Rabbi Aba started and said, “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness.” “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted” means how hard are the hearts of the wicked.

Their hearts are hard since they do not return to their Master in repentance. This is why they are called, “Stubborn-hearted who are far from righteousness,” meaning far from the Torah, and hence far from righteousness.”

Rabbi Hizkiya said, “They are far from the Creator. And because they are far from the Creator they are called stubborn-hearted.” Why? It is because they do not wish to approach the Creator, for they are stubborn-hearted. And because of it, they are far from righteousness. Because they are far from righteousness, they are far from peace (Rabash, “Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah”).

A person may perform many actions and study the Torah, yet, as Rabbi Aba says, still fail to attain the degree of faith. He considers himself righteous because in terms of his actions he truly is righteous. But he does not attain the degree of faith because the Torah he studies does not draw the surrounding light upon him. He only thinks he is righteous, and therefore blames the path and does not see that he has reached a dead end.

Rabbi Hizkiya, however, says that it is impossible to attain the degree of peace, or even the degree of a righteous person, the degree of faith, without going through a stage called “stiff-necked” (stubborn-hearted). At this stage, the body resists and wants nothing. It remains in a state of conflict, rejects everything, and refuses to agree with anything along this path because it sees that it is being corrected and brought into submission.

But if a person continues on the path, and draws the light that reforms upon himself, he fights against the hardness of his heart, overcomes it, and breaks his heart. This is called joy for the brokenhearted.

Then he is rewarded with the Torah filling his broken heart, and correcting it. When he has gone through this breaking and corrected himself, he attains peace (Shalom).
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/26, Rabash, “Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah”

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