Our Gemara on Amud Aleph records a dispute between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda if one can fulfill the “recitation” of Shema merely by thinking the words. Rabbi Yehuda in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah says, no, as the operative word in the Shema is, after all, to listen. Thus, one must say the words loudly enough to hear them. Rabbi Meir holds since the Shema credo indicates that “these words shall be on your heart”, the main criterion is the intention. 

It is easy to imagine that the dispute revolves around what is the most important, intention alone or action as well. It is obvious that Rabbi Yehuda is not discounting intention, rather he believes that intention alone cannot accomplish the requirement. Since we are dealing with religious duties, we should reflect on what is the function of action is in this realm. When it comes to matters of doing kindness for humans, obviously, we must say it is more than just the thought that counts. You cannot feed the poor people or comfort the sick with intention alone. However, why not allow for intentions alone when it comes to service of God?

Noam Elimelech (Bereishis, Vayera 11) offers an explanation. In truth, when it comes to service of God, the main and most important feature is the intention of the heart. In fact, that is why we are taught that if someone intends to do a good deed but in the end was unable to do so, it is counted as if he fulfilled the requirement. However, here is the rub. Because human beings are physical their intentions are never fully realized until they take action. It’s not enough for them to want to take action but they have to go so far as being absolutely and fully committed to the action to the point of taking the action. Only then, is the intention fully fulfilled and activated. This makes sense intuitively. And this is also why if you make every effort to fulfill the action, and you were only held back because of some kind of technical failure that was out of your control, it is still considered as if you fulfilled it.

He applies this understanding to the verses regarding Avraham’s actions leading up to the Akeidah. Curiously, after Avraham receives the directive from God to sacrifice his son, he immediately takes wood and chops it for the sacrifice. Noam Elimelech asked why would he do this and go through the trouble of carrying wood for three days instead of obtaining wood at the site of the sacrifice? The answer is, Avraham needed to take some kind of action immediately in order to hold onto his energy. At the moment that he received the command, he was filled with zeal. However, he knew human nature being what it is, that he would start to lose that zeal and feel some ambivalence quite naturally, especially given the nature of this particular directive. He therefore sought to immediately concretize it with an action of splitting the wood.

The end is, human beings must follow physical processes. In the upcoming parshiyos we see this idea play out as well. Moshe who indisputably and consistently worked the greatest miracles from any of the prophets, at the same time, always requires some kind of physical action, prop, or focal point such as his staff, or throwing dirt in the air, or hitting the water. The message is, humans need physicality and we cannot escape it.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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