The Fear Of G-D and its Purpose | Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

FEAR OF GOD (Heb. yirat elohim, but in the Talmud yirat shamayim, lit. “fear of Heaven”), ethical religious concept, sometimes confused with yirat ?et, “the fear of sin,” but in fact quite distinct from it. The daily private prayer of Rav (Ber. 16a), which has been incorporated in the Ashkenazi liturgy in the Blessing for the New Moon, speaks of “a life of fear of Heaven and of fear of sin.” In the latter, “fear” is to be understood in the sense of apprehension of the consequences of sin but in the former in the sense of “reverence”; as such it refers to an ethical outlook and a religious attitude, which is distinct from the actual performance of the commandments. “Fear of God” frequently occurs in the Bible, particularly with regard to Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22:12), and it is mentioned as that which God primarily desires of man (Deut. 10:12). Nevertheless it does not seem to have an exact connotation in the Bible (see *Love and Fear of God), and it was the rabbis who formulated the doctrine of Fear of God with some precision. Basing itself on Leviticus 19:14 (and similar verses, e.g., 19:32, 25:17, 36:43), the Sifra (in loc. cf. Kid. 32b) maintains that the phrase “thou shalt fear thy God” is used only for those commandments which “are known to the heart” (“the sin is known to the heart of the person who commits it, but other men cannot detect it” – Rashi in loc.) i.e., there are no social sanctions attached to it, and the impulse behind its performance is reverence for God. This is, in fact, reflected in Exodus 1:17 and it is emphasized, from a slightly different aspect, in the famous maxim of Antigonus of *Sokho, “Be as servants who serve their master without thought of reward, but let the fear of heaven be upon thee” (Avot 1:3). It was spelled out by Johanan b. Zakkai, when on his deathbed he enjoined his disciples: “Let the fear of Heaven be upon you as the fear of flesh and blood.” In answer to their surprised query “and not more?” he answered, “If only it were as much! When a person wishes to commit a transgression he says, ‘I hope no man will see me'” (Ber. 28b). The characteristic of the God-fearing man is that he “speaketh truth in his heart” (Ps. 15:2; BB 88a). READ MORE