"Your hands have made me and fashioned me; Job said (Job 10:8-9), 'Your hands have made me and fashioned me...Have You not poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.' Who has done all these things? David said, 'You are God, Your hands have made me and fashioned me.'
This vessel, when it is beautiful, who is praised? You say, 'The one who made it.' Thus, David said, 'I am the vessel and You are the craftsman who made me beautiful, so that people will praise You.' Therefore, it is said, 'Your hands have made me and fashioned me.'
Teach me, and I will learn Your commandments. David said, 'They do not put wine in a wine skin until they have first plastered it with plaster. So too, You have plastered me, and afterwards put wine in me.' Understanding is the plaster, and the Talmud is the wine.
'Give me understanding, and I will learn Your commandments.' (Proverbs 4:5) 'Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding.' (Proverbs 4:5) 'With all your acquisitions, acquire understanding.' (Proverbs 4:7) And it also says (Proverbs 1:2), 'To know wisdom and discipline, to perceive the words of understanding.' One who has wisdom but does not have understanding is like one who has bread but nothing to eat with it.
And one who has understanding but does not have wisdom is like one who has a dish but nothing to eat in it. But one who has both wisdom and understanding is like one who has bread and a dish, and can eat and be satisfied. Thus, David said, 'Bread is wisdom and the dish is understanding. And one who has neither is without anything.'
The custom of the world is that a person who receives a share of one hundred measures is nothing. Thus, it is said, 'Teach me, and I will learn Your commandments.'"