And the L●rd said to Moses: Speak to the priests. . . . (Emor 21:1)

 

This is what the verse says: "Day to day utters speech" (Psalms 19:3)¹

 

I heard from my Master [a commentary on the verse]: "Day to day utters speech, and night to night expresses knowledge." The Sages have said, "A person is judged first² for the time he wasted from Torah study, as it says: 'The beginning of strife is [like] the release of water' (Proverbs 17:14)."³ Does a person really believe that he can escape judgment due to the burden of making a living by day, and the [need to] rest from his work at night? The days of winter contradict this, and the nights of summer destroy [his argument].⁴
Ben Poras Yosef, p. 127c

¹From the Midrash on this verse (Vayikra Rabbah 26:4).
²In the World to Come.
³Sanhedrin 7a. The simple meaning of this verse is that strife and contentiousness break forth like a gush of water. Water is a classic metaphor for Torah, as in the verse: "Ho, every one that thirsts, come you for water. . . " (Isaiah 55:1). However, the Talmud interprets this verse different: "The beginning of strife" - that is, the beginning of a person's judgment is over "the release of water" - the time he wasted from studying Torah.
⁴In the past, most people would work only until nightfall. The short winter days prove that a person can finish work early and still make a living, thus contradicting the argument that a person must work long hours, leaving himself no time for Torah study. Likewise, the short nights of summer demonstrate that a person can make do with less sleep and still function. Why, then, should he need so much sleep the rest of the year, rather than study Torah?

The connection of this teaching to the verse from Psalm 19 may be that day and night express words that negate a person's arguments. Alternatively, the Midrash that cites this verse (Vayikra Rabbah 26:4), speaks of the day and night as "borrowing" from each other throughout the year. The long summer days borrow hours from the night, and the long summer nights borrow hours from the day. Only on the spring and autumn equinoxes are day and night equal. This is in order to prove to people that there is always time to study Torah.

33. From the year 1575,[1] until G-d sent us the holy soul of the Baal Shem Tov, many Jewish scholars were, for the most part, divided between those that considered the study of Kabbalah a necessity and those that challenged its study as being spiritually dangerous. Even those who did study this esoteric wisdom were often unable to comprehend its abstract concepts and fell into anthropomorphism,[2] G-d forbid. The Baal Shem Tov taught us how to understand these concepts and how to develop a pure and whole-hearted service of G-d based upon the wisdom of the Kabbalah. He was able to clothe the details of this wisdom in the intellectual faculties of the Divine soul.

The Baal Shem Tov's teachings of Kabbalah were recorded and spread by his closest disciples within the inner circle, called the Chevreyah Kadisha. These disciples directed their words specifically to those who toil in the holy wisdom of Kabbalah in order to deepen their understanding of their service of G-d.[3] 

1 1575 was three years after the Arizal, left this world and the beginning of the spreading of his teachings.

2 That is, they began to imagine that the spiritual concepts found in Kabbalah, many of which are explained in images drawn from human physiology, were actually describing the physical proportions of G-d, who is beyond form.

3 Notes on the sefer Sur M'Ra

10-1  When a person knows that G-d is in every action in the world, there is nothing he cannot bear.

"OUR oxen are bearing (alupheinu mesubalim), with no breach, and no bad tidings, and no outcry in our streets."^[1] When a person knows that the Master of the World (Alupho shel Olam) is in every action in the world, there is nothing he cannot bear. Then there is "no breach and no bad tidings." The Baal Shem Tov taught, when you know that G-d's glory fills the whole world and that every action and thought comes from Him despite the fact that the language of certain prayers seems to contradict this, then "all the workers of iniquity will be disbanded"[2]- that is, all the forces of evil will dissipate.

A person needs to do subjugation, division, and amelioration due to the Breakage of the Vessels that cast the holy sparks into the "shells." One must separate adverse and foreign thoughts from the Shechinah.[3] This can be done in two ways - one general and one particular. The Talmud relates, "How does one dance before the Bride?[4] Beit Shammai said, 'The bride, as she is.' Beit Hillel said, 'A pleasant and gracious bride!'" Beit Shammai felt that, in the period of exile, the general way is enough - as she is. Beit Hillel, however, said that we must adorn the bride in a specific way so that she becomes pleasant and gracious.

          So, too, if you are able to purify your thoughts, how good is it to do this specifically through subjugation, division, and amelioration! However, if you cannot, you should at least know in a general way that everything is from G-d. Then you can stand firm and not be pushed from your level by the "shells." You will remain attached to G-d, which is His promise, "And I will give you a path between these standers."[5] This refers to the angels for the external forces and the impure shells not pushing you out of your place.[6]

Katones Pasim p.27a

"Warm yourself before the fire of the sages, but be careful not to burn yourself from their coals, for their bite is like the bite of a fox and their sting is like the sting of a scorpion, and all their words are like burning coals."[1]

The Baal Shem Tov taught:

Before beginning study, the sages used to make light conversation[2], in order to open their minds from a constricted state of katnuth/immatureconsciousness and bring themselves to an expanded state of gadluth/matureconsciousness.

For there are constricted and expanded states in the dimensions of world, time, and soul. When the world is in a state of expanded consciousness, one can come close to G-d very easily, whereas when the world is in a state of constricted consciousness, then one has to struggle tremendously in order to come close to G-d. However, the greatest spiritual benefits are reaped when one has to force oneself to serve G-d.

Thus, even when one is unable to immerse oneself in strictly spiritual practices, one should nevertheless bind G-d's Word in his heart,[3] even while busy with mundane chores. When the sages spoke in praise of Torah study together with mundane endeavors, they were speaking specifically about this.[4]

Hence, when a student comes to learn before his master when the master is in a state of constricted consciousness, he might observe the master involved in mundane chores and learn only that from him, not realizing that his behavior is then only like a coal, without any inner fire.[5] For this reason, the Mishnah warns, "Be careful not to burn yourself from their coals."

This is also alluded to in conclusion of the Mishnah, "Their sting like the sting of a scorpion." In Hebrew, a scorpion is an AKRaV - Ayin KaRaV - meaning, the sage is involved in bringing the seventy [ayin] dimensions of the mundane world[6] closer [karav] to their Source, but this student does not realize this, and assumes that the master's mind is only on the mundane.