The Shabbos before Rosh Chodesh is Shabbos Mevorchim, the Blessing of a New Month. The Blessing service between the Torah reading and the Mussaf prayer consists of 3 parts. The first part is actually a personal prayer composed and recited daily by the famous Amora, Rav. The prayer uses the word Chaim, Life, 11 times in asking G-d for a Life of 11 different aspects. For example, a Life of Torah, a Life of earning a livelihood, etc. These correspond to the 11 times that we make the New Month Blessing since we don’t make the Blessing for the month of Tishrei. The Chaim aspect corresponding to the current New Month of Iyar is Chaim Sh’Yesh Bohem Yiraas Shomayim V’Yiraas Cheit, a Life that is filled with the Fear of Heaven and the Fear of Sinning.
Several questions beg for an answer. First what’s the connection to the month of Iyar of Fear of Heaven and Fear of Sinning? Second how do we understand the concepts of Fear of Heaven and of Sinning? And third, what connection does the idea of living a life have with being in fear of anything? At first glance it seems that the idea of Life would connote joy and happiness, not fear.
What are Yiraas Shomayim and Yiraas Cheit? How do these two integral concepts of Yiddishkeit fit in with the idea of serving Hashem with Simcha, joy? Our Sages tell us that Dovid Hamelech would often say that he served Hashem “Yirosi mitoch simchosi v’simchosi mitoch yirosi”. His service to Hashem was such that his fear of G-d came through his joy in serving G-d and that his joy in serving G-d came through his fear of G-d.
A person is deathly ill and the doctor prescribes a strong medicine and the doctor warns the person not to drink any alcoholic beverages. The person may likely not take that warning seriously. However if the doctor says that drinking alcoholic beverages may ruin your liver or lead to kidney failure and you’ll die, the person will take that warning quite seriously and not drink anything alcoholic. When the person recovers and realizes that the fear that the doctor put in him of alcohol actually was good for him, he’ll be happy that he obeyed. The fear of G-d and the fear of sinning are there for our good, in order that we serve Hashem correctly. We should be happy that this fear exists because it prevents us from doing anything wrong. Our joy in serving G-d comes from our fear of G-d.
A child generally has an innate sense of love for a parent. As the child grows older he/she will understand that the parents’ rules and requests are for the child’s own good. Along with a growing sense of love for their parents the child will have a growing appreciation and respect for them. This respect is in a sense an outgrowth of the initial love a child may have for their parents. The child’s fear and respect come from the joy of loving their parents. Serving Hashem with fear and respect comes from the initial love of Hashem and being joyful in one’s service of Hashem.
What are we looking for in life? What would we like to accomplish in life? Well most people would answer the pursuit of happiness. We all want to be happy. Being fearful all day that something will happen to us does seem counter-intuitive to happiness and joy in life. But if our fear of doing something wrong against G-d’s instructions on how to live a life filled with Torah and mitzvos and walking in the path of Yiddishkeit eventually results in Olam Haboh and in corporeal rewards, then this fear actually will make us happy. Asking Hashem to please let us live a life filled with fear of Heaven and sinning will ultimately lead to a life lived with joy and happiness.
So now when you think of the advice to serve Hashem with joy and with fear, you’ll realize that these two seemingly opposite aspects of service to Hashem are not mutually exclusive. Joy and fear in our everyday life actually complement each other and serve to enhance our life of Torah and Yiddishkeit.
What connection does all this have with the month of Iyar? In the seminal chasidic work Bnei Yissoschor, the author posits that each month is governed by a different variation in the 4 letter Holy Name of Hashem, HaVaYaH. The variation for the month of Iyar is Yud; Heh; Heh; Vov. Notice that this variation is the first two letters in normal order and the last two letters backwards, or the four letters introverted. I would say that if we consider the Name of HaVaYaH as connoting Hashem’s guidance of creation with Rachamim or Mercy, and we look inside ourselves, introvert your view of Hashem and His guiding Hand in your life and see how He guides your life with Mercy, you’ll find true joy and happiness resulting from your Torah life and your service of Hashem.
Several questions beg for an answer. First what’s the connection to the month of Iyar of Fear of Heaven and Fear of Sinning? Second how do we understand the concepts of Fear of Heaven and of Sinning? And third, what connection does the idea of living a life have with being in fear of anything? At first glance it seems that the idea of Life would connote joy and happiness, not fear.
What are Yiraas Shomayim and Yiraas Cheit? How do these two integral concepts of Yiddishkeit fit in with the idea of serving Hashem with Simcha, joy? Our Sages tell us that Dovid Hamelech would often say that he served Hashem “Yirosi mitoch simchosi v’simchosi mitoch yirosi”. His service to Hashem was such that his fear of G-d came through his joy in serving G-d and that his joy in serving G-d came through his fear of G-d.
A person is deathly ill and the doctor prescribes a strong medicine and the doctor warns the person not to drink any alcoholic beverages. The person may likely not take that warning seriously. However if the doctor says that drinking alcoholic beverages may ruin your liver or lead to kidney failure and you’ll die, the person will take that warning quite seriously and not drink anything alcoholic. When the person recovers and realizes that the fear that the doctor put in him of alcohol actually was good for him, he’ll be happy that he obeyed. The fear of G-d and the fear of sinning are there for our good, in order that we serve Hashem correctly. We should be happy that this fear exists because it prevents us from doing anything wrong. Our joy in serving G-d comes from our fear of G-d.
A child generally has an innate sense of love for a parent. As the child grows older he/she will understand that the parents’ rules and requests are for the child’s own good. Along with a growing sense of love for their parents the child will have a growing appreciation and respect for them. This respect is in a sense an outgrowth of the initial love a child may have for their parents. The child’s fear and respect come from the joy of loving their parents. Serving Hashem with fear and respect comes from the initial love of Hashem and being joyful in one’s service of Hashem.
What are we looking for in life? What would we like to accomplish in life? Well most people would answer the pursuit of happiness. We all want to be happy. Being fearful all day that something will happen to us does seem counter-intuitive to happiness and joy in life. But if our fear of doing something wrong against G-d’s instructions on how to live a life filled with Torah and mitzvos and walking in the path of Yiddishkeit eventually results in Olam Haboh and in corporeal rewards, then this fear actually will make us happy. Asking Hashem to please let us live a life filled with fear of Heaven and sinning will ultimately lead to a life lived with joy and happiness.
So now when you think of the advice to serve Hashem with joy and with fear, you’ll realize that these two seemingly opposite aspects of service to Hashem are not mutually exclusive. Joy and fear in our everyday life actually complement each other and serve to enhance our life of Torah and Yiddishkeit.
What connection does all this have with the month of Iyar? In the seminal chasidic work Bnei Yissoschor, the author posits that each month is governed by a different variation in the 4 letter Holy Name of Hashem, HaVaYaH. The variation for the month of Iyar is Yud; Heh; Heh; Vov. Notice that this variation is the first two letters in normal order and the last two letters backwards, or the four letters introverted. I would say that if we consider the Name of HaVaYaH as connoting Hashem’s guidance of creation with Rachamim or Mercy, and we look inside ourselves, introvert your view of Hashem and His guiding Hand in your life and see how He guides your life with Mercy, you’ll find true joy and happiness resulting from your Torah life and your service of Hashem.
