“Prior to Mattan Torah, the spiritual was spiritual, the physical was physical, and the two did not in any way impact one on another. The novel development at Har Sinai was that Hashem delegated to Am Yisrael the power to interfere with spirituality through their involvement with physicality.

After this moment, whenever a Jew puts on tefillin, not only does he do a physical act with a couple of boxes some straps and parchments of Torah, he actually causes a spiritual change. Furthermore, when Jews behave in a manner consistent with Torah and mitzvos they actually cause a spiritual change for the benefit of all mankind. When they do not so behave, they interfere negatively to the loss of mankind.” ~ The Lubavitcher Rebbe