Come and see the words of the sage Rabbi Even Ezra in his book, Yesod Mora, (The Foundation for Fear) p. 8b: “And now note and know that all the Mitzvot that are written in the Torah or the conventions that the fathers have established, although they are mostly in action or in speech, they are all in order to correct the heart…”
Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Those who engage solely in the dresses of the Torah are gravely mistaken. And when the Creator’s demand is abandoned and the majority of the multitude of the sages of the Torah do not know its purpose, and they consider the wisdom of the Torah with its purpose as mere addition of some quip to Talmudic debates—which, though truly sacred and precious—they will not illuminate our souls.
Rav Kook, Igrot (Letters), Part 2, No. 153
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