Nishmas Day 26 - Mrs. Chanie Juravel | Hashem's Fear
, וְכָל לְּבָבוֹת יִירָאוּךָ, וְכָל קֶרֶב וּכְלָיוֹת יְזַמְּרוּ לִשְׁמֶך
And all hearts will fear You, and every soul will sing praise to Your name.
When we think of fear, we usually think of something paralyzing and uncomfortable, not singing in praise.
As Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski writes in one of his books, Yirah means fear. But grammatically, yiras Hashem does not mean “fear of Hashem.” The literal translation is “Hashem’s fear.”
What does Hashem fear?
Imagine a young child who wants to ride his bike. His mother tells him, “Wear a helmet and stay on the side of the road. Otherwise, no bike riding for two weeks.”
The child’s fear is losing bike privileges. The mother’s fear is something entirely different. She’s afraid of a concussion, of injury, of something far worse.
The child and the mother are both afraid, but they are afraid of completely different things.
We also live with many fears. We fear not getting what we want: the parnassah, the peace, the shidduch, the brachos we so badly long for.
But what is Hashem’s fear? That we won’t build a real relationship with Him. That we’ll go through life without realizing how deeply loved we are, how valuable we are to Him. That we won’t let Him into our lives and experience how much lighter life becomes when we stop carrying everything alone and learn to lean on Him.
When a person begins to truly know Hashem through learning about Him, davening to Him, emulating Him, and building a relationship with Him, then –
וְכָל לְּבָבוֹת יִירָאוּך — “all hearts will fear You.”
Not fear in the sense of panic or distance, but Hashem’s fear. We begin to fear losing that closeness. We become afraid of living without that connection.
And that fear doesn’t lead to paralysis. It leads to love. To longing. To song.
וְכָל קֶרֶב וּכְלָיוֹת יְזַמְּרוּ לִשְׁמֶךָ — our hearts and our deepest selves begin to sing to Him.
