Each person knows the foreign thoughts that cook in his heart the whole year during Torah study and prayer. If only the heart were a vessel of copper, [that requires] scrubbing and rinsing [to become pure].¹ For, unfortunately, an earthenware vessel does not release [its impurities] and must be broken.² 30b. Metal vessels can be easily koshered of non-kosher foodstuffs they may have absorbed; ceramic vessels, however, cannot be koshered, and must be broken. “A broken and a contrite heart, O G‑d, You will not despise” (Psalms 51:19). *Kesser Shem Tov,*part 2, p. 22a

footnotes: ¹ Leviticus 6:21. ² Pesachim