Let My People Know

"Rabbi Joseph Karo, one of the greatest thinkers and Kabbalists in Jewish history, used to fall asleep at the lessons with the Ari"

 

There is the well-known anecdote about Rabbi Joseph Karo, one of the greatest thinkers and Kabbalists in Jewish history, who used to fall asleep at the lessons with the Ari, until the latter finally told him that this was not his way. 

In other words, the root of his soul was not attuned to the Kabbalah of the Ari. 

To be sure, this is not a common discrepancy, just as there have been instances of persons of poorly endowed intellect who were able to grasp the intricacies of the Ari with ease. 

Every person seems to have his own preference or talent. 

It is hardly even a matter of intelligence.

It is more a function of the root of the soul which facilitates a direct communication with a certain subject or mode of expression in the Torah. 

In terms of Halachah, where the doing is important, such a gap between intellectual grasp and emotional identification becomes more obviously a problem. 

Chasidism is full of stories of the need of the soul for wholeness.

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
From The Long Shorter Way by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz