(5) When you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden and would refrain from raising it, you must nevertheless raise it with him.
זהר
דְּאָמַר רַב מְתִיבְתָּא בְּגַן עֵדֶן: "אָעָא דְּלָא סָלִיק בֵּיהּ נְהוֹרָא – מְבַטְּשִׁין לֵיהּ כוּ'. גּוּפָא דְּלָא סָלִיק בֵּיהּ נְהוֹרָא דְנִשְׁמְתָא – מְבַטְּשִׁין לֵיהּ כוּ'".
Zohar
The president of the academy of Gan Eden said: “A wooden beam which does not catch fire should be splintered, and similarly, a body into which the light of the soul does not penetrate should be crushed,”
תניא א"ר יהושע בושני מדבריכם ב"ש ... נטפל לו תלמיד אחד מתלמידי ב"ש אמר לו אומר לך טעמן של ב"ש אמר לו אמור אמר לו ... וזהו טעמן של ב"ש מיד הלך ר' יהושע ונשתטח על קברי ב"ש אמר נעניתי לכם עצמות ב"ש ומה סתומות שלכם כך מפורשות על אחת כמה וכמה אמרו כל ימיו הושחרו שיניו מפני תעניותיו
It is taught in a baraita with regard to this debate between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel: Rabbi Yehoshua said: I am ashamed of your words, Beit Shammai, for they are illogical. ... After Rabbi Yehoshua posed this question, one student from among the students of Beit Shammai approached him and said to him: I will tell you Beit Shammai’s reasoning. He said to him: Speak. He said to him: ...And that is Beit Shammai’s reasoning. Once he heard the logic behind Beit Shammai’s opinion, Rabbi Yehoshua immediately went and prostrated himself on the graves of Beit Shammai, i.e., the students and proponents of Shammai, and said: I humble myself before you, bones of Beit Shammai. If such clarity and wisdom is found in your rulings that you stated and left unexplained, all the more so must this be the case in your rulings when they were stated and explained. People said of Rabbi Yehoshua: Throughout his days his teeth darkened because of all his fasts that he undertook to atone for having spoken inappropriately of Beit Shammai.
אַחַת מִתּוֹרוֹת הַבַּעַל שֵׁם טוֹב:
כִּי תִרְאֶה חֲמוֹר — כַּאֲשֶׁר תִּסְתַּכֵּל בְּעִיּוּן טוֹב בְּהַחוֹמֶר שֶׁלְךָ שֶׁהוּא הַגּוּף, תִּרְאֶה — שׂוֹנַאֲךָ — שֶׁהוּא שׂוֹנֵא אֶת הַנְּשָׁמָה הַמִּתְגַּעְגַּעַת לֵאלֹקוּת וְרוּחָנִיּוּת, וְעוֹד תִּרְאֶה שֶׁהוּא —
רוֹבֵץ תַּחַת מַשָּׂאוֹ — שֶׁנָּתַן הקב"ה לְהַגּוּף שֶׁיִּזְדַּכֵּךְ עַל יְדֵי תּוֹרָה וּמִצְוֹת וְהַגּוּף מִתְעַצֵּל בְּקִיּוּמָם. וְאוּלַי יַעֲלֶה בִלְבָבְךָ — וְחָדַלְתָּ מֵעֲזוֹב לוֹ — שֶׁיּוּכַל לְקַיֵּם שְׁלִיחוּתוֹ, כִּי אִם תַּתְחִיל בְּסִגּוּפִים לִשְׁבּוֹר אֶת הַחוּמְרִיּוּת, הִנֵּה לֹא בְזוֹ הַדֶּרֶךְ יִשְׁכּוֹן אוֹר הַתּוֹרָה, כִּי אִם —
עָזוֹב תַּעֲזוֹב עִמּוֹ — לְבָרֵר אֶת הַגּוּף וּלְזַכְּכוֹ וְלֹא לְשַׁבְּרוֹ בְּסִגּוּפִים.
Hayom Yom, 28 Shevat
A teaching of the Baal Shem Tov:
[It is written:]
When you see the donkey (chamor) — that is, when you carefully inspect your chomer, your body, you will see…
one who hates you — for it hates the soul that longs for G‑dliness and spirituality. Furthermore, you will see that it is…
lying under its burden — G‑d intended that the body be refined by studying Torah and observing mitzvos, but it is lax in fulfilling its task.
Hence you might think that you should…
refrain from helping him to fulfill its mission, and instead, mortify yourself in order to break [the body’s] material tendencies.
However, this will not cause the light of the Torah to dwell [within you]. Instead,...
you must certainly help him — by refining and purifying your body, rather than breaking it through self-affliction.
(א) הוֹאִיל וֶהֱיוֹת הַגּוּף בָּרִיא וְשָׁלֵם מִדַּרְכֵי הַשֵּׁם הוּא. שֶׁהֲרֵי אִי אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיָּבִין אוֹ יֵדַע דָּבָר מִידִיעַת הַבּוֹרֵא וְהוּא חוֹלֶה. לְפִיכָךְ צָרִיךְ לְהַרְחִיק אָדָם עַצְמוֹ מִדְּבָרִים הַמְאַבְּדִין אֶת הַגּוּף. וּלְהַנְהִיג עַצְמוֹ בִּדְבָרִים הַמַּבְרִין וְהַמַּחֲלִימִים.
(1) Seeing that the maintenance of the body in a healthy and sound condition is a God-chosen way, for, lo, it is impossible that one should understand or know aught of the divine knowledge concerning the Creator when he is sick, it is necessary for man to distance himself from things which destroy the body, and accustom himself in things which are healthful and life-imparting.
תורת שמואל
ובכדי שיהי' הגוף חומר מוכן לקבל צורת הנפש יש בגוף ג"כ תמונת שם הוי' שהראש היא כציור תמונת היו"ד והגוף הוא כציור תמונת הוא"ו, וה' אצבעות שביד וה' אצבעות שברגל זהו ב' ההי"ן שבשם הוי', וי"ל שלכן יש עשר אצבעות בידים ועשר אצבעות ברגלים כמו בשם הוי' במילוי ההי"ן שכל ה"א הוא ב' ההי"ן (ה"ה) לכן במספר האצבעות יש ג"כ עשר אצבעות ביד וברגל, וע"י שבגוף האדם יש ציור שם הוי' לכן הוא חומר מוכן לקבל צורת הנפש שציור החומר שבגוף מוכן לקבל צורת הנפש.
Toras Shmuel
In the body, the yud corresponds to the head, the first hei to the five fingers of the hands, the vav to the torso, and the final hei to the five toes of each foot.
Kehot Chumash, Mishpatim
The body considers the Torah and its commandments to be a burden. Despite the fact that they are clearly its load, i.e., intended for the body's own spiritual and physical benefit, it nevertheless rebels. Since, for most of us, the body's voice is louder than the soul's, we tend to view the Torah as an oppressive burden. All this means, however, is that we have not yet integrated the Torah into our lives. When we realize that the Torah and its commandments are truly the very source of life itself, we can be successful and comfortable with our task.
The Ba'al Shem Tov was not the first to teach that the Torah stresses the importance of taking care of one's health. However, people had gradually come to believe that bodily health is a worthy pursuit only as long as we never misuse the body's urges for sinful purposes. If we sin, people felt, it is proper to "break" the body's power over us by subjecting it to voluntary suffering, as a form of penance. The Ba'al Shem Tov's innovation was that even if the body has sinned, both body and soul are better off if they are utilized in spiritual harmony for holy purposes, rather than being paired against one another. By using the body for holy purposes, it becomes possible to break its influence over us just as effectively as by subjecting it to suffering—if not more so.