Are We Supposed to be Afraid of G‑d? (II)
 | 
Question:
I was brought up with a perception of G‑d as an intimidating figure to be afraid of. I embraced Judaism which I understood as seeing G‑d as more loving and forgiving, but I've noticed in Jewish sources references to G‑d as being something also to fear. This is conjuring up all the negative feelings toward religion from my childhood. Can you shed some light on this "fear of G‑d"?
Answer:
I think this is a translation issue. The word "fear" conjures an image of something scary, like a haunted house, or a dark alley, or a parking cop. I understand why you would recoil from a religion that promotes fear. We should not feel about G‑d what we feel towards a bogey man.
Indeed there is a concept in Judaism called yir'at shamayim, translated as "fear of heaven." But fear misses the true meaning of the word. A better word would be respect.
While love must be a primary motivating factor in our life, we also need a healthy dose of respect. The difference between love and respect is that when I love, I am preoccupied with my feelings toward you; when I respect, I am focusing on your presence rather than mine. Love is my desire to approach you. Respect is my deference to your otherness, your right to be who you are.
When you love someone but do not respect them, it ends up being all about you. The other is simply an object of your love, their opinion is not taken seriously, and they are not treated as a real being. Someone who loves their spouse but does not respect them never leaves space for the other to really exist. If you love your parents without respecting them, then you actually don't have parents, just good buddies. A friend whom you don't really respect is no more than a convenient accessory to keep you company when you are in the mood.
Respect means acknowledging someone else as being a valid and important being, to be listened to and honored. It means looking up to someone and realizing that there are things about the other person that we just have to accept, like it or not. Put simply, respect means taking someone else seriously.
So we love G‑d, we feel close and intimate with Him, but we also respect that He is G‑d, a real being, with expectations and demands. He is our parent whom we love, but He is also a king whom we must obey. It is this awe and respect that prevents us from thinking that G‑d is just an extension of our own ego, a being that we can bend and stretch to fit in to our own image of Him.
Respect, not fear. There's no bogey man. Apart from parking cops, there's nothing to be afraid of.
| |
|
Latest Comments:
Anyone who declares that the infinite G-d cannot be known and then shouts that the majority of people are WRONG about Him, is himself wrong. What is true as you say is that Jews are all on different spiritual levels. There is no way of knowing if your level is higher or lower, more knowing or less. Although fulfilling the mitzvah of writing a Torah scroll would get my notice, but that's just me. The High Holiday Avinu Malkeinu applies to all of us. I would venture to say equally since we all read every single sin, and more than once. Some people put Avinu Malkeinu on a higher level that Kol Nidre. I wouldn't judge.
Want to be a good Jew ? Be more righteous. Be more magnanimous. Love your fellow Jew. Do not be judgmental. That is, unless you have written a Torah scroll.
|
Abraham smashed idols before he knew or understood what G-d was all about. Everything including creation began with an act. Every Jew is on a different spiritual level, and what joins us as a people is what we do to make this world a dwelling place for G-d. The one who laid the foundation stone may not have know why, or the end result, but by doing this simple thing, the Temple was built. The Baal Shemtov went out to instruct people on what to do, and left the rest in the study hall. When I ask my son to wash the car, I am less concerned as to his feelings, and more concerned that the job gets done. People believe many things about G-d, and most of them are WRONG due to our inability as finite beings to understand the infinite. Want to be a good Jew, then do what a good Jew is supposed to do according to Torah. Maybe belief and faith will follow, maybe not, but at least the job will get done. Baruch Hashem.
|
May our fast bring insight to a life of fear we have yet experienced.
Shavua Tov ve Shabbat Shalom.
|
On erev Shabbat, the pinnacle of the service is the joyous Lecha Dodi. We enter into a marriage with our Bride. A marriage involving fear is not love. Many spins and metaphors are put on fear. We fear our parents. We fear a stop sign. We fear to look both left and right before crossing. On and on goes the soft pedaling of fears. I reject these machinations. When we talk of our individual relationship with G-d, I reject the creative crop of similes. Love awe respect reverence are my guiding lights. Try the following mantra : Is what I am about to do make G-d smile, make Him happy ? Stick with that. It is written in Chumash : Fear G-d and 1000 generations will be rewarded. Love G-d with all your heart and all your might and 2000 generations will be rewarded. Interestingly, it is not written that love and fear of G-d will reward 3000 generations.
It isn't rocket science. Choose your own path. I have chosen mine. I'll work at the marriage, not with fear.
|
When it comes to the mitzvos of love and fear of G-d, there ought to be a bodily sensation, that the very flesh of the heart actually feel (the love or the fear); just as, for example, when one meets a truly devoted friend. Not only does he feel good and forget all his troubles, he even enjoys a newly-awakened inner liveliness and optimism - all stemming from his cheerful mood.
So too, with fear of G-d, he is seized by a great dread and fright, for at that moment he recalls whatever was undesirable in his thought, words and deeds. His heart feels a palpable pain from his dread of punishment, his fear of Heaven. At times, he may experience yiras boshes - an overwhelming shame, or yiras ha'romemus, awe of G-d's transcendent majesty. (Hayom Yom 20 Av)
This article seems watered-down to me.
|
Dear Yehuda your reply is very appropriate for those who know the 13 principles, the 10 Commandments, and the Noahide laws. As it is said, "this thing is close to you that you may do it." Faith and belief is in fact not an easy thing, and difficult for people in this self centered and idol worshipping world. Performing a mitzvah or commandment at the beginning does not require belief, understanding, or Kavanah (intent). Its one wing will carry it upwards and cause a rise in the doer's spiritual state. Do first, and by doing you will reconnect the channel that connects to G-d. It is by doing that one gains understanding, faith, and eventually love and fear of G-d. For within every Jew is a great hidden love for G-d, which can be awakened only with Torah study, performing of mitzvot, charity, and following the commandments. SO, when that Chabad outreach person comes by the Teffillin, put them on, on Friday night light a candle, and on Saturday stay home with your family... you will change!
|
Much is made of the differences between "fear," "love," "respect," and "awe" in the comments. I submit that it is all four. They are complimentary concepts and not mutually exclusive of each other.
I love my parents. I also respect them. Sometimes, I'm even in awe of them, as they display wisdom beyond my understanding. Now that I am an adult, I no longer fear them, but as a child, I feared their power to punish me.
Similarly, I love and am in awe of God, who has created this fabulous universe, loved me enough to put me here, and provide for all my needs.
I respect God and am in awe of his complete wisdom and control of the events of my life that teach me so much.
Nonetheless, I also fear God, not because he is "vengeful," but because his commandments are eternal and always right. Therefore, when I depart from them, I suffer. This fear of suffering as a result of my own stubbornness causes me to respect God and his commandments. That causes me goodness, for which I love him.
|
Its a beautiful expression of Judaism to read all the comments, that offer differing and sometimes conflicting opinions - that are made with such respect for each other. It is apparent that we are "arguing for the sake of heaven."
Understanding "Yirah" (fear) challenges us to explore our internal relationship with the Holy One Blessed Be He - a very good thing. We wrestle to harmonize what we think with how we feel and how we act. We all have pockets of confusion or conflict. We don't discover them and work them out until we try to express ourselves in words, and open ourselves to understanding others.
We ought to consider "yirah" as it exists in its manifestations through the Four Worlds, and its polarity (i.e, a spectrum that contains two extremes that co-exist, much like the different ends of a bar magnet) within each world.
We need to also consider how we are "accountable" to the Holy One Blessed Be He in this World and in Olam Ha-Bah, the Next World.
|
I don't think the word "respect" is an accurate translation for yira.
The Hebrew word for respect is kavod as in "Honor-give respect to your father and mother." There is, in fact, a separate mitzva to fear one's father and mother which includes laws like not contradicting them, not sitting in their designated place, etc.
I suspect that the word "respect" is used here because it's a popular word these days, in the sense of "tolerance" - respecting other viewpoints and the like (or at least paying lip service to respecting other's viewpoints). I looked up the definition of awe and found: A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by authority, genius, great beauty, sublimity, or might. That sums it up!
To reduce "fear of Heaven" to taking G-d seriously does not do justice to the concept! The story of the men who ran the gauntlet and paused to pick up their fallen kippot is about "yirat shomayim" not about "taking G-d seriously!"
|
I'd like to respond to Dr. Hamburger who wrote, "Judaism is about doing, and in fact one does not have to believe in G-d at all to be a good Jew, he simply has to act as if G-d exists!" This is incorrect. Judaism is about believing and doing. There are thirteen Principles of Faith, and belief in G-d is a fundamental aspect of being a Jew. It's the first of the 10 Commandments. Gentiles too, need to believe in G-d. It's one of the 7 Noahide Laws.
|
|
|  |
|
|
Showing 11 - 25 of 75
|
|
|
LOGIN
ASK THE RABBI
19 Comments
