Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Opposition of the Study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

I see that the primary reason for the lack of success in everything being done to strengthen Judaism [revelation of the Creator] and Israel’s status everywhere, is that the Divine Light [for correcting their nature] has been neglected, completely abandoned by heart and mind. Everyone is now turning to correct simple ultra-orthodoxy [traditions called “commandments”] alone, as if the world could be revived in a body with no soul [without the intention to bestow and love one’s neighbor].
– Rav Kook, Letters 1, 160-161

Woe unto them that make the spirit of Messiah [the power of correction of our egoism] leave and depart from the world, and cannot return to the world. They are the ones [because of their attitude to Kabbalah] that make the Torah dry [by talking only about mechanical actions], without any moisture of comprehension and reason [without any understanding of the purpose of creation and the role of a human being in this world]. They confine themselves to the practical part of the Torah [observation of rituals], and do not wish to try to understand the wisdom of Kabbalah, to know and to understand the secrets of the Torah and the flavor of Mitzva [the essence of which is correction of human egoism]. Woe unto them, for with these actions [detachment from Kabbalah] they bring about the existence of poverty, ruin, and robbery, looting, killing, and destructions in the world.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 70
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