It is well known that, in a certain sense, the edicts of the Rabbis are more severe than laws of the Torah, for whoever transgresses the words of the Sages is liable for death. There are, unfortunately, some people who take the Sages words lightly, since they think they are wiser than the Rabbis. If they would but have enough intelligence, they would understand that all the words of the Sages are everlasting and are not annullable; no one has any authority to decide for themselves. For example, the Sages’ enactment that prohibited milk that was milked by a gentile without the supervision of a Jew — although the reason for the prohibition is that there is a concern that the gentile will mix in a quantity of milk from a non-kosher animal, nevertheless an individual may not decide for himself that he is confident that in this particular batch of milk no non-kosher milk was added. Rather, it is forbidden to drink it, and one who transgresses the words of the Sages on this matter and drank milk that was milked by a gentile — even if in fact none of it contained milk from a non-kosher animal — some say the person’s status is the same as one who ate un-slaughtered meat. For in addition to whatever obvious rationales the Sages provided for their edicts they also had other, addition reasons that they did not always divulge. We may therefore not veer from their words neither right not left, for the Spirit of Hashem spoke through them. But the person who heeds them will dwell in tranquility and peace, without worry or fear, and he will find favor in the eyes of God and Man. Whereas, the person who violates their words deserves to forfeit his life, even if his only sin is that he did not heed the words of the Sages and their good counsel. The mitzvah of heeding their words is a merit that will protect him and make him successful in all his ways. Amen.