Rabbi Chayim of Volozhin, of blessed memory, explains:11
In the Gemara (Kiddushin 30b) it is stated: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as its spice (antidote).”
Imagine someone who is clearly very sick. A trained doctor examines him, identifies the problem, and prescribes the proper treatment. If the patient ignores that expert guidance and decides to rely on his own guess instead, it would be considered completely irrational.
So, too, says the Creator, may His Name be blessed: do not imagine you can outwit the evil inclination with strategies of your own making. I, who created the evil inclination and know its nature, created the Torah as its antidote and as the elixir of life to heal its influence. Know that apart from engaging in Torah study, nothing else will work.
This is the meaning of “And the tablets were G-d’s work” (Exodus 32:16) — the “tablets” hint to the heart that desires, as in “Inscribe them on the tablet of your heart.” He made the heart, and He knows the inclination planted within it. “And the writing was G-d’s writing” — so He gives you Torah, to inscribe and engrave its words upon the tablets of your heart, so you may escape the pull of the evil inclination. Thus you must know: no one is freed from its influence except one who immerses himself in Torah — and there is no other path.
Torah is not only a remedy for the individual,12 but for all of creation, for the holy Torah is the root of all existence.
To quote his holy words:
The source of the Torah’s supernal root is exceedingly lofty, above all the worlds – it is the beginning and root of His Emanation, the secret and mystery of the divine supernal garment (as found in the Arizal’s writings). It then cascaded downward, as it were, until it illuminated the earth with its glory, and He delivered it and planted it within us so that we would hold and uphold the Tree of Life.
From that point on, the entire vitality and existence of all the worlds depends solely on the extent of our engagement in [Torah]. If we occupy ourselves with it and uphold and support it properly, without any slackening at all, we awaken the source of its supernal root – the source of holiness and blessing – to draw down added blessing, eternal life, and awesome holiness upon all the worlds, each world according to the measure of holiness it can bear. But if, G-d forbid, we occupy ourselves with Torah slothfully, the holiness and supernal light of the Torah contracts and diminishes in all the worlds, each according to its level, steadily waning, G-d forbid...
The Generation of the Flood, however, did not want to accept the Torah, and G-d desired to destroy the corrupted world...
11. Nefesh Hachayim, Sha’ar 4, ch. 26 and 32.
12. Torah does not heal only the soul; it can bring healing to the body as well.
Rabbi Chayim Kanievsky often guided people to learn specific tractates of Gemara whose study would help them in times of illness.
One father once came with his young son who suffered from severe hair loss. Doctors and treatments had done nothing, and the child was too embarrassed to go to cheder. Rabbi Chayim told the father: “This child was a nazir in a previous life who shaved unlawfully. Learn Masechet Nazir from beginning to end, and G-d will help.” The father learned it—and the boy’s hair began to grow back.
Another time, a yeshivah student was tormented by kidney stones. Rabbi Chayim told him simply, “Learn Masechet Makkot.” The reasoning wasn’t clear—some pointed to its discussions of stones; others noted that “Makkot” shares a numerical value with “kidneys,” according to Kabbalah.
The young man learned the masechet but saw no change. His rosh yeshivah explained that with Rabbi Chayim, one must learn both Bavli and Yerushalmi. So he continued, all while his doctors scheduled him for surgery.
The night before the operation, he was in the hospital finishing Yerushalmi Makkot, and finally at 10:00 a.m. he completed it.
At 11:00 they brought him into the operating room. When the surgeon checked him, he gasped in astonishment: the stones had passed painlessly while the boy was under anesthesia, and further imaging confirmed that everything was clear...