T263 PNC - The Fever Comes From Excessive Eating — Animal Eating Damages Da'at

Rebbe Nachman teaches that the illness of fever (kadachat) — Hashem protect us — comes from excessive eating. The definition of "man" (adam) is one who eats only what he needs; when he eats more, he has slipped into the definition of "animal" — eating and chewing all day long. And likewise, when food is presented to a person containing sparks not yet refined — sparks still in their "animal" form not elevated to "speaker" (medabber) form — that too brings on this illness, unless the eater is a tremendous person who can leap a complete level and lift the food to the level of speech. When you eat "animal food," you depart from the definition of man and descend to the definition of animal — "You have caused men to ride over our heads" (Psalms 66:12), the level of "man" is now above you. "We have come into fire and water" — fire and water are the heat and cold that battle within fever. The Avot d'Rabbi Natan (ch. 1) and Tanna d'Bei Eliyahu Rabbah (ch. 31) record: when Hashem said to Adam "and you shall eat the grass of the field," his limbs trembled — "shall I and a donkey eat from one trough?" That trembling is the fever. When Hashem said "by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread," his mind settled — because fever (the damage to da'at, which is the union of fire and water) is healed through sweat, and once sweat was decreed, the integrity of da'at was secured.