Rabbi Chaim Halberstam – the Tzanzer Rebbe – interpreted the following verse from Proverbs [25, 2]:
“It is the honor of God to conceal things, but the honor of kings is to examine things.”
If a person wants to learn the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to know how many worlds and sefirot there are – that is called “the honor of God” – and even when this is in order to know the greatness of God’s glory – regarding this, the verse says “conceal things.”
However, if one wants to learn this wisdom in order to know how to accord kingship to God; how to worship Him with proper intention; how to sanctify
the 248 organs of the body; and how to become a vehicle for holiness – this is the “honor of kings” and regarding this, the verse says “examine things.”
The above statement regarding the proper intention for “examining things” – that is, learning Kabbalah – appears in the introduction to the book “The Sayings of Yosef ” written by Rabbi Yosef Meir Weiss, the Spinka Rebbe. Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag inscribed it on the binding of his book “Birkat Shalom.”
Translator’s addition:
All of the above is a translation of the inside cover on several of Rabbi Gottlieb’s books. This is how I would briefly state the message: Seeking intellectual knowledge of the Kabbalah without working toward a transformation of character brings dishonor to God. That is, it reduces God to the level of any other object of intellectual inquiry.