Yom Kippur 5785

Recently I had the opportunity to study a deep and profound teaching from Rabbi Berezovsky, the last Slonimer Rebbe, who passed away around 24 years ago. In this teaching, the Slonimer focuses on a verse from the book of Deuteronomy: ‘And now, Israel, what does the LORD require of you, but to fear the LORD, to walk in all God’s ways, and to love God.’ (Deuteronomy 10:12) 

What is this fear that God demands from us? This is difficult for many of us. Many of us don’t relate to a God that demands to be feared. If I want to praise the creative force in the universe that manifests all the diversity, all the beauty and the elegance and even all the suffering, do I want to do so from a place of fear?  

In the Zohar, the foundational Jewish mystical text, it states that ‘[A] person who has fear of God does not lack anything.’ Additionally, in the book of Proverbs, the author informs us that ‘the fear of the Lord sustains life’ (Proverbs 14:27). 

Both yirah and pahad are Hebrew words for ‘fear’. But pahad describes a fear that invokes anxiety and terror, whereas yirah refers to a kind of wonder and then the awe that penetrates the very core of our being as we are overwhelmed by the magnitude and mystery of existence. 

This is the yirah fear that is transformed into a sense of awe is what Hassidic masters refer to as yirat adonai la chayim—fear/awe that sustains life. It is considered to be a very deep form of connection with the Divine. Yirat adonai la chaim—a sense of fear transformed into awe—is an awakening to the life- force that sustains all of Creation. My whole existence is dependent on this awesome life- force that is constantly creating, renewing, birthing, destroying. What’s more, I will never really comprehend it. This sense of awe and radical amazement awakens me to the pulsing miracle of life, a miracle that is constantly unfolding. Like the caterpillar that transforms into a glorious butterfly, fear/awe of God cocooned in our hearts can emerge as ahavah (deep love). 

Presently, it is painfully difficult to feel this ahavah (deep love). We are fast approaching the first yahrzeit (Hebrew date) of those Israelis and others who were brutally murdered on October 7th last year. It has been a difficult year for our people and almost impossible to turn the fear into radical amazement and love. We mourn together for those Israelis and for all those who have died in this war and pray for a lasting peace. It is not possible at this moment in time to let go of our anxiety, sadness and terror at what happened last year and what has unfolded in our communities since that day. Despite this may we all find the strength and courage during these Days of Awe and the coming year to plant the seed of awe and radical amazement in our hearts and lovingly nourish it so that it will manifest as a deep love and compassion inspiring all of us to do the holy work of tikkun, healing, of our broken hearts and the hearts of all who have suffered and continue to suffer during these tragic and tempestuous times.        

Gmar hatimah Tova v’ tizcu l’shanim rabot