Between Ambition and Reality - I

At times we hear voices that are concerned about people who are jumping to higher levels of holiness, consequently, they encourage people to not think of these concepts so that they do not mistakenly live in fantasy-land unaware of their true place and level. While there are genuine concerns with striving for higher levels, taking an attitude that one has no connection to the heights of holiness is misguided and is not the way to prevent people from jumping to higher levels. In any endeavor would we encourage someone who is concerned about making a mistake to do nothing at all?
People also have concerns about giving up and erring. It can be frightening to think about achieving a higher level and it can lead someone to give up out of fear, but also to become dissatisfied with where he currently is in life. Some people, in order to avoid either outcome, choose to close their eyes to opportunities for advancement, and to distance from their minds and life any thoughts of these lofty concepts.
This is not the way to deal with fear of growth. Erasing holy concepts from one's mindset, even though it seems to calm the person, and allows him to be satisfied with his current state, will ultimately retard his self-improvement and is at odds with the deepest yearning of his soul which only finds satisfaction when it is connected to God.
ויחד לבבנו קכ"ח

Becoming Familiar with the Concept of Kavana - II

This basic understanding of Kavana needs to percolate in the heart and develop in the soul of a person until he becomes familiar with the richness of the worlds of Kavana and thought. Kavana is full of life, it is rich with different styles and manners. Similar to action and speech is is full and broad. When it comes to speech , we find different expressions, chants and tunes that rise and fall, fast and slow, soft and strong. These are all utilized in order to express different feelings in the soul. Joy versus supplication, whisper versus shout, power versus kindness. The way we speak during Pesukei D'Zimra, with a song in the heart that is driven towards God, with powerful song is unlike the speech during Shemoneh Esrei  in which the inner world is speaking as man stands before the King of the World.
Similar to this is the world of song in which there are many types of music that express different aspects of feeling and expression.
So, too, are the worlds of Kavana and inner thought. The world of Kavana has similar aspects to the worlds of action and speech. There are Kavannos of whisper, of kindness, soul level movement from above to below and below to above. Kavannos of sweetness and kavannos of purification and mercy. Each of these moves according to its unique form and concept.
Familiarization with these worlds which results from a person purifying himself and rising towards them, hand in hand with studying holy works which instruct people in the pathways of Kavanna, open the path before a person to recognize its richness and depth. Slowly, slowly his Neshama will shine within until he is an expert in these worlds and in the various types of Kavannos. He knows the expressions and movements of the soul and their various outcomes.
ויחד לבבנו פ"ד

Becoming Familiar with the Concept of Kavana - I

The world of Torah with which we are familiar is almost solely focused on actions and speech. The study of Torah revolves primarily around the revealed Torah which focuses on fulfilling the action Mitzvos, and results in knowledge of Halacha. By contrast, the study of the Inner Torah is intended to instruct the worlds of intent, the thoughts and desires of the heart in the exact same way that the study of Talmud and Halachic codes trains the action limbs in the fulfillment of Mitzvos.
The world does not yet appreciate the broad richness of the worlds of thought and intent. We stand before these inner concepts and they appear blurry to us. We believe what our Sages teach - that thoughts have an effect and intent makes a powerful impression, but within himself the person is not even close to understanding. He thinks that words and actions are much more powerful than thought. He sees thought as a tool for inspiration to action, but not as a force which acts directly.
However, the concept  and knowledge of Kavana is very blurry. What is Kavana in the heart? Is it scrunching up the face and moving rapidly while davening? Is creating wrinkles in one's forehead a means of concentration? We are standing before poorly understood concepts of which we only have the most infantile comprehension.
ויחד לבבנו פ"ד

Quashing the Childish Klipah

When a kernel of grain is growing the shell covering it cannot be removed. At this stage the klipah (shell) protects the grain and its ability to ripen. This teaches us an important principle, there are klipos of the soul that are there to facilitate its growth, and we must take heed not to try and remove them before their time or in an inappropriate manner. Doing so is likely to damage the development of the child's positive traits, that which is within, the fruit itself.
The klipos are the traits that appear in a manner that does not appear to be directed towards appropriate channels. We find children who are full of energy, that are not naturally drawn to expressing themselves in ways that are good and proper. The job of directing them down a good path, that of teaching them how to select the appropriate behavior to separate the good traits from the klipos and direct them on the right path, has to await the growth of the child into a healthy and strong person, only then can he be purified. Trying to separate them from their klipos before they are mature is likely to harm their unique abilities and their perfection. It can create a weak person who is lacking life, as the effort to show them the right path is full of criticism. If the parents criticize the child a lot as he is developing, they are likely to squash his good traits and ruin his fundamental will power.
Therefore, first we must show a child a lot of faith in his goodness, love and strength, so that he develops happy and healthy even as some of his character is drawn to that which is impure. That's all part of growing up. if the parents attempt to rip away the bad character by force, they will stunt his development, and weaken him internally.
לעול"ש ס"ט

Childish Adults

Every person has countless dreams and aspirations, but in order to succeed it is necessary to limit oneself at any given time to one thing and to focus on it. If the person is constantly overwhelmed with many desires he will be unable to fulfill any of them completely. The middah of gevurah directs a person to choose a defined objective, to focus upon it, to begin it and to make the effort to completely finish it and not to jump from project to project. Chesed cannot impact the world without gevurah to constrain it. Chesed can spread its wings in the spiritual realm where there is no need for limitation, and one can spread his wings to fly to limitless worlds, however, this world requires gevurah. In a dream one can desire many things, but practically there is a need to choose, to focus, to prioritize, i.e. to limit oneself.
The bottom line is that gevurah actualizes the greatest dreams. Without it and all that it entails, sticking to a schedule, following a program, focus, giving up on distracting temptations, stubbornness, one cannot rise in holiness. Chesed is the dreams, the great lights, but without vessels, without gevurah they cannot come to fruition.
But even with all of the focus of gevurah it is vital not to lose the freedom of chesed, the sweetness of dreams and broad ambition. In a certain respect childhood is the age of simple chesed, full of love and sweetness, before the person enters the complications and limitations of this world. This is why children are so full of sweetness, joy, and laughter because the bitterness of life has not touched and soiled them.
Adulthood, bagrut in Hebrew, carries the same root as gevurah, and is the age in which a person adds gevurah to his repertoire as he recognizes the limitations of life and acquires the tools to progress in life. Adulthood needs to serve the light of childhood and not to exchange childhood for adulthood. A person needs to remain a child in spirit and to never age. It is important to take heed to not be so impressed with his relationship with vessels and the complications of this world, to think that the simplicity of childhood is naivete and weakness. A person should not feel that adulthood is the time to awaken from the slumber of childhood.
The fact is that childhood is the wellspring of life and sweetness of the dreams, the simple chesed and love and adulthood clothes that in vessels that enables it to come to the world. But be careful not to exchange the light with the vessel, childhood for adulthood and optimism for pessimism.

Well Praying

Praying is like digging a well in that you need to dig into the depths of your soul where there is flowing water, thirst and pining, deep desires that are befitting like clear, clean water.
Initially, all you find is clumps of dry dirt, then the ground begins to become moist from the waters of the depths, subsequently water begins to trickle out, mixed with mud and dirt. Finally, there is pure, clear, flowing water. The same is true with the gates of the heart which are initially stopped up by lots of dirt, but they are always full of clear water deep within. Prayer consists of peeling away the dried and dirty layers to seek out and reveal what is flowing within, which is totally clear and pure, full of will and desire, connection and great pleasure.
בראשית שס"ז

Daas

Unlike Chochma or Bina (wisdom and understanding) which are acquired through logical analysis of general principles and details, Daas (knowledge) is achieved through finding that  the life force within oneself is in synchronicity with that which is being comprehended. Dass is not superficial contemplation of the matter being comprehended in the manner in which the intellect works, rather it is one's essence connecting with it. It is not expressed in knowledge about, but is united with. It is a life's experience which cannot be expressed verbally and is not delineated by thoughts. Daas is connection, a living meeting between the knower and the known. It creates an essential unity between them. Daas means to blend, to dissolve the external walls which separate and to touch the life force within which is the unity and identification of the knower with the known. Daas neutralizes multiplicity and reveals unity.
תפלה שנ"ז

Resurrection - Where is it to be Found?

I saw something very fascinating in a lengthy piece that HaChalban quotes from the Baal Haleshem (ספר הדעה ב ב ג). This does not sound like the typical kind of idea that you will see in Torah sources. While it may not surprise you the the source is a significant Kabbalistic work, its author was not from the Chassidic movement, on the contrary, he was the leading Lithuanian Mitnagdic Kabbalist of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Despite that, what I share from him here may sound a bit New-Agey. You'd be surprised what you find if you are not too scared to delve deeply into the sources of truth.
As I often do, I will not be translating his ideas word for word, but restating them in my own way, and in this case adding a bit of my own. That said, feel free to consult the original source and you will see that I am true to his message.
The Talmud teaches us that there are three people who are considered to be dead: one who has tzorass, one who is destitute, and one who has no children. Why is this? It would seem because in each of these cases people often wonder what is the value of their life given the situation they are in. A life that is lacking in meaning is essentially death.
Resurrection happens around us all the time. Every person, every object, every idea, every moment that seems to have no meaning and no purpose, and then we discover its value is an act of resurrection. People mistakenly think that the resurrection of the dead is something that will occur in some futuristic Messianic time. They think it only entails dead bodies rising from the earth and coming back to life.  The truth is that it is a process which is ongoing on a moment by moment basis throughout existence.

Every time a scientist discovers a new power of nature that was unknown beforehand, he is resurrecting the dead. He is giving meaning to something that was not yet understood. If an inventor taps the forces of nature to create something new, he is resurrecting latent abilities within Creation that had been dead until now. If a person feels that his life is meaningless, whether for the reasons mentioned above or some other reason, and then finds meaning in her life, she has now been resurrected. If a person spent time pursuing a project that ultimately failed and feels that all the time expended was wasted, that time is dead to him. When he later uncovers the value of that experience another resurrection has occurred.
The only difference between our times and the Messianic Era is that at by that time the meaning of everything will be revealed, all the dead will have been resurrected. But resurrection itself, is always with us.

I

Occasionally a person will go to an extreme and think that his "I" is just something that is evil and must be erased. He chooses to live a life of asceticism and despises his God-given abilities. He thinks that more he crushes himself the better person and servant of God he is.
This is a great mistake. God did not give us great abilities so that we should waste them, but that we should use them in His service. We cannot destroy the abilities and aptitudes which God instilled within us, on the contrary, they should be used in divine service. If God gave someone strength or intelligence or other skills it is a sign that God wants the person to serve Him with those abilities and not to push them aside or erase them.
Occasionally a person must push aside his abilities if they are leading him on an evil path, but that is no reason to completely destroy them. He should push them aside for a short period of time until he can cleanse them of the evil which has grabbed onto them. Subsequently, he should return to them and use them to serve God for which purpose they were created.
The "I" is the entry point to "you." If there is no "I" to stand before Hashem, then there can be no "you" directed towards Hashem.
תפלה ק"ע

The Esrog - Alone

It takes a conscious effort to connect the Esrog to the other three species because oftentimes the Tzaddikim -righteous (who are symbolized by the Esrog) have a tendency to look upon the wicked with a superficial glance and distance and separate from them. They must make sure that they do not separate from the other three species and to join the Esrog with the Lulav and Aravah (which represent those less righteous) so they are literally one.
It is the righteous who are most likely to err when it comes to unity. The forces of evil make every effort to cause them to err as they know that if the righteous would make peace with everyone else and feel unified with the rest of the Jewish Nation, as symbolized by the Lulav, then the Redemption would come immediately. The Yetzer Hora makes every effort to separate the Esrog from the other species and to instill within them thoughts of separation, filled with hubris. G-d forbid that people should fall into this trap because within lies the secret of our Redemption.
א"ת קמ"א

The Breaking

HaChalban quotes Rav Kook:
Why was it necessary for their to be a breaking of the vessels at the time of Creation?
Godliness gives according to its ability, whereas the recipient is limited which results in its receiving a finite amount of goodness. So the good is given in infinite measure, as is its nature, and is unlimited Godliness, despite the fact that the receiving Creation is incapable of receiving such goodness. Creation will completely shatter and then rebuild itself it its desire to return to the unbound source, to unite with God.
In this manner the Creation creates itself to be on a level of completeness akin to its Creator. It rises above the limitations of a Creation which would not have been possible without being exposed to goodness that was beyond its ability to receive. It would have remained on the level of a Creation and never approached that of the Creator...
The World of Tohu, its shattering and rebuilding, teach us that the urge to rectify, improve and exist operates very powerfully. Existence cannot receive the powerful goodness of the Higher Existence, the unlimited power. The limited existence melts before the goodness, the power of life; it shatters because of its great ambition. But that does not prevent the good from continuing on its path. It rebuilds after breakage and the new building is beautiful with immeasurable value. The measure of good is so much greater than that of suffering that it is worth suffering all the pain of shattering, all the ruination of destruction, so that such improved worlds can emerge that carry a richness of life which, left to their own devices, would have been beyond their ability.The Creator does not choose a path that is measured and constricted commensurate with the ability of existence. Were He to do so the good would be limited and not according to the the powerful life-force of the Creator of All, but based on the conditions of the weak Creation.
אלול תשרי ק"ל

Harvesting Torah

In every generation there is a small group of people to whom Hashem reveals the unique light of Torah which is necessary for that generation to fulfill its destiny. They harvest the fruit of Torah for their time by developing and disseminating new paradigms of understanding which speak to the souls of their contemporaries and infuse them with life. Others spend their time weeding out the evil in their generation, but harvesting the field is a much higher level. The others are merely fighting against what is wrong, but those who harvest the produce awaken a higher good, עשה דוחה לא תעשה.
Every season it is important to harvest the fruit that has grown in order to enable the tree to renew its energy to produce a new crop in the following year. If the fruits are not harvested they will stunt the growth of the fruits of the coming year. In the same manner, those who harvest the fruit of the generation, who tap into the unique teachings of Torah for a particular time, are not only shining a powerful beacon of light for their contemporaries, but they are clearing the path for new lights to shine for future times. We need to act as midwives to deliver the unique paradigms for our times so that we enable the gestation of new and deeper lights. This is the epitome of working with God.

Paraphrased from בראשית  322

Missing the Bais HaMikdosh

I happened to come across a piece from the Chalban today that is most appropriate for the day following Tisha B'Av. In his Sefer on Tefila (prayer) he discusses Tikkun Chatzos, a prayer service traditionally reciteג only by a few individuals who awakeמ at midnight to cry over the destruction of the Bais HaMikdosh (Temple) and the exile of the Schechina.
He points out that in our times there are more people seeking the Bais HaMikdosh as the ultimate redemption comes steadily closer. It is still in the pre-daylight stages when only a few have awoken while most are slumbering in their beds. Those who have woken up are few in comparison to the large numbers of Jews, including Torah observant Jews, and

are not enough to seek the Mikdosh and the complete redemption with full force. They are not enough to demand of heaven and earth for the sake of Zion and Yerushalaim, to fulfill the verse of "It is Zion which has no seekers," from which we understand that there should be seekers of Zion. But the bottom line is that those who seek are increasing in number.
In previous generations, during the Exile, it was the giants of the world who awoke at midnight to cry over the Destruction and to pray for the complete redemption. They felt intensely the state in which things would be in their proper order. Even though it was distant from their everyday life, as they were oppressed and denigrated in exile, these holy people felt the true glory of the Jewish Nation, the glory of the Schechina, of Yerushalaim and the Torah. They felt intense pain over the lack of each of these.
Even though there were many open difficulties, decrees prohibiting Torah study, economic privation, pogroms, these holy people did not just effort to ease the strains on the Jewish people, but they also felt the absence of the land, monarchy, Schechina and prophecy. The absence of offerings,the songs of the Leviim and the burning of incense.
תפלה קמ"ב

Simcha - III

In contrast to the other forms of sweetening the Din (discussed in the previous two posts), that of Binah is the highest form as it is rooted in Simcha which chases away all the Klipot. The root of the evil of the evil and the Klipot is that they try to infuse a person with an imaginary life. The Yetzer Hora only enters an empty heart as idleness and boredom lead the person to find a sense of being alive within sin. But this is all empty and imaginary and trying to convince the person that they will fill his empty life. But a person whose heart is filled with true holiness is not one in which the Klipot can take root as it is filled with God's blessing, richness of life and full of pleasant feelings, joy of holiness with no emptiness boredom or starving for life.
The bottom line is that every person wants to feel alive and if he doesn't keep himself alive with holiness he will starve, and then the Klipot will sell him rotten food that appears good on the outside.
What fills a person with great spiritual wealth? Simcha! To expound on this we need to know that wealth is synonymous with Mochin (literally brains, in Kabbalistic terminology it means the spiritual emanations from above, specifically of Chochma and Bina). All of the middot are vessels within which one can receive the light of Chochma and Bina. Chochma is the source of Torah wisdom, and Bina is the source of happiness. Together they fill a person with wealth and a sweet and powerful sense of satisfaction to the extent that the person no longer feels a sense of hunger and emptiness which lures him to imaginary ways of satisfying his needs.
Bina is the wine that brings joy and bestows on a person great happiness and fullness of life. Bina is also referred to as Elokim Chaim as it is the Middah that bestows a feeling of truly being alive through happiness.
תפלה פ"ב

Simcha - II

When sweeting of Din is accomplished through the pain of having sinned exemplified in Malchut, or the admitting of wrongdoing and Viduy of Hod, or being God-fearing and overcoming the desire to sin of Gevurah, there remains room for the Klipot (forces of impurity) to take hold. This results from the fact that all of the above have the tendency to cause a person to draw into himself and to feel down about himself. One who feels knocked down tends to want to be alone and doesn't feel comfortable relating to others in a happy and loving manner. After confessing his sins a person may feel embarrassed and not show a shining face towards others. One whose sins have left him gripped with fear may feel an overpowering sense of seriousness that makes it difficult for him to smile at others.
The bottom line is that as long as a person remains within the left-side middos which emanate from Gevurah it is difficult for him to incorporate also the right-side of kindness, love, smile, connection, unity. He wants to be alone as Gevurah is the essence of separating things so that each thing stands alone. In these situations a person is not avoןding others because of evil Gevurot - there is no anger, hubris, stinginess or related traits. Those are perversions of the left-side and the distancing that results from them is negative, distorted and misguided. In this case the distancing is resulting from the good middot of Teshuva and correction. Despite this, as he is still rooted in the left-side his heart is connected to Gevurah, separation, and does not find itself whole and complete and incorporating Chesed and the light of unity, love and connection.
Therefore, even though these are all necessary Middot in the process of Teshuva and purification, they will not come to their completion until one joins to them the higher level of Binah the root of joy as we will explain next.
תפלה פ"א

Hidden Connections

Every Mitzvah has reasons that are revealed. Frequently these reasons seem to show that certain Mitzvos have no connection. One example is the ארבע פרשיות which seem to have each been instituted for a reason that is independent of the others. The same is true of other Torah concepts which seem to have an independent existence with no connection to another. However, beneath the veneer of revealed reasons lies a hidden realm which intimately ties together all the parts until they are one entity forming a comprehensive picture expressed by numerous parts that had seemed to lack any connection. Hidden lines and thin threads weave together all the aspects of the Torah to form amazing connections. We frequently find in the Tikkunei Zohar connections between seemingly distant topics, which are then united by their hidden ties.
Topics such as conversion, Korbanos, Tzitzis, redeeming first-born donkeys, Amalek and marriage which are each found in a different part of Shulchan Aruch and have no connection in the revealed world, are deeply connected in the Zohar. One can study Mesechet Kiddishin and have a comprehensive knowledge of the laws of marriage without knowing anything of the laws of mixing meat and milk. But Kabbalah connects them. In the revealed world discussions about certain topics are generally focused solely on that topic. It is then expounded upon through numerous citations from the sages until the topic is completely clarified and its practical application understood. However, within their words the Sages sprinkled hints, sparks of the hidden teachings, which direct us to discover the hidden principles, and the connections between disparate topics. Often these are predicated upon shared usage of certain terms.

פורים כ"ו

Simcha - I

Simcha is rooted in the sefira of Binah which is also the root of din. Two principles of din are that it is the place where vulnerability to klipot exists, and that it can only be sweetened (mitigated) at its root. Therefore one can only sweeten the din by connecting to Binah.
 There are a number of other Sefirot which relate to din, namely all the 'left-side' sefirot of Gevura, Hod and Malchut. They are knowמ collectively as אלוהים (Elokim). In its most perverted sense Din is exemplified as the self-centered Yetzer Hora which manifests anger, hubris, lust and other egoistical traits. One must get to the roots of the four sefirot in order to mitigate the din.
Binah is the root of Simcha, Gevurah is fear and overpowering, Hod is acknowledgement of truth, and Malchut is humility.
 One mitigates the Din in Malchut by feeling the pain of the damage one has caused by improper behavior. This is exemplified by the humility demonstrated by King David in the wake of his sin. Stubborness is the root of sin, and breaking that weakens the evil within the uncircumcised heart.
Within Hod, by admitting the truth of one's failings and reciting Viduy one mitigates the Din. The sin came about because he was blind to falsehood. By owning up to the reality of the wrong he wrought, he breaks the power of delusion,and enters the realm of truth.   Within Gevurah one mitigates the Din by learning how to be a God-fearing person. Sin comes from forgetting who God is, and magnifying onesself. When one visualizes God before himself, the Yetzer is weakened and mitigated. In a similar vein within Gevurah, the Din is sweetened by fighting and overcoming the Yetzer as the fighting is inspired by the fear of God found within.
תפלה פ

The Depth of a Cry

I want to share with you something that will offer a path of understanding of what is happening in our times and is the key to redemption. The Ariza"l teaches that it is only at the End of Times that we will have the ability to create the strongest connection with the highest levels and to awaken the hidden love. The awakening is beginning, the redemption is coming, and our souls are forging this deep relationship which emanates from the hidden-most places, brought about by our inner cries.
In no generation have their been souls that are as distant and thoroughly lost to the extent that exists nowadays. They are chained in the depths of disconnection and disbelief until they have forgotten the most basic concepts of Judaism, frequently intentionally and with great anger. But this terrible apostasy comes from God as there is not one Jewish soul, no matter how forgone that is not inspired to connect to God. Even those who have sunk to the depths of the klipot and who are buried under deep piles of debris, from there their souls cry out, from the depths of the seas arise their cries, the shouts of their hearts and the soul that will never sleep. This awakens the deepest love of God.
It is like an angry child who runs away from his parents and does not communicate with them for years. Suddenly, one day he has a twinge of missing his family. This slight expression awakens the greatest love on the part of his father, much more so than any expression of love by all of his siblings who are found every day around their father's table. It is the distant son, with the slightest movement that is perhaps not even visible, who can awaken the deepest love of the parent.
We see this paradigm in our earlier redemptions. In Egypt the Jewish Nation had sunk to the lowest levels of depravity. It was only then that their cries were heard by God. God then "knew," He felt the deepest possible love and brought forth the majestic miracles of the Exodus from Egypt. In the time of Purim, the people were asleep with regards to their Mitzvah performance. They were distant from God and felt completely abandoned by Him. When they then cried out, the love engendered brought about a great redemption.
The same is true in our times as millions of Jews cry out to God in the depths of their hearts, the cry of children who are far from their father, awakening His love and desire for them.
א"ב רס"א

Torah and Prayer

If a person neglects to immerse himself in the study of Talmud and Halacha, in all its depth and breadth, and delve into the understanding of belief and the deeper understanding of Torah, and instead he focuses on listening to lectures that are meant to inspire, but lack a depth of Torah and do not deepen one's understanding, he is like someone who wishes to create a bonfire out of twigs. The fire will ignite quickly, but just as quickly it will burn itself out.
In the same vein, someone who views Torah as a means to inspire himself to pray better and to live a more inspired life, but does not delve into its study with an appreciation of the value of the Torah and its study, then his prayer will end up lacking consistency, strength and depth which can only arise from chopping the strong trees of delving deeply within Torah, in all its facets, with toil and effort. Otherwise, he is embarking on a path that is weak and contains many pitfalls as he is lacking balance by overdosing on the emotional without having a solid, logical base. It can also lead a person to only following his emotions, and to think that his emotions are defined by Torah.
On the other hand, if a person only studies Torah, but neglects his prayer, it is like building a bonfire out of many logs, but with nothing with which to ignite it. If a person just learns with his intellect, but does not inspire his heart and invest in its purification, he is likely to have a constipated soul that is truly distant from what he is studying. The Torah is lofty and disembodied, and can only be appreciated with inspired feelings that need prayer, Tehillim, songs and desire for a divine relationship. By focusing solely on Torah study and ignoring the service of the heart, his prayer will lack life and substance and he will never understand the depth of the Torah in which the light of God is found.
א"ב רמ"ב

Creativity

If Torah is presented in a stifling manner that minimizes the importance of engaging with this world, and presents a paradigm in which the goal is rejecting any involvement with the material world - to the extent that there is no purpose to work and being creative - then people who are naturally creative will feel suffocated in the world of Torah because their God-given creative talents need to find expression somewhere, yet they are under the impression that the Torah forbids actions and creativity in this world. There is an essential spark of their life that cannot find itself in the framework of Torah which can lead to a number of issues. First of all, these talents will then find expression outside of the framework of Torah. Secondly, that expression will likely manifest itself in a manner that is anti-Torah as they find the Torah to be a threat to their very existence in that it gives their talents no legitimacy. They will rebel against the Torah to give themselves expressive freedom. This all results from their stunted view which assumes that the Torah is opposed to developing creative, this-worldly talents. This comes about due to a mistake in comprehending what the Torah is, in that it is not made clear that the Torah has the ability to shine light in all areas of the world. Not only is it not opposed to one's unique talents, on the contrary, it can grow and develop them and infuse them with deep meaning.
People mistakenly think that the Torah is the enemy of their talents and denies their value and the joy that creativity brings to them. The see the Torah as darkness, that it stifles one's thinking and creativity. So they rebel against the Torah and choose another path all because of an error of seeing the Torah as stifling. They assume the Torah sees no value in work, music, social life, beauty, free thought and wishes to erase all of them. Consequently, those who love beauty, people with musical talent, deep thinkers have the impression that the Torah is attacking the essence of their humanity by telling them that they may not think, they may not question. So they rebel.
This is all a terrible mistake that results from the way that Torah is presented to people. The truth is just the opposite. Hashem is the source of all, He created all of these talents. These are amazing talents which Hashem gave to people so they should be utilized to create beautiful things by improving the world in all its facets - the physical world, social networking, spirituality - and infuse them with a beautiful and holy light. The Torah is the soul of the world, and all the talents in the world are the body to the soul of the Torah. When they are developed in a manner that is true to their source, to holiness, they reveal the great light of God.
א"ב קפ"ז