Broken Pipes

Winter brings with it many inconveniences: colds, delayed travel, the need to bundle up, protecting plants and pets, keeping home and hearth heated, shorter days and greater stress.A "winter problem" in the coldest climates is broken pipes. Of course, water lines can break any time of the year. But broken pipes occur most often in the winter. That's why the advice to "let the water run" - a tiny stream or steady drip, so that the water flows through the tubes and doesn't freeze - works in all kinds of climates.
There's a spiritual analogy to the "broken pipes" problem. Our Sages tell us that wisdom is compared to water. For one thing, water, like the intellect, flows from above to below. But, as just mentioned, water must flow through (and into) containers. Without the proper system, without pipes and sealed joints, water leaks out and literally floods everything. Instead of being available for cooking, cleansing, etc., as water is when properly channeled, it ruins everything.
The analogy is clear: if we do not channel our knowledge properly, if we do not use our minds for the proper things, we will "flood" ourselves out - wallow in indulgence and excuses. Because water, in a spiritual sense, is the source of growth, and therefore, if not properly channeled, the source of excess; an unrestrained "flow of water" leads to rot, mildew and decadence.
This is why we have to be careful when it comes to intellectual pursuits. When exploring "new territory" it's important to lay the groundwork, so to speak, to prepare the channels, secure the points of transitions (the joints), so that the "water" flows properly.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the study of Torah, which the Sages compare specifically to water. As we pursue our knowledge of Judaism, it's often too easy to go "outside the channels," to follow the "path of least resistance," which usually leads to a break in our system of transmission.
Unfortunately, that "break" won't become evident until there's a "freeze" - an interruption in one's involvement, a slowing down or cooling off of enthusiasm for things Jewish. And that happens, because the "cold weather," the "winter times" of life - issues of a livelihood, etc., - make movement of any kind hard. It's harder to "warm up" to things Jewish.
At all times, but especially at such times, we need to keep the "water" - the Torah study - flowing. But it has to flow through the proper channels - the teachings of Torah that has been passed down from generation to generation.
There's a reason Jewish tradition has a "flow chart" - from the Torah through the Prophets and Talmud and Commentators such as Rashi and Codifiers and Philosophers such as Maimonides through the centuries of accepted tradition, to our own day with Chasidut. Studying Torah through the system established by our Sages keeps the "water" flowing and prevents "broken pipes."