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The most brilliant human philosophies behave like butterflies slipping through reality’s net, like birds drawn upward in flight, ever-evading the practicalities of real life.

A thought of Torah, however, sits above your head like a reservoir of living waters. As ethereal as it may be, it needs only a small opening to burst its dam and pour down into your life.

Whatever Torah you learn, whatever you know, do something with it. Make it real
"
— From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt’l

Tehillim 119:21
גערת זדים ארורים השגים ממצותיך
ga'arta zedim arurim hashogim mimitzvoteicha
You have rebuked the accursed insolent ones who stray (err) from Your commandments.

The fifth obstruction is the antagonism of the nations. They believe that they adhere to the commandments of the Torah, when actually they err and distort, and so are perpectually cursed. That is what it says here, "You have rebuked the accursed insolent ones who err from Your commandments."

Some explain the verse as referring to the future rather than the past. You will curse "the accursed insolent ones who err from Your commandments." They willfully distort what they study of the Torah, and so err at keeping the mitzvot.

The "insolent ones... err." Their insolence causes them to err.

Some say: They "err away from Your commandments." There are "accursed insolent ones" who expound the Torah superficially, contrary to Halachah. That is, they bring halachically-invalid proofs for their false doctrines. For this reason were the Tablets of the Law written front and back, to convey that if one comes to be purified (to be the same inside and out), he is helped. But if one comes to be defiled - he wants to "stray from Your commandments" - he is abandoned ot his choice.

- Me'am Lo'ez

A king once told his son to take a huge stone up to the first floor of the palace. The stone was enormous; neither men, nor horses, nor machines could have moved it. The prince was very perplexed. After trying in vain, he became discouraged and gave up.

When the King came and asked for an explanation, the prince sheepishly admitted his failure.

"It was impossible!" he apologized.

"Do you really think that I would have asked you to do something impossible?" exclaimed the King. "You should have thought about it! Did I ask you to take the stone up in one piece? If you had taken a hammer and started hitting it, you could have lifted up the small pieces and accomplished your work little by little!"

This rock, this enormous stone, is our heart. Isn't it sometimes so hard and so cold? Our King has asked us to elevate it. We tried, the task seemed beyond our forces, how could we soften such a hard rock.

Let us take a hammer - a moment each day

Let us strike it - let us talk to G-d

The stone - our heart

Will break - little by little

Piece by piece we will be able to elevate it.

(Rebbe Nachman)