Reflections …

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Concerning the rule to not roam in the PARDESS, unless one has filled one’s stomach with meat and wine, it should be said to one who comes to do only what the Torah commands by law. But one who craves and yearns to learn the inner things, to know His truthfulness, is under the rule, “one should always learn Torah in the place one’s heart wishes.” And one should be very strong in one’s way and know that he will learn and succeed… and make one’s soul’s craving to adhere to knowing His Name permanently. And if one should see that the majority of the students are not so, he should know that this is right for them, so they will not destroy the sanctity until they walk by gradations. This has nothing to do with ostentation and boasting, only divisions in the soul’s nobility.

–The Rav Raiah Kook,
Orot HaTorah (Lights of the Torah), Chapter 9, Item 12

As Above, So Below

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The internality of the Torah is life to the internality of the body, which is the soul and the externality to the externality of the body. And those who engage in intimations and secrets, the evil inclination cannot provoke them.

–The Vilna Gaon (GRA),
Even Shlemah (A Perfect and Just Weight), Chapter 8, Item 27