GEN267 … values and ideas are at the heart of what it means to be a person and a Jew, and yet we live in a world of objects and forces. Thoughts and values can become part of our lives only if they are somehow translated into a world of concrete objects.  Law does that.  It coordinates ideas and values with specific patterns of action that express them.  In so doing, law enables us to make them an active part of our lives. So, for example, providing for the poor, as demanded and delineated in Jewish law, is no longer exclusively a matter of emotion or a pious but ephemeral idea; it is instead the value that requires us to provide food, shelter, and clothing for others as we teach them how to support themselves. Obeying this command can be a reminder of our obligations to God and of the ways in which the Jewish tradition pushes us toward its ideals. Ritual laws function in the same way. So, for example, God’s creation of the world is not restricted to the world of metaphysical principles when the Sabbath laws transform that tenet into a special day to experience its import in what we say and do. The laws requiring Jews to perform specific acts on the Sabbath and refrain from others make up the principal part of our consciousness and behavior. We not only think about God’s continuing ownership of everything and everyone but experienced the ramifications of it. With that principle embedded in our minds throughout the week, we are less likely to take the world for granted and more likely “to use it and safeguard it” [this verse].  DORFFDRAG 274