| From the Rabbi: Let's Talk About Fear and Love |
|
|
|
| Tuesday, 01 September 2009 09:34 |
|
IN HIS SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL MOSES SAID: And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul; (deut. 10; 12)
Why do we pray to have a fear of heaven? Our Rabbis told us that everything in our life is dictated in the power of heaven with one exception: whether a person has a fear of heaven or not. We believe that in this respect; we have the free choice to decide if we want to be G-d fearing people or not. Only we can develop this spiritual quality in ourselves .and by learning the Torah, we help ourselves to achieve this level. Fear, when approached from the right direction develops a perspective of awe, a feeling of wonderment and an appreciation for the majesty of that, of which you stand in awe. It is therefore a blessing. An analogy often sited in religious contexts is that a fear of Hashem should urge us to fear Hashem like a spouse who loves his/her partner and is beloved by them. They are not terrorized by their spouses wrath, but rather are in fear of doing anything that might result in loosing even a shred of the love that they so treasure and share with each other There are two levels of G-d fearing – the higher one is a sense of awe and reverence, because of love to HASEM which is difficult to achieve but the lower one (which many people have), is the fear of heaven because of the consequences and the punishment. All the best |




