In discussing the reason for the destruction of the first Temple, the verse (Yirmiyahu 9:11-12) states:
“Why is the land ruined (and) withered like a wilderness, without anyone passing through? And the Lord said: (It is) because they have forsaken My Torah, which I set before them, and have not hearkened to My voice, nor walked by it.”
The Talmud (Bava Metzia 85b) explains, that although the Jewish people surely studied Torah, “they did not first utter a benediction over the Torah before studying it.”
Reb Mendel of Kotzk explained this to mean that their primary problem was that their study was without the intention of action—instead, they learned for the pursuit of Torah itself. It was for this reason that the land was laid ruin.[1]
[1] Emet Mkotzk Titzmach Pg. 89
