Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Real fear, real love


Aeter with R' Paltiel 10/20/09 Tuesday 2 MarChesvan 5770 P:PayGimmel


About a 3rd from the top - line starts bechinat morah gadol – about a 3rd down the page pay gimmel.


Midot come from sechel that then define specific pathways – ahvah and yirah – that went through a complete process of sechel and then the midot themselves were defined in a proper way. This is the normal process of midot.


The yirah ilah however reflects the aspect of chochmah - it has thus gilui mehus haor. This is in contrast to how it is in binah, where it is translated to the level of sechel. Chochmah, on the other hand is not disconnected from the source. Thus it is gilui mehus ha ohr. Chochmah has the sense of “how it is” in contrast to “how I understand it”.


Yirah in the nefesh is not a reaction (in contrast to: something happens and we're scared of what will happen) – inherently there is yirah since it is the recognition that elokus is of a different realm from briah.


So in chochmah the yirah is due to mehus ha-ohr – due to what it is itself.


In knowing elokus there are stages. Avraham avinu's first question was “who is moving things/planets in my world?” and he came to the answer that the mover is outside the world, then he transferred his attention to understanding G-d himself. At this level, G-d is not the one who moves planets – he is himself. And Avraham was doing Avodat Hashem – this is the start of chochmah.


This is a yirah not bounded by metziut of the man, but how it is unto himself.

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