Yiras HaShem, Yiras HaOnesh, Yichud HaShem

המצווה השביעית שציוונו להאמין ביראת השם יתעלה ולהיפחד ממנו ולא נהיה ככופרים ההולכים בקרי אבל נירא ביאתו בכל עת והוא אמרו יראת את השם אלוהיך תירא.

What we're going to try to focus on the phrase of ולא נהיה ככופרים ההולכים בקרי. Now Rav Kapach translates differently. What we're going to discuss lachatora kimdoma is all independently indicated in the Rambam's own words in the Yad Hachazaka and is not relying on this translation necessarily, but we'll see im yirtzeh Hashem what perhaps the significance is.

הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה, פרק ב' יסודי התורה הלכה א'. הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה מצווה לאהבו וליראה ממנו, שנאמר ואהבת את השם אלקיך ונאמר את השם אלקיך תירא.

What does the Rambam want with the word hazeh? So he's referring back to Perek Aleph of Yesodei Hatorah. Right, the Ribono Shel Olam to whom we've been introduced in Perek Aleph is מצווה לאהבו וליראה ממנו. Now obviously there wouldn't have been any ambiguity in the phrase הקל הנכבד והנורא מצווה לאהבו וליראה ממנו. So with the hazeh, what the Rambam is telling us is that on its highest level the reality of yichud Hashem, the reality of השם אחד ואין עוד מלבדו is michayev in ahava veyirah. And that's what it means הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה, that agam that the Torah separates these into separate and distinct mitzvos, and ahava veyirah constitute separate and distinct mitzvos, but in its fullest sense and on its highest level it's yichud Hashem which is michayev in ahava veyirah. The Rambam has a similar relationship that he depicts between the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem and yichud Hashem. That kiddush Hashem is our emunas yichudo, the same type of relationship. That the mitzvah on its highest level is dictated by is a corollary of yichud Hashem. So what does that mean? How is that the case? Yichud Hashem is, again, as a mitzvah, a belief. We're focusing on yirah for the moment, so we'll leave ahava to the side. Yirah is a mindset, an awareness, and an experience. So what does it mean that on its highest level in an ultimate sense it's... A, the reality of Yichud Hashem means that Hashem Echad and ein od milvado. That's what the reality of Yichud Hashem means. And thus Chazal tell us that Vayifga bamakom Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mekomo shel olam. Ein od milvado so Hakadosh Baruch Hu provides mekomo shel olam. B, the Rema quoting from from the Rambam at the end of the Moreh

שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד הוא כלל גדול בתורה ובמעלות הצדיקים אשר הולכים לפני אלקים כי אין ישיבת האדם ותנועתו ועסקו והוא לבדו בביתו

the way a person comports himself, the way a person lounges, the way a person moves around, the way he conducts his affairs when he's in the privacy of his home is different than כי ישיבתו ותנועתו ועסקו והוא לפני מלך גדול and similarly

ולא דיבורו והרחבת פיו כרצונו והוא עם אנשי ביתו וקרוביו

the way the way a person will speak, the elaborateness of of his speech when he's with his friends and his intimates is different than if he's bemoshav hamelech.

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 נאום ה' מיד יגיע אליו היראה וההכנעה בפחד השם יתברך ובושתו ממנו תמיד.

So Yirat Hashem is a natural corollary of Yichud Hashem. Yichud Hashem that ein od milvado that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mekomo shel olam. אם ישים האדם אל לבו that Hakadosh Baruch Hu that מלא כל הארץ כבודו that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is עומד עליו ורואה במעשיו, so then there's a natural spontaneous immediate reaction of Yirat Hashem. מיד יגיע אליו היראה. So what emerges is that the mashal is the following. Let's say that there's someone standing someone standing in front of me and making making ominous threats. Or stam maybe he's not making threats, maybe he's just an imposing intimidating person, presence, and I close my eyes and I'm oblivious to his presence. So if we want to capture what I'm doing, is it only the fright or it goes beyond that. I'm denying his presence because you can't really separate the presence from the awe or fear that the presence inspires. And the way I'm able to achieve not feeling that fear, awe, inhibition, intimidation, is because I'm closing my eyes and denying his presence. That's lichora what a little bit of what it means that on its highest level, in its ultimate sense, yichud Hashem is mechayev in yira. Hayos that yira is a natural, spontaneous, immediate reaction to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and מלא כל הארץ כבודו because ein od milvado. So yichud Hashem הקל הנכבד והנורא הזה is מצוה לאהבה ויראה ממנו. And then comes out that, again, this is all indicated in the yad, but if this is what the lashon in the Sefer Hamitzvos means as well, so then the comparison of לא נהיה ככופר המהלך בקרי is not only a behavioral comparison. The comparison the Rambam's driving is not only that a person lives as though Rachmana litzlan לית דין ולית דיין and in that sense, he behaviorally, he's similar to a kofer Rachmana litzlan. No, but the mashal goes further than that. The mashal goes because on its highest level again, Rachmana litzlan, when we have, as we do all too often, lapses in yiras shamayim, it doesn't mean that al pi din we're considered kofer. Again, it's a separate mitzvah. We're talking about what it means, that's the significance of the fact that it's the highest mitzvah. So not Rachmana litzlan to imply or intimate anything of the sort, that's not the case. But אף על פי כן, it does behoove us to know what it is that we're aspiring to, what it is that we're working towards, what it is that we're looking to attain that on its highest level the comparison of לא נהיה ככופר המהלך בקרי is not just a behavioral comparison. It's because on its highest level, in its ultimate sense, a lack of yira is really a chisaron emuna, is really a denial of the reality. If a person, let's say, engages in dangerous behavior, so it's not pshat that the correct understanding, it's not pshat that he's fearless or reckless, it's that he's in denial. He's in denial. It's not only the fearlessness or the recklessness has its root, and the root has to be, again, in an ultimate sense, denial. The contrast, the counterpoint to Rachmana litzlan, לא נהיה ככופר המהלך בקרי is אבל נירא ביאת עונשו בכל עת. A person should always have a sense of accountability and to never know when, a person never knows when the account is up for collection. אבל נירא ביאת עונשו בכל עת. Yitachen. That one aspect and one mechaven of the mitzvah is as follows to illustrate a yesod which recurs within within the Rambam's presentation of of of Torah. The Rambam describes the beginnings of avodah zarah as recognition of Hashem Echad and the mistake that אף על פי כן even though Hashem Echad and all all power is concentrated in his hands kavyachol but אף על פי כן it's רצונו של המלך לכבד עבדיו. The Rambam describes how how the world then deteriorated further from this initial stage of avodah zarah into crude polytheism. Then when he the point that we're interested in is has already been made but the Rambam now says it even more sharply. Then when the Rambam describes Avraham Avinu's rediscovery of Hakadosh Baruch Hu

עד שהשיג דרך האמת והבין קו הצדק מדעתו הנכונה וידע שיש שם אלוה אחד והוא מנהיג הגלגל והוא ברא הכל וכן בכל הנמצא לא כוח חוץ ממנו וידע שכל העם טועים.

So Avraham Avinu not only understood and recognized Hashem Echad but he also understood where the world had erred and how they had fallen so so far.

וידע שכל העם טועים ודבר שגרם להם לטעות זה שעובדים את הכוכבים ואת הצורות עד שאבד האמת מדעתם.

Rambam says when you have a lack of coordination between what a person believes and what a person does which was which was the case with the Enosh veanshei doro. What they believed is Hashem Echad and and not even rachmana litzlan that anything was delegated. Hashem Echad. That was the belief. But the practice was that they directed acts of worship to devarim hanivraim. So there was this lack of coordination between the belief and the practice. What happens ultimately is that the belief gets eroded and the practice then generates its own new false system of of belief. And and that's basically the way the Rambam encapsulates the the the history of those first eighteen generations from from Enosh to Avraham Avinu. When you sort of apply transpose that yesod in our context so maybe with the following mashal. Parents want to train their child to be able to cross the street safely. So they the first time they certainly explain to him you know you can't walk into traffic. It would be it's catastrophically dangerous. So because of that before you ever cross the street you have to look both ways. So the whole the whole picture is given. But subsequently what what are the parents again when before they give the child license to cross on his own or her own? So what are they constantly reinforce? They constantly reinforce that rachmana litzlan if a pedestrian is hit by a car the results can be horrific or they constantly reinforce make sure you look both ways. So I think פוק חזי מאי עמא דבר. I think parents constantly reinforce the make sure you look both ways. And and they're right strategically. Tactically they're right. It's much easier to develop that habit than it is, it's much easier to develop an active habit of when you come to the, when you step off the corner, when you're poised to step off the corner to look both ways and from that habit to be reminded of the underlying concern than it is every time you come to a street corner think of how dangerous it is if chas veshalom a pedestrian is hit by a car. If you think about the mashal, it's intuitive rabboisai. It's much easier to develop the habit but it doesn't remain but once the habit is there it doesn't remain on a behavioral level. The habit then also reinforces that sensitivity to the yesod of the potential danger. But the way to reinforce that is through the behavior. A person can more easily train himself to live with a cheshbon. A person can more easily train himself to live with an awareness and a sense of accountability than he can to directly train himself never to be distracted from Ribono Shel Olam. It's easier, it's human nature, it's easier for a person to develop instinctive actions and reactions than it is without the benefit of those habitual actions and reactions to sustain an awareness at all times. It's very hard to sustain an awareness at all times. Usually they'll be in the clouds in a different sense of the word than one would hope for. And iyatchen that that's one aspect of the emphasis on yiras ha'onesh is that it translates yiras shamayim into a habitual instinctive way of acting and functioning. Doctors, nurses who are handling I don't know maybe infectious materials so they develop a habit of you have to be gloved and you have to handle everything with care and it's the habit which helps sustain the awareness rather than the awareness yielding the habit. And iyatchen that that's one aspect, one dimension of the emphasis and the role of yiras ha'onesh.