. . . The animal soul has an animal world view. It is concerned with creature comforts and physical security. It wants to spend its "energy" (i.e. the calories it has extracted from food throughout the day) on immediate gratifications and sensual pleasures. It is a bit of a miser and resists having to "shell out" for the Divine soul, who always wants to engage in activities with longer term, intangible returns (like mitzvot).
. . . Meditation calms but does not actually transmute the animal level of self. This is accomplished only by action, by forcing the animal soul to actively serve the Divine. The 613 mitzvot represent the science of right action as it applies to a human being. In this way the body becomes programmed to act in accordance with spiritual law as defined by Torah and mitzvot.

. . . A mitzvah is a moment in time that has maximum potential for spiritual work. A human being, performing a mitzvah, becomes a conduit between the heavens and the earth. His soul touches the highest heights by consciously willing to serve G-d through performing this deed, while his body becomes nothing but a limb and extension of Divine will.

. . . Until halacha touches a particular thing, it exists as an independent, self-contained entity, apart from the cosmic irrigation system (as defined by Torah) that draws Divine beneficence into the physical world. Only once it enters the visual field of Jewish law, and its role in the cosmic scheme is defined by halachic discussion . . . only then is it patched back into the fabric of cosmic unity that was shredded by the sin of Adam.

. . . As a person acquires more knowledge about Judaism and begins to experiment with its various practices, he will automatically come to a deeper appreciation of its profundity. The mitzvot and their explanations will speak for themselves. The wisdom and power of the Tradition is so internally elegant that it will win your heart in gentle and satisfying ways. Just keep learning. Just stay willing to hear what it has to say. Don't worry about whether you agree or not with its "dogma," or whether its practice interests you at all. The most important thing is to keep up a regular program of Torah study.

FINAL QUESTIONS