Yiras Hashem as a Natural Result of Shivisi

אמר רב אבדימי בר חמא בר חסא מלמד שכפה הקדוש ברוך הוא עליהם את ההר כגיגית ואמר להם אם אתם מקבלים התורה מוטב ואם לאו שם תהא קבורתכם אמר רב אחא בר יעקב מכאן מודעא רבה לאורייתא אמר רבא ואמר רבא אף על פי כן הדור קיבלוה בימי אחשורוש דכתיב קימו וקבלו היהודים קימו מה שקבלו כבר.

So what's pshat in this kefiyah of which the Gemara speaks? The Rav in one place writes that no one ever understood the Gemara's comment of מכאן מודעא רבה לאורייתא in an as intended in a literal halachic sense. No one ever questioned that Kabbalas HaTorah was binding, has been binding since Ma'amad Har Sinai. So what is then intended in this statement of מכאן מודעא רבה לאורייתא? So itachen as follows: The kefiyas hahar represents the fact that at the time Klal Yisrael received the Torah, they were still feeling the intensity of the nisei Mitzrayim and the nisei am hayam. The overwhelming gilluy Shechinah with all its implications was something which they had experienced and were feeling very vividly. As such, Kabbalas HaTorah was something easy. It was the most obvious and natural response and course of action ad k'dei kach that one couldn't really have rationally, sensibly considered any alternative. That Kabbalah though has to be made good and has to be implemented even when one doesn't experience such overwhelming and overpowering gilluy Shechinah. Even when Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence in the world is more hidden, so one still has to retain that clarity of perception and that clarity of purpose and dedication and devotion. And that's the pshat מכאן מודעא רבה לאורייתא. The Gemara hints at it by saying that אמר רבא הדר קיבלוה בימי אחשורוש. So since when do we identify the periods in history by the sonei Yisrael? In Al HaNissim we don't speak of

בימי אחשורוש כשעמד עליהם המן הרשע. בימי מרדכי ואסתר כשעמד עליהם המן הרשע.

The periodization is known by the Nevi'im, the Zekenim, the Anshei Knesseth HaGedolah, the Tanna'im, the Amora'im. It's not the period of time is not identified by the sonei Yisrael. But that's what Rava wants to hint to us, that the reason there could be another Kabbalat HaTorah is because outwardly, in terms of what was nichar la'ayin, so they were living in a period of time which was bimei Achashverosh. As the Gemara says it, the reason there's one of the reasons there's no Hallel on Purim is אכתי עבדי אחשורוש אנן. There's הללו כה הללו עבדי השם, but here even after the nes, it was still אכתי עבדי אחשורוש אנן. So in terms of what was nichar la'ayin, it was the, it was the era of Achashverosh. It was the day of Achashverosh. Things were still behester, as the Ibn Ezra famously records the comment that Shem Hashem is not mentioned in the Megillat Esther. So that's the pshat, מכאן מודעא רבא לאורייתא, that when we accepted the Torah, so things were easy because Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence was so almost palpable, as it were. And we have to make good on that commitment even when His presence is more hidden and it requires more of an avodah on our part to recognize it, to stay focused on it. And be'emet, this is certainly one of the defining elements in some ways, perhaps the defining element of avodat Hashem is to retain that focus, that clarity of vision, that awareness, even when Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence is more hidden. The Rama writes in the beginning of Shulchan Aruch, quoting from the Rambam,

שויתי השם לנגדי תמיד הוא כלל גדול בתורה ובמעלות הצדיקים אשר הולכים לפני האלוקים. כי אין ישיבת האדם ותנועותיו ועסקיו והוא לבדו בביתו כישיבתו ותנועותיו ועסקיו והוא לפני מלך גדול. ולא דיבורו והרחבת פיו כרצונו והוא עם אנשי ביתו וקרוביו כדיבורו במושב המלך.

The way a person conducts himself, the way a person speaks, the way he acts, the way he moves, the way he gestures, everything reflects the company in which he finds himself. If he finds himself in the company of his close friends, of his intimates, so then his guard is down and he's more, more relaxed and less careful in how he acts, in choosing his words. If he finds himself bemoshav hamelech, so then everything about his demeanor is transformed.

כל שכן כשישים האדם אל לבו שהמלך הגדול הקדוש ברוך הוא אשר מלא כל הארץ כבודו עומד עליו ורואה במעשיו כמו שנאמר אם יסתר איש במסתרים ואני לא אראנו נאם השם, מיד יגיע אליו היראה וההכנעה בפחד השם יתברך ובושו ממנו תמיד.

So the word here that needs to be underscored, that needs to be put in bold print, is the word miyad. Again the Rama quoting the Rambam writes that מיד יגיע אליו היראה. That yirat shamayim which, which we find to be so elusive, which we find to be such a struggle to maintain is something which comes naturally, instantaneously, provided

כשישים האדם אל לבו שהמלך הגדול הקדוש ברוך הוא אשר מלא כל הארץ כבודו עומד עליו ורואה במעשיו.

Or in other words, the avodah isn't the yirat shamayim per se. The avodah is not to be masiach da'as and the yirat shamayim is a natural, instinctive reaction. A person is blessed. To have been taught and to recognize the truth. He knows there's a borei olam. He knows that we're blessed with the privilege and obligation of Torah. He knows that there's a din v'cheshbon. He knows that there's sachar v'onesh. He knows that that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is gadol v'nora. Yiras Shamayim is something, is a natural, instinctive, instantaneous reaction, and the only reason we don't experience it that way is that we're distracted from what we believe and from what we know. And that's what the Rema is saying, miyad, it comes miyad. The Gemara in Menachos

תניא היה רבי מאיר אומר חייב אדם לברך מאה ברכות בכל יום שנאמר ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלהיך שואל מעמך.

So Rashi, Tosafos, they both deal with it, with the obvious question, where's the proof in the pasuk? Where's the hint? Where's the allusion in the pasuk of ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלהיך שואל מעמך to a chiyuv of meah brachos? So Rashi says, mah Hashem Elokecha, kri bei meah. It's a type of al tikrei. That al tikrei mah ela meah, kri bei meah. Tosafos actually has that girsa in Rashi: ובקונטרס פירש אל תקרי מה אלא מאה. So in general, what's pshat with the al tikrei? So some learn pshat that it's really just an asmachta. It's a way of providing an asmachta, a way of providing a mnemonic device to help remember the din, and the emes is, it's not really, doesn't really link up with the pasuk. But others, amongst them the Maharsha, have a very, very fascinating pshat. And they say that wherever Chazal speak of al tikrei, so the truth is, even without the seeming liberty of the al tikrei, the idea is already inherent, implicit in the pasuk. And what the middah of al tikrei is, is if you want it to be explicit, if you want it to be overtly stated, so then al tikrei ela. But it's always there already implicitly. How does that work here? So as follows: ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלהיך שואל מעמך, so the Gemara in Brachos already asks, וכי יראה מילתא זוטרתא היא? Right, the lashon of ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלהיך שואל מעמך seems to be a lead-in to something small. What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu, after all, what does Hakadosh Baruch Hu asking from you? So that's the lead-in, and then the answer is Yiras Shamayim. So atu, is there anything greater than that? So what does the Gemara in Brachos answer? The Gemara in Brachos answers that אין לגבי משה מילתא זוטרתא היא. Which superficially seems to mean that the pasuk reflects Moshe Rabbeinu's vantage point. But what does that do for the rest of us? Well, why should the pasuk be reflecting Moshe Rabbeinu's vantage point? So itachen that the pshat in the Gemara is, that the Gemara is saying is, אין לגבי משה מילתא זוטרתא היא, meaning if we'll look to the example provided by Moshe Rabbeinu, so then it can be a milsa zutrasa for us as well. Not that the pasuk is written in a fashion that really the wording of the pasuk is only appropriate to Moshe Rabbeinu. But if we'll look to Moshe Rabbeinu, we'll look to Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe Rabbeinu who was epitomized, again, someone who was constantly aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu on a level that we takeh don't emulate, right, that pirash min ha'isha. But without emulating that degree and that application of it, so Moshe Rabbeinu epitomizes again the שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד, that he was Who was in a constant state of readiness for nevuah, so if a person only is not maseiach da'as even on some much, much lower level, he has that שויתי השם לנגדי תמיד which characterized Moshe Rabbeinu, so taka milsa zutresa. Well, so ואתה ישראל משה מה השם אלוקיך שואל מעמך means that yira is a milsa zutresa, if only we're not maseiach da'as. Again, why? Because the מיד יגיע אליו היראה. The Rambam writes in the beginning of Hilchos Brachos,

ברכות רבות תקנו חכמים דרך שבח והודיה ודרך בקשה כדי לזכור את הבורא תמיד.

The Rambam writes that what brachos accomplish and the reason Chazal, at every, seemingly at every turn, on on every occasion, are mechayevus in brachos is because if we say the bracha with a minimum amount of kavana, so then the bracha serves to remind us of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, כדי לזכור את הבורא תמיד. Oh, so now comes Rav Meir and says חייב אדם לברך מאה ברכות בכל יום. How do you know? Shene'emar ואתה ישראל משה מה השם אלוקיך שואל מעמך. Says Rashi, אל תקרי מה אלא מאה. So what's the pshat? The pshat is like this: the pasuk Rav Meir says depicts yira as מה השם אלוקיך שואל מעמך as something easily attainable, something easily attainable, so the pasuk is telling us it's easily attainable because it is a natural, instantaneous, instinctive reaction, if only we're not maseiach da'as. That's a makor that a person should be saying brachos all the time. You want that to be explicit, not just implicit, so אל תקרי מה אלא מאה. It's one of the central defining elements of our avoda is to that this should be embedded in in our awareness. It's a big avoda. It's a big avoda because part of the the challenge and part of the blessing of having a bechira chofshis that that we have to accomplish something that we're given the opportunity to accomplish is that human nature is that that we get used to things and get distracted. משל למה הדבר דומה: I assume this is still done although I'm somewhat removed from it, but in driver's ed, so they used to, I assume they still do, try to impress upon the, usually it's teenagers who who are who are learning to drive, just the tremendous power and force that's being harnessed when you drive a car and the consequences of that rachmana litzlan if a person isn't paying attention when he's driving, if he allows himself to get distracted. But the emes is, Baruch Hashem, not entirely, but but how aware are taka our people of that? Of of just what an incredible force is unleashed when when when one steps on the on the accelerator and just what the potential consequences of of that can be. So we forget, we get distracted. We know it. It's not a complicated, it's not the most complicated physics problem to be able to or maybe to sort of write it as an equation, maybe is a shtikle challenge, but to have a feel for the metzius is pretty straightforward. And yet le'maiseh, we shouldn't see what we see. Lehavdil, lehavdil, lehavdil, as as ultimate and as the reality of

הקדוש ברוך הוא ה׳ אלקיך מלך הגדול הקדוש ברוך הוא ה׳ אלקינו מלא כל הארץ כבודו הוא לבדו במעשיו,

but we're still susceptible, very susceptible to being distracted from that, and that's the avodah to keep that in focus; and if a person keeps that in focus, so then the transformation, the מה ה׳ אלקיך שאל מעמך, just comes miyad, it just comes naturally, it comes easily with all the blessing that follows from that.