Best matches
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Vayelech 5752Volume 15 · Issue 5
Beyond the Protocols of Mercy
full scope of creation. It is truly beyond our conception. We become excited over what we consider colossal, which shrinks to nothing compared to the sages’ description of the smallest angel. And this terrifying and fearsome being quakes in fear because we are judged! All of creation knows the stakes—except for the litigants who wander about like cows in a meadow.
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Ki Sisa-Parah 5756Volume 17 · Issue 23
Many Pursued by One
second letters were sent, the royal decree remained and our lives were in danger. The downfall of Haman was yet meaningless. Not because of this were many people from the nations of the land converting (8:17). The fear of the Jewish People began to fall upon the nations only after the second letters were sent, seventy days later.
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Lech Lecha 5758Volume 19 · Issue 6
Blessed is the Place
Our masters reveal this as the underlying concept of the Mishnah (Avos 3:2), “Were it not for the fear of the ruling power, every man would consume his fellow alive.” By the Great Flood, God became settled as King eternally, and there is fear of the Kingdom. Man can no longer spread out and sit comfortably as though
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Vayechi 5760Volume 20 · Issue 16
Fortified Ascent
Fear of Israel
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Ki Sisa 5760Volume 20 · Issue 23
Governance of Unity
except as the Talmud states (Sotah 21a). “One who reaches the clear path is saved from all…. What is the clear path…? It is a Torah scholar and the day of death.” Without both, there is yet what to fear. The path is indistinct. There are pits and thorns and thistles and all kinds of trouble.
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Beshalach 5761Volume 21 · Issue 19
Crossing Over
For this, something more was needed—mortal terror, the tangible and real fear that the end is nigh. At the seashore, all of Israel stared death in the eyes. This was the necessary precondition for them to cross over the Sea of Reeds.
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Naso 5761Volume 21 · Issue 30
Between Man and His Fellow
Cited from the sages (cf. Reishis Chochmah, Shaar HaYirah chapter 12), a person is asked at the time of judgment, “Have you crowned your Maker as king over you morning and evening with fear and trepidation? Have you crowned your fellow over you with a complacent spirit?”
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Korach 5766Volume 2 · Issue 31
Complement of Peace
Thus, the Creator says through His prophet Yirmiyahu (5:22), “Will you not fear Me,”—the word of God, “Will you not tremble before Me Who has set sand as a boundary for the ocean?” I am the One Who holds back the ocean. Without Me, the waters would inundate you, not once
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Emor 5767Volume 3 · Issue 29
Torah: Passion of the Soul
“He said, “Master of the World, I fear lest they scathe me with the vapor of their mouths.””
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Emor 5769Volume 5 · Issue 24
Reflections of Sincerity
attribute of kindness, which spreads outward to all directions. Yitzchak Avinu personified the left line of conduct. He withdrew from all worldly matters and closed himself off from them. His was the attribute of trepidation and fear, which constricts inwards and shrinks within itself.
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Vayeitzei 5771Volume 7 · Issue 10
Spatial Awareness
…ity. This is indeed the law—it contained the Torah and one must stand in fear and dread in its presence. It is called the Ark of Your Invincibility (Tehillim 132:8), and it says of it (Bamidbar 10:35), “It was…
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Noach 5771Volume 7 · Issue 6
Eternal King
…ship necessitates justice, as it says (Mishlei 29:4), “Through justice, the king establishes the land.” With kingship, there is always the barest minimum of order, as the Mishnah states (Avos 3:2), “If not for the fear of kingship, a person would swallow his fellow alive.” During the Generation of the Flood, everything became distorted until the entire world was filled with corruption (Bereshis 6:13). Everyone overstepped his boundaries and entered the territory of his fellow
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Nitzavim 5772Volume 9 · Issue 4
Individual Truth
world, and he exists alone. What is his very first sensation? What do we imagine it to be?
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Tazri'a-HaChodesh 5774Volume 10 · Issue 29
Conflicting With Nature
would not exist. As long as they exist, they keep expanding. Hence, they are waters without end. Their end is not due to them but to an outside factor. Their end is the boundary that the Creator had placed.
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Korach 5774Volume 10 · Issue 36
Reconciliation of Conflict
land over the waters.” When we have the ability to walk, to take a single step, we must recite this blessing (Berachos 60b). The Creator spreads—in the present tense—the land over the waters constantly, without pause.
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Vayeira 5765Volume 10 · Issue 6
Emulative Progeny
…nai, Moshe Rabbeinu explains that God appeared to us (Shemos 20:17), “So that the fear of Him will be upon your faces to prevent you from sinning,” and the Talmud defines this fear as bashfulness (Nedarim 20a). In other words, while fear…
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Nitzavim-Vayelech 5774Volume 11 · Issue 4
New Year New Life
The Rambam writes (Hilchos Chanukah 3:6), “There is no Hallel on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, for they are days of repentance, fear, and trepidation, not days of excessive happiness.” Song is recited out of excessive happiness, and these are not days of excessive happiness.
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Yom Kippur 5775Volume 11 · Issue 5
Seal of Life
they stand” (Shabbos 88a). This in fact was the fulfillment of what it says, “From the heavens You sounded judgment.” But the verse itself continues, “The earth was fearful—and became tranquil.” Immediately subsequent to the judgment, there was fear, but then there was tranquility.
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Vayeishev 5748Volume 12 · Issue 11
Exalted Language
…merited what it says (Tehillim 25:14), “The secret of God is to those who fear him.” This is not a recommendation for anyone to study the passage inside; we will merely cite the relevant part, which can be found in…
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Lech Lecha 5776Volume 12 · Issue 7
Unnatural Catastrophe
…ercifulness, shamefacedness, and benevolence.” These traits correspond to the Fathers—mercifulness to Yaakov, benevolence to Avraham, and shamefacedness to Yitzchak, as it says (Shemos 20:17; Nedarim 20a; cf. Maharal Nesiv HaBushah chapter 1), “So that the fear of Him will be upon your faces to prevent you from sinning,” and the Talmud defines this fear—fear that is visible on the face—as shamefacedness. I am ashamed to become so degraded to transgress a commandment outright.
