Since people are created in God’s image, their deepest desire is to invest their lives and actions with meaning and enduring value. To address this need, God gave Israel the Torah, which contains divine guidance for living a good, blessed, and meaningful life. The Sages tell us that the world’s existence is dependent upon the Torah. God created the world on the condition that the Jews would accept the Torah when it would be given. Should they refuse, the world would return to chaos. Without the Torah to reveal eternal, divine values, the world could not exist.
