Mitzvah #5

To Fear G‑d

 (Deuteronomy 10:20)

Category:

Positive

Definition:

The commandment to fear going against G‑d’s will (Mitzvot) because there is accountability in this world.

Reason:

This Mitzvah is the rood of all negative Mitzvot (the Don’ts). When one fears G‑d, certainly they will not go against His will

Who/When/Where?

·        Must be kept by men and women

·        At all times and under any circumstance

·        At every moment of the day and night and at every turn in life.

How do I keep it?

Through contemplation on the idea that G‑d is King of the world one develops an awe of His greatness and a fear his wrath no less than we fear the wrath of a king of flesh and blood.

Details:

ü The transgression of certain Mitzvot pertaining to our relationship with G‑d is a transgression of this Mitzvah as well.

ü When taking an oath, only do so in the name of G‑d

ü Not to use G‑d’s name in vain

Chassidic Perspective:

There are two forms of fear, hinted at in the Hebrew names for Jerusalem.

1)    Yerushalayim- Composed of the words yirah, fear, and shalem, complete. Complete fear of G‑d.

The first type of fear comes from meditating on how this world and all other world were created from nothing to something with just a few words. A word, in relation to a person, is so insignificant, even more so in relation to G‑d. It follows that the whole world is rather insignificant in the real picture. This leads to a sense of awe, a sense of nothingness.

This is the feeling of something nullifying itself. An entity stopping to be. (The entity exists but when I contemplate the source of its existence it ceases to exist as an entity in its own right.)

2)    Tzion- (Zion) means sign or marker. It is not an entity on its own; its existence is merely to show you something else.  

When a person contemplates the greatness of G‑d’s transcendence of the world, the world becomes a non-entity, rather a “tzion”, a marker, a sign of something else. ‘I’ am nothing of my own.

This level of awe can only be achieved through our neshama- the Jewish soul. As a part of G‑d, it is truly not its own entity.