Mitzvos I spoke with my new friend about the meaning of mitzvos. Some will simply tell you that you have to keep Shabbos, have to keep kosher, have to observe the laws of family purity, have to keep all the commandments. If only they would go further. I've often thought of it like this: It is as if each Jew is given a great staff, reaching from the ground to almost the heavens. Whenever we do a positive mitzvah, we raise this staff and pierce the Heavens and Hashem sends His Divine Light through this opening in the spiritual cosmos. And if, G-d forbid, we violate a prohibition, it is as if we thrust our staff into the dust at our feet, rupturing the shield between us and the forces of evil. The light in our realm descends below, feeding the denizens of the other side, and the sewage of that ungodly universe seeps in to despoil our own. Of course we may not always see the light entering from above, for it may shine upon another -- a sickened child, a struggling father, a lost stranger. It may shine upon them and ease their way, leaving us unaware of the benefits of the light we let in. Likewise, we may not always know the damage caused by our callous disregard for G-d's will. So this is a point of pivotal concern: To understand that our task is important, and that G-d has made it so -- to strive to pierce the Heavens, to preserve the light, until this Divine Ohr illuminates the path to our Redemption. Shoshana's Page