DEUT67 A Jew need not take part in a sports competition for the purpose of winning (See chapter, "Competition") in order to be active in sports. Sports can also be used as a means to exercise the body. Improving the health of the body is actually a religious act, one of the 613 Torah commandments, to protect one's body from harm [this verse, Deuteronomy 4:15]. One commentary quotes Maharsha, who asks why at the end of verse about protecting the safety of the body it also mentions that Jews should not have any idols or physical representations of God. What is the connection between these two diverse ideas in the same verse? He answers that just as converting a totally spiritual God into a physical being violates a religious Torah principle, so too, by ignoring and not protecting the physical representation that God gave them, Jews also violate a religious principle of the Torah (Orot HaChumash, Parshat Ve'etchanan 4:15). Thus, exercise of the body as a means to keep it healthy seems to be a religious act. Isaiah also taught that just as God guides souls to make them better and maximize them, so too God guides bodies to maximize them as well (Isaiah 58:11).