. . . The Jewish way does not easily lend itself to popularization for several reasons. First, it is mistrustful of that very experience which has become the selling point of most commercially successful ventures in the human potential movement. Judaism insists that one seek truth and not the experience of truth. The "high" that often accompanies spiritual practices (and becomes the stated or unstated goal of many) is, from a Jewish perspective, the point of failure. It is the point of lapsing back into self consciousness (as opposed to G-d consciousness). For this reason, the traditional Jewish world is largely unimpressed by dramatic catharsis and psychic phenomena.

. . . Every act of giving is an expression of relationship. The success (or power) of the gesture is measured by the degree of union it engenders. The sages teach that in a situation where one responds to a stated demand or request, the opportunity for intimacy is greater than otherwise. In addition to the act ofgiving, which establishes relationship in both cases, a further barrier to closeness is removed when one pushes aside the ego which initially resisted the command.

. . . The Midrash teaches that Abraham derived all the mitzvot by studying the natural world and plumbing the depths of his own soul. If "HaShem looked into the Torah and created the world," then all the information is theoretically there, within the fabric of creation. That means that one who can read the language of living symbols, and can penetrate to the heart of all that he studies, could thereby discover all the principles of spiritual law and derive all the practices of Torah.
. . . Yet, though Abraham's service was perfect, the highest spiritual levels Remained inaccessible to him simply because his devotions were self-initiated except for the commandment of circumcision and the binding of Yitzchak). He had no means of going beyond his self -- of conquering the last frontier, the final and most subtle veil between the physical and the spiritual, between himself and his Creator. This last leap was only possible once the Torah was revealed. At Sinai G-d's explicit will illuminated every dimension of life, specifying not only the thought, but also the speech and deed by which daily living can become simultaneously an act of Divine service.

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