Yiras ha’Onesh, Yiras ha’Romemus

So maybe we'll continue some of the inyanim we've been talking about in the Ramban shiur. We'll begin maybe by reading a paragraph here bezras Hashem blineder in Sha'arei Or from Rav Itzel Blazer. If you see in the bottom of the right-hand column, the paragraph dibbur hamaschil Umnam.

אומנם אם כי תכלית יראת השם הוא בוודאי מדרגה הגבוהה של יראת הרוממות.

Well, maybe we'll begin, let's begin, let's backtrack to the second line from the top here. Hinei yaduah.

הנה ידוע כי יש שתי בחינות ביראת השם יתברך שמו.

There are two different dimensions or aspects of yiras Hashem.

וחכמי היראה והמוסר יכנו אותם בשם יראת העונש ויראת הרוממות. עיין בספר חובת הלבבות וזה לשונו והיראה על שני פנים. אחד מהם יראת עונשו וניסיונו והשני יראה לכבודו ורוממותו ועוצם גבורתו ואינשו.

It, I don't know if it corresponds exactly, but... but pretty well matches up with the difference between fear and awe. Fear is generated by the vulnerability a person feels. That's what generates fear. And awe is not because of vulnerability, it's just the encounter with what or whom inspires that awe, who instills that awe.

וכן כתב בספר מסילת ישרים פרק כד שכתב וזה לשונו יש יראת העונש וזהו המין האחד ויש יראת הרוממות וזהו המין השני. יראת העונש כפשוטה שהאדם ירא מעבור פי השם מפני העונש אשר על העבירות אם לגוף ואם לנפש. ויראת הרוממות הוא שהאדם ירחק מן החטא ולא יעשה מפני כבודו הגדול יתברך שמו.

Now let's skip now to the bottom to Umnam.

אומנם אם כי תכלית יראת השם הוא בוודאי מדרגה הגבוהה של יראת הרוממות.

That certainly the goal is that a person aspires to achieve, to attain yiras haromemus.

אולם ידוע כי יראת השם ראשית דעת היא יראת העונש.

When we say that ראשית חכמה יראת השם, it means yiras ha-onesh.

שהחסיד הקדוש המהרח"ו ויטאל בהקדמה לספר הקדוש עץ חיים וזה כתב וזה לשונו

vehaba lehitaher ulikarev. A person wants to become pure, wants to come close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

ראשית הכל יראת השם להשיג יראת העונש. כי יראת הרוממות שהוא יראה הפנימית לא ישיגוה אלא מתוך גדלות החכמה.

Yiras haromemus results from very, very high madregos of chochma. But ראשית חכמה יראת השם, so that, that refers to the yiras ha-onesh.

והנה גדול מזו כתבו חכמי היראה. כי מבלעדי יראת העונש לא יוכל לעלות כלל במעלות מדרגה עליונה של יראת הרוממות.

vechen kasav ha- Gam the Malbim, I think what was his name? Meir Leibush or something be-peirush ha-Torah be-parashat Yitro ve-zeh leshono

אמנם כבר ביארו חכמי לב שאי אפשר לבוא תכף למדרגה הגדולה הזאת לירא יראת הרוממות וצריך שיירא תחילה יראת העונש וממנה נעלה על מדרגה הרמה שהיא יראת הרוממות

ad kan leshono ve-khen katav Admor ha-Gaon ha-Hasid meaning Rabbi Yisrael Salanter be-Igeret ha-Musar

שהאמונה המרחפת בנו שהאלוקים שופט הוא לתת לאיש כפי מעלליו

sakhar va-onesh hi reishit mitsa'adeinu that's the first step la-avodat Yitbarakh. So it's the it's cultivating a healthy not neurotic cultivating a healthy yirat ha-onesh is the indispensable foundation for trying to ascend in avodat Hashem. me-inyan le-inyan but within this sugeya maybe if you if you have te-re'u take a look in the Rambam in Yesodei ha-Torah Bet-Bet. Again me-inyan le-inyan the Rambam we'll see in a minute im yirtzeh Hashem. Or actually maybe we'll do it in the opposite order. Maybe first let's come back to the Rambam in Sefer ha-Mitzvot that we looked at yesterday Mitzvat Aseh Dalet sorry. Let me look at that first. Mitzvat Aseh Dalet here in Sefer ha-Mitzvot.

המצוה הרביעית שציוונו להאמין יראתו יתעלה ולהיפחד ממנו ולא נהיה ככופרים ההולכים בקרי אלא נירא ביאת עונשו בכל עת והוא אמרו יתעלה את ה' אלקיך תירא.

Which of what what does the phrase le-ha'amin yirato mean? It obviously doesn't translate to believe his fear. That's a nonsensical in English that's a nonsensical expression. So that's obviously not what it means. Again this is the Rambam wrote it in Judeo-Arabic so this is Ibn Tibbon's lashon. So what what does it mean le-ha'amin yirato? So one of the one of the points that those who who know who know Judeo-Arabic point out is that one of the tremendous virtues of Ibn Tibbon's translation is that he always translates the same. So wherever you find leha'amin in Sefer Hamitzvos, it always corresponds to the same word in the Rambam's original Judeo-Arabic, so you can be medayek in the word in the sense that you know if it appears in various contexts in Ibn Tibbon that it's also the same word in the original, which not all translations do and it's a very very when as we are when you're dependent upon translation, it's a tremendous virtue. So Ibn Tibbon was confronted with the following. The Rambam uses the same word. If you go back to Hamitzvah Harishonah, היא הציווי אשר צוונו להאמין באלוהות, vehu shenamin, again it's the same shoresh in the original,

שיש שם עילה וסיבה הוא פועל לכל הנמצאות והוא אמר יתברך אנכי ה' אלוהיך.

So the mitzvah Anochi Hashem Elokecha, the Rambam uses again the verb that Ibn Tibbon translates as leha'amin. So you have that same verb here with regard to Anochi Hashem Elokecha. You have it again in the second mitzvah,

ה' אלוהינו ה' אחד. היא הציווי אשר צוונו באמונת היחוד והוא שנאמין כי פועל המציאות וסיבתו הראשונה אחד והוא אמר יתברך שמע ישראל ה' אלוהינו ה' אחד.

And then you have it a third time here in the mitzvah revi'is which we just looked at before: leha'amin yir'aso. So what verb what was the Rambam and we would have thought you believe in Hashem and you believe that Hashem is echad and maybe you know Hashem and you know Hashem is echad, and then you fear Hashem. But that's right, two different verbs. We don't use the same verb to encapsulate the mitzvah of yiras Hashem as we do for the mitzvos of Anochi and ה' אלוהינו ה' אחד, and yet the Rambam has the same verb that captures encapsulates each of those three mitzvos. So kimedumeh what it means and this was the meaning that Ibn Tibbon was I don't know if it was an accepted usage or he was he was being mechadesh to use leha'amin in that sense. It means to have an awareness, let's call it a knowledge-based awareness. A person can know something but it doesn't necessarily translate as an awareness, right? You know lots of things but it doesn't mean that that's something which is a constant awareness. So the mitzvah is not only to believe Anochi Hashem Elokecha, not only to know Anochi Hashem Elokecha, but that that knowledge belief be something that it's an awareness of Anochi Hashem Elokecha. Again, one obviously can't have an awareness of Anochi Hashem Elokecha without having the foundational knowledge belief, so again it means a knowledge-based awareness. And the same thing is true of ה' אלוהינו ה' אחד, and that exact same formulation applies to have this knowledge-based awareness of yiras Hashem. And that's what leha'amin means. Leha'amin again it doesn't translate to believe, it translates in a sense of awareness, to try to sustain an awareness. As we commented already yesterday, so the Rambam in Sefer Hamitzvos only speaks of yiras ha'onesh. It doesn't mention anything about yiras haromemus. Me'idach gisa, in Yesodei Hatorah ב' ב' ב' א' ב' ב', if you take a look,

הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה מצוה לאהבו וליראה ממנו שנאמר ואהבת את ה' אלהיך ונאמר את ה' אלהיך תירא.

So I thought maybe just to mention the question. So the idiom the Rambam uses in the posuk that the Rambam quotes is את ה' אלהיך תירא. And yet, I mean there are biktzas kisvei yad it is that way, but as the Frankel note here says, berov kisvei hayad the reading of the Rambam is leyarei mimenu. So it's a very strange thing that the Rambam's posuk he uses the idiom of leyarei es, and yet the Rambam writes when he's going to quote that posuk as his prooftext, he writes leyarei mimenu. So that needs pshat. And again that's what they say is berov kisvei hayad.

והיאך היא הדרך לאהבתו ויראתו בשעה שיתבונן אדם במעשיו וברואיו הנפלאים הגדולים ויראה מהם חכמתו שאין לה ערך ולא קץ מיד הוא אוהב ומשבח ומפאר ומתאוה תאוה גדולה לידע השם הגדול כמה שנאמר צמאה נפשי לאלוקים לקל חי וכשמחשב בדברים האלו עצמן מיד הוא נרתע לאחוריו ויירא ויפחד וידע שהוא בריה קטנה שפלה אפלה עומד בדעת קלה מעוטה לפני תמים דעות כמו שאמר דוד כי אראה שמיך מעשה אצבעותיך.

So here the Rambam is describing yiras haromemus. There's no mention of onesh. There's a sense of awe for Hakadosh Baruch Hu that a person recoils, not out of fear of personal safety, but because of the awesomeness. But he doesn't say anything about yiras ha'onesh. So in Sefer Hamitzvos he didn't say anything about yiras haromemus, here he doesn't say anything about yiras ha'onesh. So in terms of what you have here, so two which really I think really complement each other, I'm not sure that they're entirely independent, two points. Number one, you have a similar question if you go back to Sefer Hamitzvos for a minute, Mitzvas Aseh Gimmel. You have Hamitzvah Hashlishis. So if you look, it's around eight lines in,

וכבר אמרו שמצוה זו כוללת גם כן שנדרוש ונקרא האנשים כולם לעבודתו יתעלה ולהאמין בו.

That the mitzvah of ahavas Hashem is not only that we should aspire to ahavas Hashem, but that we should attract others, we should influence others.

וזה כשתאהב אדם תשים לבך עליו ותשבחהו ותבקש האנשים לאהבתו וזה על צד המשל כן כשתאהב הקל באמת כפי מה שהגיע לך הנה אתה בלא ספק תדרוש ותקרא הכופרים והסכלים לידיעת האמת אשר ידעת אותה בלשון ספרי ואהבת את ה' אהבהו על הבריות כאברהם אביך שנאמר ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן ורצונם לומר כמו שאברהם. דורש אנשים אל האמונה מחזק אהבתו. כן אתה אהבהו עד שתדרוש אנשים אליו.

So Ahavo Al Habriyos is a part of Mitzvas Ahavas Hashem. Rambam doesn't have that in Mishneh Torah either. In the places where he talks about Ahavas Hashem, Perek Bais of Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah, Perek Yud of Hilchos Teshuva, he doesn't have this either. So maybe the pshat is, what happens when you have something which the Rambam needed to mention in Sefer Hamitzvot, and Sefer Hamitzvot just looks to give you the core definition of the mitzvah? That's all he's looking to do. What happens when you have something in Sefer Hamitzvot that doesn't need any elaboration? There's nothing more to say as important as it is, it was the definition of the mitzvah so to speak for itself. There were no Dinei Hamitzvah that he needed to elaborate, the definition of the mitzvah as as important as the mitzvah is speaks for itself. So yitachen that the pshat is that the Rambam when what he said in Sefer Hamitzvot, again, is self-sufficient and doesn't meaning that it doesn't need any elaboration, that he doesn't repeat it in Mishneh Torah. And maybe that's the same reason why he doesn't repeat Yiras Ha'onesh. He said it, he needed to say it by way of defining Yiras Hashem. Okay, so Hilchos Shabbos, don't do melacha. Okay, there's a lot of partim that need to be fleshed out, Hilchos Shabbos repeats, 'Don't do melacha', and these are the melachos and these are the D'rabanans of the melachos. There's an awful lot of elaboration that's needed. But Yiras Ha'onesh, as fundamental as it is, the core definition that the Rambam needs to give you to define the mitzvah in Sefer Hamitzvot tells you what the mitzvah is. And yitachen that for that reason the Rambam doesn't need and therefore doesn't repeat it, and maybe that's the same pshat for the Ahavo Al Habriyos as well. Im Kol Zeh, maybe the Rambam was meramez to it. What's the difference in mashma'os? We mentioned that apparently the Rambam writes Liyira Mimenu even though the pasuk he's going to quote is את השם אלקיך תירא. So what's the difference in mashma'os between saying ani yarei oso or ani yarei mimenu? What's the difference in meaning? So ani yarei oso, which would translate that I experience yira vis-a-vis him, can mean and can express either Yiras Ha'onesh or Yiras Haromemus. I fear him, I'm in awe of him. Ani yarei oso can mean either and in fact presumably את השם אלקיך תירא does mean both, does mean both. Liyira with the mem lichora, what when ani yarei mimenu, k'midumani, I think it that has the sense of Yiras Ha'onesh. I'm afraid from him, I'm afraid in the sense of what he can do to me. And it's not so much him, the oso, the oso can be I'm afraid of him because of what he can do to me or I'm afraid of him because of who he is, because of the romemus. And the Liyira Mem means from in the sense of what he can do to me. So maybe heyos that the Rambam is explicitly only going to talk about Yiras Haromemus because he already said Yiras Ha'onesh in Sefer Hamitzvot, but אף על פי כן he's meramez to it with the Again, which doesn't have the connotation of yiras ha-onesh. Ayen sham. I'm not sure if that's correct. Ayen sham. Doesn't he go on in halacha beis and say והיאך הדרך לאהבתו ויראתו? So it would be interesting that like in halacha alef he sort of says li-yira mem and he's sort of specifying this davka yiras ha-onesh and then he goes on and says ve-heyech. No, so that's what I think I forgot to mention that, but hein hein ha-devarim. He changes it, right? In yiraso means yira oso, right? Yiraso is a contraction of yira oso. So he changes it from li-yira mem. He should have said והיאך הדרך לאהבתו ve-yira mimeno if he was going to. He changes it, right? Yiraso is not the same as yira mimeno. Yiraso is the contraction for yira oso. So hein hein ha-devarim because in halacha beis now explicitly he's only describing yiras haromemus, so the mem is inappropriate. The yira oso expresses either or both, which is presumably what it means in the pasuk. It doesn't mean both in the pasuk. Li-yira mem. But if the Rambam, since it can mean either or both and the Rambam explicitly is only going to talk about yiras haromemus, so then the yira oso in halacha alef, I would have thought he's only talking about yiras haromemus, so the Rambam says no, I want to be meramez to what I said explicitly in Sefer Hamitzvos, hein hein ha-devarim. Maybe I don't understand, but if we just got through saying that since yiras ha-onesh is so implicit in the mitzvah, therefore the Rambam wouldn't have mentioned it in the Mishneh Torah, why is it being meramez? Why are we specifically saying that it is mentioned in the Mishneh Torah? No, so that's what I'm saying, the two are משלים זה את זה, meaning if it weren't the case, if it were not the case that the Rambam felt that he could rely on what he already said in Sefer Hamitzvos, so then he would have had to say this explicitly. Once you can rely on what you said in Sefer Hamitzvos, so then it doesn't cost him anything, it didn't cost him anything to have this allusion. But eini nami, that's why the two sort of, the second one rests on the first. Meaning, without the premise that the Rambam will rely on what he already said in Sefer Hamitzvos, so then you can't say that his entire presentation of something as fundamental as yiras ha-onesh is just with that subtle li-yira mimeno opposed to li-yira oso. But if point number one, that one, it doesn't really need any elaboration because the core definition of the mitzvah tells you about the entire mitzvah, so then li-yira es. So the Rambam alludes to it here as well. But that still leaves the question why he doesn't mention yiras haromemus in Sefer Hamitzvos. Why not? Isn't that, shouldn't that be necessary just as part of the definition of what the mitzvah entails? I don't, it's the translation, but in the text of the Sefer Hamitzvos he says yiraso too. He says she-nitzvinu le-haamin be-yiraso is ve-hu she-nefached mimeno according to what we were saying. I'm not sure that's the case because again, es means either or both. It doesn't mean exclusively yiras haromemus. If you say in English, I fear him. You can say I fear him because he's a mean guy and he likes to beat people up and he's much bigger than I am, so I fear him. Or you can say no, you can be using fear in the sense of awe and when you say I fear him. So it's not that es means exclusively romemus, but what we're suggesting is when you think about it, the mem, which means that there's something indirect, it's not so much him, but it's from him because it's what he can do, so it's that the mem means only onesh, not that the es means only romemus. But the Rambam puts yiraso and u-lehipached mimeno. It's like two separate... So that eini nami, your question is correct. I don't think it's, keshe-le-atzmo it's correct. I don't think it's a question of what we're talking about, but it is a correct question. I don't know that already, I don't know, it's hard to deal... But why didn't the Rambam mention Yiras HaRommemus in Sefer HaMitzvos? The same way he tells us for instance that Ahavas Hashem has two components, so he should have said that Yiras Hashem has two components also because there's two levels of Yiras Hashem. So again, so we suggested a mahalach as to maybe why he doesn't explicitly mention Yiras Ha'Onesh in the Yad, but what about the other half of the question which is why doesn't he mention Yiras HaRommemus in Sefer HaMitzvos? Again, it should be needed as a definition of the mitzvah, the same way he has to mention both components of Ahavas Hashem. So if you have in the Rambam Beis Beis, if you take a look at the meforesh, right, in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah we have an anonymous peirush, so he's referred to as the meforesh. So if you see where it says, again this is the same idea that we just saw in the Sha'arei Ohr, ומצאנו בתורה שני כתובים. I think actually Rav Itzele Volozhiner quotes this from the meforesh. ומצאנו בתורה שני כתובים. Do you see that in the meforesh on perek beis, I don't know, in Frankel it says halacha aleph beis? You have that Rabosai? ומצאנו בתורה שני כתובים. Yeah, in the meforesh, you have it? ומצאנו בתורה שני כתובים. ומצאנו בתורה שני כתובים. Two psukim in the Chumash. Ha'echad moreh, one indicates, one teaches, שהיראה מביאה לידי עשיית כל המצוות. That yira will help facilitate all mitzvos, shene'emar

ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלהיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה.

V'ha'acher, the other pasuk moreh, that indicates, that teaches, שלא נצטווינו בכל המצוות אלא כדי שנגיע בהם ליראה. Shene'emar

ויצונו ה' לעשות את כל החוקים האלה ליראה את ה' אלהינו.

So one says that yiras Hashem is the basis, and the other says that yiras Hashem is the goal. V'hachra'a beineihem, the way to integrate the two psukim,

שהיראה יש לה שני קצוות. הקצה הראשון הוא תחלתה והיא קודמת לכל המצוות. שהירא מן המלך לא יעבור על דברו.

Right, this is describing yiras ha'onesh.

והחלק השני הוא סוף היראה והיא היראה האמיתית. ולא יגיע אדם לה אלא אחר עשיית כל המצוות והשגת הבורא בידיעת דרכיו.

So yiras ha'onesh is what facilitates, what positions us, what will help us be mkayem kol mitzvos, and through the kiyum of all mitzvos, so then hopefully be'ezras Hashem we attain yiras HaRommemus. So what the meforesh suggests is that yiras HaRommemus is the goal of all mitzvos. Again, I'm not, there's definitely questions that can be raised on this suggestion in the Rambam, definitely questions, I'm not sure. But maybe the pshat is like this. For something to be to merit inclusion in minyan hamitzvos, it has to be a distinct mitzvah which tells us to do something that otherwise we wouldn't do. But something which is just let's say an overarching goal of all mitzvos, so then it's not a distinct mitzvah. It doesn't make its way into minyan hamitzvos. So yisochein that yiras Hashem makes its way into minyan hamitzvos because of yiras ha'onesh. Avada yiras Hashem includes both yiras ha'onesh and yiras haromemus, but in terms of its inclusion as a distinct mitzvah in the minyan hamitzvos, that owes exclusively to the yiras ha'onesh, because yiras ha'onesh again, A, is not the goal of all mitzvos and it tells us something distinctly that a person should have an awareness that I'm accountable for what I do. Again, the mashal we gave yesterday, when a person, a person again, it's not a religion of fear but a religion with fear. When a person gets behind the wheel in a car, he should have an awareness that the way he drives is going to have consequences, and that if he'll drive recklessly, rachmana litzlan, it can have catastrophic consequences. So a person is supposed to have, so again, it's a distinct mitzvah with a very clearly delineated content. Mash'en kein the yiras haromemus, on the one hand, again, it's the goal of all mitzvos. Miedach gisa, in terms of what a person might do in addition to mitzvos to foster yiras haromemus, it's no different than what he does to foster ahavas Hashem. So yiras haromemus wouldn't, doesn't warrant the inclusion of yiras Hashem in minyan hamitzvos. That's the suggestion. So mimmiela the Rambam, avada he tells us about it, but not in Sefer Hamitzvos because in Sefer Hamitzvos he's only going to highlight that which is responsible for the fact that it's included in the minyan hamitzvos. Okay, we'll stop.