What Will Grow? | Rabbi YY Jacobson

I find this to be an incredible, life-changing insight that comes from the Vilna Gaon. And he says: Chazal compare Torah to water. The famous Gemara in Baba Kama, Why to water? The Vilna Gaon says the following. Water is the prerequisite to be able grow. Any plant, any shrub, any fruit, any vegetable, any legume, any grain. But the water will not determine what comes out of the earth. If you water an esrog seed, you'll have a beautiful citrus tree. And if you water a peach seed or a plum or an orange or an apple, that's what the water is going to produce. But if you water poisonous plants, the water will produce poisonous plants. So the Vilna Gaon says, Torah is water. Whatever is inside of you, whatever is planted inside of you, the Torah will actually make blossom, it will make it grow, it will allow it to emerge in its full grandeur. He says: If what's planted in your soul is that's what the Torah is going to make grow, going to make it grow into a splendid, beautiful, exquisite tree. But if what's planted inside of me is that's what the Torah’s going to make grow, that's going to become even more powerful, because of the Torah. Now I'm going to find through Torah a justification for all of these qualities. What the Vilna Gaon is cautioning all of us is Torah is the foundation of the Jewish life. It's the foundation of the Jewish people. But the Gaon is saying: You have to work on yourself. If I don't deal with all of the negativity and the poison that's inside of me, it may not be my fault, but if I don't confront it and I don't deal with it, he says, don't think that the Torah’s going to exonerate it from you. The same is true in all aspects of life. When it comes to Shmiras Einayim, when it comes to holiness, when it comes to sanctity, these are things I need to work on. I need to be able to confront my demons, my skeletons, my cravings. I need to be able to find my soul, my purity, my craving for truth, for authenticity, for Dveikus. And then the learning of Torah allows your infinite purity to blossom beyond the heavens.