פרשת בלק
This week’s Parsha tells us how Billam wanted to curse the Jewish people but was prevented in doing so through a series of miraculous events. The Gemora in Berachos, (7) tells us that there is one moment every day when God is mad with the Jewish people and nobody in the history of the world knew how to calculate that moment accept for the wicked Billam. Billam proceeded to use this knowledge to attempt to curse the Jewish people but God “uncharacteristically” decided not to get angry that day.
We must understand this strange Gemorah. Firstly, what does it mean that God gets angry every day for one moment? Does God “plan” to lose His temper? Dose God even have a temper? Furthermore, the Ari Z’L says that God was “upset” that he couldn’t lose His temper during these unique few days in history. How do we understand these strange anthropomorphisms which we are attributing to God?
R’ Gedalya Sher, the famous Rosh Yeshiva of Torah V’daas used to explain these words of Chazal as follows: We know that Hashem has two basic methods of running the world. One is loving kindness and the other is strict judgment. Each of these two methods is equally important in our lives. Without the loving kindness that God does for us daily, certainly none of us would make it if we were forced to make an accounting for each one of our actions. Yet without the strict judgment which God imposes on the world, its inhabitant would rapidly degenerate to a state of complete chaos. It emerges that God’s wielding of these two attributes at the appropriate time generates a state of perfect harmony in the creations.
We find that God’s “anger” in the world is extremely important. It generates the requisite fear needed in the world to keep its citizens at bay. Indeed, this is why Billam attempted (and succeeded) afterward in causing the Jews to sin through illicit relations with the daughters of Moav. He saw that God was forced to withdraw His attribute of “strict judgment” (in order to save all their lives) and exploited that opportunity when the Jews and the entire creation was weak in this point, to attack them on their one vulnerable area – their Yiraas Shamayim. This also explains the Ari’s words that God was “upset” in not being able to “employ” His normal dose of fear into the world.
R’ Gedalya continues by explaining that this is why Pinchas’ actions were so effective in returning the world to its natural order and made God so happy, (so to speak). Pinchas artificially injected the fear into the Jewish people by stabbing two of the transgressors with a spear and displaying them to everyone. This fear is exactly what was needed in the world to replace the dosage of fear that God had to hold back (to save everybody’s life).
Truthfully, this attribute of fear of Heaven is integral in one’s service of God. The verse says “All wisdom begins with fear”. The Mishnah in Avos says that if one’s fear of Heaven comes before his wisdom, only then will his wisdom remain in tact. Fear of Heaven is the one trait which stabilizes a person and ensures that he doesn’t follow every whim which comes into his heart. Similarly, the Gemorah in Shabos (31) says, when one dies and is examined in the heavenly court, the most important question which will determine his verdict will be, “Did he foster Yiras Shamayim during his life”? If the answer to this question is “yes”, he will definitely have a place in the world to come.
R’ Shach used to use Billam as an example of how far a person who doesn’t have fear of Heaven can fall. Billam was able to talk to God face to face, just like Moshe Rabenu. He had full cognizance of God’s existence and voracity. Yet, when it came time to curse the Jewish people, he cursed them in direct defiance of God’s will, just because of his rotten Middos. This is how far we can fall if we are not careful to work on our fear of Heaven.
However, one shouldn’t think that fear of Heaven comes on its own or is genetic. The Gemorah in Berachos, (33) says, “All is in the hands of Heaven except for fear of Heaven”. R’ Isser Zalman used to ask, what is the chidush in saying that “fear of Heaven” is self-generated? If it weren’t, there would be no free will at all? He would explain this concept with a parable. If a person were afraid to go out alone at night, this fear is a natural fear which is ingrained in a person from childhood. Yiraas Shamayim, on the other hand, is generated from a person’s deep awareness of his creator and can only be instilled in a person if he chooses to instill it. We see from this Gemorah that our fear of Heaven is dependant solely on us!
One should be aware that fear of Heaven requires constant maintenance. One cannot simply acquire a certain amount of Yira and then hope to subsist on that for the rest of his life. Just as one who eats a big breakfast, is hungry again by dinner time because the caloric intake from breakfast has been exhausted. So to Yiras Shamayim requires constant work. This is why we say Krias Shema in the morning and in the evening every day – to reaccept the yoke of heaven twice daily.
Perhaps we can conclude with a well known story that happened to the Chasam Sofer. Once while teaching three new students the Chasam Sofer dozed off from exhaustion. The three students commented to each other dubiously that they had heard that their new master was so wise, sharp, and possessed such a fear of heaven, but that they didn’t think it was so true. The Chasam Sofer picked his head up suddenly and remarked that he didn’t mind at all about their negative comments regarding his accomplishments in Torah because he could testify about himself that he tried his hardest to succeed in Torah, using the abilities that God gave him. But when he heard that they said about him that he didn’t seem like such a Yire Shamyim, he began to weep so copiously, that within a few minutes, he had completely drenched his clothes and had to go change all of his garments.
May God help us develop ourselves in this vital attribute!