Judaism :: The Real Fear

The verses in this weeks Torah portion Bereishit 32:7-8state: "The angels returned to Jacob saying, 'We came to yourbrother, to Esau, and he is also coming toward you, and fourhundred men are with him.' Jacob became very frightened and wasdistressed, so he divided the people who were with him and theflocks and the cattle and the camels into two camps.

" Rav Yerucham Levovitz, the great pre-WWII Mirrermashgiach enlightens us to the fact that Jacob surely wasnot afraid in the same terms that we would be afraid, but ratherhe was afraid that maybe he sinned and this in turn would leadto his downfall.

Rashi makes this clear in the following verse: "I have becomesmall from all the kindnesses and from all the truth that Youhave rendered Your servant, for with my staff I crossed thisJordan, and now I have become two camps." (Bereishit -Chapter 32:11) Rashi states: "Therefore, I fear lest I havebecome sullied with sin from the time that You promised me, andit will cause me to be delivered into Esau's hand."

The expression "and four hundred men are with him" tells us thatJacob's fear of sin was equal to the natural fear that a personhas of a thief or a dangerous animal. For Jacob, the fear of sinwas a reality and the only thing to fear.

The Talmud in Brachos 5b brings a story: Once fourhundred jars of wine belonging to R. Huna turned sour. Thescholars went in to visit him and said to him, "The master ought to examine his actions."

He said to them, "Am I suspect in your eyes?

" They replied, "Is the Holy One, blessed be He, suspect ofpunishing without justice?

" He replied, "If somebody has heard of anything against me, lethim speak out."

"We have heard that the master does not give his tenant hislawful share in the vine twigs," they replied.

"Does he leave me any? He steals them all!" he countered.

However they answered him, "That is exactly what the proverbsays, 'If you steal from a thief you also have a taste of it!'

" He then pledged to give it to him in the future. Some reportthat thereupon the vinegar became wine again; others that thevinegar went up so high that it was sold for the same price aswine.

The Lekach Tov asked, why didn't the sages inquire into thenatural reason for the wine turning sour? Is it true that everytime someone's wine goes bad that the reason is because of sin?

The answer is that there are no natural causes! Everything thathappens to use is because of our merits or because of our sins.

Our Rabbis taught: In a certain place there was once a lizardwhich used to injure people. They came and told R. Hanina b.Dosa. He said to them: Show me its hole. They showed him itshole, and he put his heel over the hole, and the lizard came outand bit him, and it died. He put it on his shoulder and broughtit to the Beth ha-Midrash and said to them: See, my sons, it isnot the lizard that kills, it is sin that kills! On thatoccasion, they said: Woe to the man whom a lizard meets, but woeto the lizard which R. Hanina b. Dosa meets! (GemaraBrachos 33a)

R. Ammi said: There is no death without sin, and there is nosuffering without iniquity. (Gemara Shabbath 55a)

This awesome and frightening idea can help bring us to newlevels in our fear of G-d and our fear of sin.

A glossary of non-English words can be found at the http://globalyeshiva.com/glossary.htm Global Yeshiva'sglossary.

About the Author:

Rabbi Eliyahu Mitterhoff is the director of the Global Yeshiva Torah & Judaism Research Community. He envisions the Global Yeshiva as a great and unprecedented historic opportunity to share, learn, teach and spread Torah on a global level.