Angels are, in a certain sense, spiritual animals. The prophet Ezekiel saw them with the face of a lion, the face of an ox (Ezekiel 1:10). The Tanya takes this literally: angels have no free will. Their love and fear of God are instinctive, hardwired into their nature, the way a lion is fierce and an ox is strong.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains that this is precisely why righteous human beings outrank the angels. The souls of the tzaddikim (a righteous person) (צדיקים) dwell in the world of Beriah (בריאה), the world of Creation, while ordinary angels inhabit the lower world of Yetzirah (יצירה), the world of Formation.
The difference comes down to what drives them. In Yetzirah, only the emotional attributes (middot) of the Ein Sof (אין סוף) shine forth. Love and fear. That is all the angels get. The camp of the archangel Michael serves with love. The camp of the archangel Gabriel serves with awe. Day and night, without rest, they burn with these emotions. But they never chose to burn. They simply do.
In the world of Beriah, something higher shines: Chochmah, Binah, and Daat (חכמה, בינה, דעת), the intellectual faculties of the Infinite. Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge. These are the root and source of the emotions, and this is where righteous souls go, because their love and awe of God flow from genuine comprehension of His greatness.
When a human being prays with intention, meditating on the vastness of the Infinite until love or awe ignites in the heart, that prayer elevates not only the divine soul but the animal soul as well. The body itself becomes a vehicle for something the angels can never achieve: love that was earned, not given.
It is also for this reason that the angels are called Chayot (beasts) and Behemot (cattle), as is written, “And the face of a lion on the right side…and the face of an ox on the left side…,”1 Ezekiel 1:10. for they have no freedom of choice, and their fear and love are their natural instincts, as stated in Raaya Mehemna on Parashat Pinchas. Therefore the quality of tzaddikim is superior to theirs, for the abode of the souls of the righteous is in the world of Beriah, whereas the abode of the angels is in the world of Yetzirah. NOTE: This refers to ordinary angels, but there are higher angels in the world of Beriah, whose service is with intelligent fear and love, as is explained in Raaya Mehemna, ibid., that there are two kinds of holy Chayot, instinctive and intelligent, as also explained in Etz Chaim. The difference between them is that in the world of Yetzirah only the middot of the En Sof, blessed is He, shine forth, namely the love of Him, and the dread and fear of Him…, as is stated [in the Tikkunim2 Tikkun 7. and in Etz Chaim]3 Seder ABYA ch. 3. that the six sefirot nest in [the world of] Yetzirah. Therefore it is the constant service of the angels, resting neither by day nor by night, to stand in fear and dread…, these being the whole camp of Gabriel on the left, while the service of the camp of Michael is with love….4 Zohar III:118b; Tikkunei Zohar 70. But in the world of Beriah shine forth the chochmah, binah, and daat of the En Sof, blessed is He, which are the source of the middot and their “mother” and root, as stated in the Tikkunim5 Tikkun 7. that ima ilaah (“supernal mother”)6 Synonymous with Binah. nests in the three sefirot, in the [Divine] throne which is the world of Beriah. Therefore this is the abode of the souls of the righteous who serve G–d with fear and love, which are derived from the understanding and knowledge of the greatness of the En Sof, blessed is He. For this love is called re’uta d’liba (“heart’s desire”), as has already been mentioned.7 See above, ch. 17; also below, ch. 44. And from this “heart’s desire” is produced a garment for the soul in the world of Beriah which constitutes the Higher Garden of Eden, as will be explained later, and as is written in the Zohar on [Parashat] Vayakhel. But this applies specifically to neshamot, which [possess] a great cognition, as it were, of the En Sof, blessed is He. As for the category of ruach of the righteous, as also all other souls of Israelites who have served G–d with the fear and love that are latent in the heart of all Jews, these do not ascend there, except on Shabbat and the New Moon by means of the pillar that rises from the Lower to the Higher Garden of Eden, i.e., the world of Beriah which is called the Higher Garden of Eden, wherein to take pleasure in G–d and derive enjoyment from the splendor of the Shechinah. For the intellect of a created being can have no enjoyment or pleasure except in what it conceives, understands, knows, and apprehends, with its intellect and apprehension, what is possible for it to understand and grasp of the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, by virtue of His wisdom and understanding, blessed be He, which shine forth in the world of Beriah. As for the reason that these souls merit to ascend higher than the angels, even though their service has been with no more than natural fear and love, it is that through their fear and love the sitra achara which was clothed in their body was subdued, both in the realm of “turn away from evil”—by subjugating and breaking the passions—and in the realm of “do good,” as discussed earlier.8 Ch. 38, end. See also above, ch. 16. For they had the freedom to choose evil, G–d forbid, yet they chose the good in order to subdue the sitra achara, thereby elevating the glory of the Holy One, blessed is He…, “As the excellence of light…,”9 Ecclesiastes 2:13. Above, ch. 12. discussed above.10 Ch. 27. However, all this is concerned with the abode of the souls and their station, but their Torah and service are actually absorbed into the ten sefirot which are a category of G–dliness and with which the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, unites itself in perfect unison; that is to say, in the ten sefirot of Beriah—through intelligent fear and love, and in the ten sefirot of Yetzirah—through natural fear and love. In them are clothed the ten sefirot of Atzilut and are completely united with them, while the ten sefirot of Atzilut are absolutely united with their Emanator, the En Sof, blessed is He. The souls, on the other hand, are not absorbed into the G–dliness of the ten sefirot, but are stationed in the hechalot (palaces) and abodes of Beriah or Yetzirah, enjoying the effulgence of the Shechinah, the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, which is united with the ten sefirot of Beriah or Yetzirah, it being the glow of their very Torah and service [see Zohar, Vayakhel, p. 210],11 Zohar II:210a ff. for “the reward of a commandment is the commandment itself.”12 Avot 4:2. The world of Atzilut, however, is beyond the intelligence, comprehension, and understanding of a created intellect, because the chochmah, binah, and daat of the En Sof, blessed is He, are united with it therein in perfect unity, a profound and wonderful unity which infinitely excels, in degree and form, that which is found in the world of Beriah, for in the latter they descended to give light by means of tzimtzum, so that created intellects should be able to receive from them chabad (chochmah, binah, daat), to know G–d and to understand and apprehend something of the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, to the extent possible for created intellects which are limited and finite, without their being dissolved in their existence and ceasing completely to exist as created beings, only to revert to their source and root, namely, G–dliness itself. It is this tzimtzum that is the cause of the glow of chabad of the En Sof, blessed is He, illuminating the souls in the world of Beriah. It is different in [the world of] Atzilut, where they [chabad] are not subject to the same extent of tzimtzum; consequently it is impossible for created intellects to apprehend them. That is why no thought of the [created intellects] can apprehend anything there. Hence it is the abode of the great tzaddikim, whose service supremely transcends even the quality of fear and love which are derived from the understanding and knowledge of His greatness, blessed be He, just as the world of Atzilut is far beyond the understanding and knowledge of a created intellect. Indeed, their service has been truly in the nature of a “vehicle” to the En Sof, blessed is He, being nullified to Him in existence and absorbed in His light, blessed be He, they and everything they possessed, through the fulfillment of the Torah and commandments, in the way which has been said of the Patriarchs that they were truly the “chariot” of G–d, because throughout their lives this was their service. But as for him whose soul’s root is too small to contain such perfect service, so as to be nullified and absorbed in His light, blessed be He, by constant service, but only at such intervals and times which are propitious on high, viz., during the prayer of the Amidah which is in Atzilut, especially when making the genuflexions,13 There are four genuflexions in the Amidah. for genuflexion characterises Atzilut [as explained in Pri Etz Chaim on the prayer of the Inauguration of Shabbat], since it symbolizes self-nullification in His light, blessed be He, to be accounted as nothing at all before Him—in such a case, therefore, the principal abode of his soul is in the world of Beriah [and only occasionally, at propitious times, does his soul ascend to Atzilut, by virtue of the “feminine waters,”14 מ"ן – מיין נוקבין. See above, end ch. 10. as is known to the students of Kabbalah]. “The reward of a commandment is the commandment itself” means that from the reward we know its essence and rank. But we do not concern ourselves with esoteric matters, which are [related to] the great tzaddikim who are at the level of a “vehicle.” Our concern is with matters that are “revealed to us,” to which every man should aspire: to know with certainty the essence and quality of Divine service, with a conscious fear and love in one’s heart, stemming from understanding and knowledge of the greatness of the En Sof, blessed is He, which has its place in the ten sefirot of Beriah, and of service with the natural fear and love in the mind, [which is] in the ten sefirot of Yetzirah. But a service without the inspiration of fear and love even in the mind, in a conscious state, that is to say, without arousing the natural love which is hidden in the heart and bringing it out of the concealment and recesses of the heart into the consciousness of the mind and the latency of the heart at any rate, but it remains hidden in the heart as at birth, as it was prior to the service—such a service remains below, in the world of “separateness,” called the externality of the worlds, having no power to rise and be absorbed in His Unity, blessed be He, in the ten holy sefirot, as is written in the Tikkunim that “Without fear and love it cannot soar upward, nor can it ascend and stand before G–d.”15 Tikkunei Zohar 10. This is so even if the service is not strictly “not for its own sake,” that is, for some ulterior motive, Heaven forfend. It also applies to the service which is described as “Their fear toward Me has become [like] a trained human precept,”16 Isaiah 29:13. that is to say, it is a matter of habit to which the person has become accustomed since infancy, having been habituated and trained by his father and teacher to fear G–d and to serve Him, but he does not really do it for its own sake. For [performance] truly for its own sake cannot be without arousing at least the innate fear and love and bringing them out from the concealment of the heart into the consciousness of the mind and the latency of the heart, at any rate. For just as a person does nothing for his companion in carrying out the latter’s will, unless he loves him or fears him, so one cannot truly act for His Name, blessed be He, just to carry out His will, without recalling and arousing any love or fear for Him in his mind and thought and the latency of his heart, at least. Nor is love alone called “service” without at least the lower fear (yirah tataah), which is latent in every Jewish heart, as will be later amplified.17 Ch. 41. However, when a person is engaged [in service] truly not for its own sake, but for some personal motive, with a view to his own glorification, as, for example, in order to become a scholar and the like, then that motive, which originates in the kelipat nogah, clothes itself in his Torah, and the Torah is temporarily in a state of exile in the kelipah, until he repents, since “[Repentance] brings healing to the world.”18 Yoma 86b. For with his return to G–d, his Torah also returns with him. Therefore the Rabbis of blessed memory declared, “A man should always occupy himself [with Torah and precepts, even if not for its own sake], for from motives of self-interest he will come [to study and observe] for its own sake”19 Pesachim 50b; Nazir 23b.—[this they state] with certainty, for ultimately he is bound to do repentance, whether in this incarnation or in another, “Because none is rejected by Him.”20 II Samuel 14:14. On the other hand, if a person acts without any particular motivation, neither “for its own sake” nor for selfish reasons, then it is not contingent upon repentance, but as soon as he, once again, learns this subject “for its own sake,” then even that which he had learned without any particular intent conjoins and attaches itself with this study and ascends on high, since it had not yet been invested with any kelipot nogah. Therefore “A man should always occupy himself….” The same is true of prayer without kavanah, as is discussed in the Zohar.21 Cf. Kuntres Acharon, Essay 3.
