To Fear The Crown

"את ד' א-לוקיך תירא אותו תעבוד ובו תדבק ובשמו תשבע"

[דברים י:כ]

"Your G-d, Hashem, you shall fear. Him you should worship. To Him you shall cleave and in His name shall you take an oath." [Devarim 10:20]

Yiras Hashem is a confusing thing. One could (mistakenly) assume that to demonstrate complete awe of the grandeur of the One Above means to be stupefied into a respectful silence. When faced with something of immeasurable greatness we would naturally be overawed and withdraw.

The Passuk comes to teach us that this kind of passive avoidance cannot be considered true Yiras Hashem. Coupled with a healthy fear of the majesty of heaven, we should feel an incredible attraction. Our job is not to avoid involvement with Hashem for fear of messing it up – our job is to specifically engage in acts that mention Hashem's name – just to do it right !

Imagine someone who fears making a beracha with less that the proper kavanna – so they don’t make any berachos at all ! It is obvious that they are missing the point ! For this reason the passuk stresses that we should take oaths in Hashem's name. If we were to avoid it entirely one could assume it is because we do not think that Hashem's name is significant enough to swear by (chas veShalom !) But by stressing that we should swear in G-d's name we are declaring it as being worthy of that awe.

Since we do not take oaths nowadays – how can we apply this lesson ? By focusing on aspects of our avodas Hashem. Do we make berachos quietly out of respect or reverence – or is it because we do not take pride in our level of devotion ? Is our davening relegated to a quiet corner – let it be because of our concentration.

May we have much hatzlacha in our endeavors to properly serve Hashem – finding the balance between withdrawing due to yiraa and embracing out of ahava.