is,' to what depths he fell. That is the meaning of “Where are you?” Where do you now find yourself as a consequence of your actions."
That is what the prophets are coming to say, and they're coming to say it right now in the present moment. They observe reality as it is, and they are sure that reality indeed exists objectively. The prophet is not looking into himself, he is looking at the other, he is looking at the people. He is trying to relate to the people as they are, objectively, and trying to help them awaken to their present state of being, to improve their ways, to become better, spiritually. The true prophet promises the people, in the Name of God, that if they improve spiritually, God will send them His blessings, spiritual as well as physical blessings.
Introspection: The Writings
What about the Writings? The writings are about introspection, beginning with Psalms. In Psalms, King David is looking into his own soul, and he is crying to his Creator from within his own soul.
The next book, Proverbs, is the introspection of a father, who makes a reckoning of his own experiences and teaches his son based on his own experience. The sages provide another definition for wisdom (the wisdom of knowing—da'at). They say, “There is no wise man but he who has experienced the issue at hand.” When a father has gone through the trials of life, then based on his own life experience, he can teach his son the true "way of life."
But then comes, perhaps the most introspective book in the Bible, the book of Job. The topic of the book of Job is how to deal with his suffering. Suffering is a totally subjective experience. Job looks into himself, introspection, and attempts to cope with his own suffering and understand, o' God, why?! Not understanding the ways of God he even comes to criticize the ways of Divine Providence (the prophets, from above down, rebuke the people, in the Name of God, for their sins; Job rebukes, as it were, God for His un-understandable and seemingly unrighteous providence over man). The entire book of Job is one long account of introspection.
The initials of the these first three books of the Writings—Psalms, Proverbs, and Job (תְּהִלִּים מִשְׁלֵי אִיּוֹב)—spell “truth” (אֱמֶת), in reverse order. That is why in traditional Jewish literature they are known as the “the books of truth” (סִפְרֵי אֱמֶת). Truth in Hebrew consists of three letters, which are the first letter of the alphabet, the middle letter of the alphabet, and the last letter of the alphabet. The first letter is an aleph (א), the initial letter of Job (אִיּוֹב). The second letter of “truth” is a mem (מ), which is the initial letter of Proverbs (מִשְׁלֵי). The third letter is tav (ת), which is the initial letter of Psalms (תְּהִלִּים).
Singing the Bible
These first three books of the Writings are unique in another way. All the books of the Bible have a melody that is added when reading them. This melody is known as the cantillation. The book’s text is marked with cantillation marks that provide the instructions on how to sing the text. Every book of the Bible has a melody and for 21 out of the 24 books of the Bible, the syntax for the cantillation marks is the same. One who really wants to connect to the Torah, to all the books of the Bible should learn these melodies. The best way to connect your soul to the Bible is by learning how to sing the Bible.
But the marks and syntax for the cantillation marks is completely different in these three books, which are the most introspective books of the Bible. So much so that in most Jewish traditions, the way to sing these three books has actually been forgotten. Singing the melody of these three books is so complex that even the greatest sages of recent generations, no longer know how to properly sing Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. It is said that in order to sing the verses of these three books, you must, first of all, have a very long breath.
One of the last people who knew how to sing these three books was the author of the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe, meaning the Old Rebbe, the first Rebbe of the Chabad Hasidic movement. He conveyed the song of these books to his eldest great-grandchild, whom he knew and was close to in his lifetime. That great-grandchild was the last person that knew how to properly sing these three books. He was the last for the time being, until the Mashiach comes and will teach us how to sing them properly.
To sing the deepest insights of introspection is different from retrospection and different from extrospection. It is so unique, and it requires such a long breath that now almost no one is able to do it. We can obviously learn these books, recite the verses in our mouths and contemplate the meanings of the verses in our minds, but the ultimate way to experience them is by being able to sing them properly. Once again, these three books reflect the ultimate (inner) truth of the Bible.
This is another most important introduction to understanding the structure of the Bible. God willing, we are going to focus on the inspiration to be had from studying the introspective books of the Writings. We are going to focus on the book of Proverbs, whose initial is the letter mem (מ), the middle letter of “truth.”
Click here for Parts 1 and 2 of this series
