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Acharei-Kedoshim 5747Volume 13 · Issue 28
Series of Fasts
With this, we can understand an allusion of our great cabbalistic masters of whom it says (Tehillim 25:14), “The mystery of God is for those who fear Him.” For us, allusions are insufficient and an explanation is necessary.
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Ki Savo 5758Volume 13 · Issue 3
Of Circles and Lines
The reason this does not happen is that the Creator established a border for the waters. “You set a boundary that they cannot cross, they cannot return to cover the earth” (Tehillim 104:9). “Will you not fear Me, says God, will you not tremble before Me, Who has set sand as a boundary for the ocean” (Yirmiyahu 5:22).
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Behar-Bechukosai 5747Volume 13 · Issue 30
Counting to the Uncountable
himself must be beyond measure. He must escape his limited realm and identify with his “I.” This indeed is how the sea splits. When he does so, the sea does not frighten him and he has nothing to fear. For this reason, the external form by which he can survive in the sea—a ship, oniyah—is called by the root word ani, I.
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Shelach 5747Volume 13 · Issue 34
Books of Journeys and Numbers
…Torah (Devarim 34:12), “And for all the mighty hand and for all the great fear that Moshe brought about to the sight of all of Israel.” And the second verse, “And when it rested…,” contains seven words like the first…
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Balak 5747Volume 13 · Issue 36
Cultivating the Negative
When the light of day begins to wane and disappear, there is a unique prayer. This prayer is called Minchah. Of our prayers, it says (Tehillim 72:5), “They shall fear You with the rising sun and before the moon throughout all generations.” The prayer with the rising sun is the Morning Prayer and the prayer before the moon is the Afternoon Prayer (cf. Berachos 29b; Rashi). It is the prayer
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Pinchas 5747Volume 13 · Issue 37
Attestation of Greatness
“There is none like You God. You are great and Your name is great, in might. Who would not fear You, King of the nations? For it befits You. For among all the wise of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You….”
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Mattos-Masei 5747Volume 13 · Issue 38
Hand to Hand
seen the epitome of the destruction, its deepest and final implementation, its worst imaginable devastation—at the time. Foxes roam the place of which it says, “And the outsider that approaches shall die.” It is a place of fear and trepidation.
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Sukkos 5746Volume 13 · Issue 5
Journey to Sukkos
…ighteous, and exiled Israel from their land—and he yet dances among us.” There was fear and concern lest they meet the same end as the first heritage, Heaven forbid. “He yet dances among us.” This was the reason that they…
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Vayeira 5761Volume 13 · Issue 8
Divine Providence and Governance
what it says (Iyov 36:7), “He never removes His eyes from one who is righteous.” And there are many verses on this, as it says (Tehillim 33:18), “Indeed, the eye of God is to those who fear Him,” and other such verses.”
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Ki Savo 5749Volume 14 · Issue 2
Unfettered Transformation
Our standard perception of the shofar is quite different. It speaks of other concepts. It comes to awaken, to remind, to instill fear. “If the shofar is sounded in the city, shall the nation not be terrified” (Amos 3:6). Yet here we find that it particularly relates to freedom. This is not the plain understanding of the shofar. Of all the many different
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Bamidbar 5750Volume 14 · Issue 29
Our Path and Stride
These are two extremes. Kindness is about expanding outwardly, whereas justice is about constricting inwardly. In contrast to kindness, which finds expression in love and bonding, justice finds expression in fear and reticence.
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Chukas 5750Volume 14 · Issue 33
Disproportionate Space
blame for this evil? Who are you and from where do you hail? What is your occupation and from which nation are you?”
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Rosh Hashanah 5749Volume 14 · Issue 4
Breath of Life
We recite Verses of Kingship to enthrone God as King over us—and over the entire world through us. This indeed is our prayer. “Place the fear of You over all Your works…, all that You have created…, all creations…, and let all of them become one society to perform Your Will wholeheartedly.”
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Noach 5750Volume 14 · Issue 6
Existential Necessity
We are well aware—and experience bears it out at every turn—that wherever the world considers itself stronger and its existence firmer, wherever it is so perfectly organized that it seems it has nothing to fear, the opposite is revealed.
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Toldos 5752Volume 15 · Issue 10
Road to Eternity
right. It is not among the Four Kingdoms. The Ibn Ezra is the one opinion of the earlier commentators who considers it the Fourth Kingdom itself. But the Ramban (Bamidbar 24:20) derides him and states that the fear of this kingdom had fallen upon him. All our earlier and later masters concur that Yishmael is its own kingdom.
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Vayishlach 5752Volume 15 · Issue 12
Implemented Truth
This is what happened to the great and powerful Nebuchadnezzar. He was terrifying; his fear was cast upon the entire world. None dared not to bow to the idol he set up in the plains of Dura (Daniel 3:1), even when he was not present. Yet he prostrated himself before Daniel.
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Mishpatim 5752Volume 15 · Issue 20
Rational Decision
In our current state, the great trial we face is not the negation of the Event of Mount Sinai. No one has the power to take it away from us. The real concern and great fear is from alternatives to it. Many other seemingly equal options are offered and we must choose. We are the judges and it is our decision. But no calculation in the world, even with mathematical precision, has the power to decide between
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VaYakhel-Shekalim 5752Volume 15 · Issue 24
The Hollow Pit
Rashi cites this and explains, “It will not be called by another name, but by the first name it had ever since Avraham bound Yitzchak there. He had called it Yirah, when its name had been Shaleim, forming Yerushalayim.” In other words, Jerusalem will continue to be its name.
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Ki Savo 5751Volume 15 · Issue 3
Paradoxical Trajectory
where we are meant to reach, and where will in fact reach. They reveal all the goodness in store for us, as in (Tehillim 31:20), “How great is Your goodness that You have stored for those who fear You.” They declare that all the destructions were necessary to reach this, to create the pathway to the Ultimate Future
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Bamidbar 5752Volume 15 · Issue 31
Engraved Portion
The principle attributes of the heart, the fathers of the attributes, are the first three. Greatness means kindness or love, where the will is focused outward. Might is the attribute of fear or hate, where the will is focused inward. If we meet someone we love, we run toward him. If he is someone we would rather not meet, we recoil and shrink inward, we want to bury ourselves—and prefer that
