As the last surviving son and successor of the Brisker Rav, Rav Meshulam Dovid HaLevi Soloveitchik, zt’l, was a staunch guardian of derech ha-limud, and the family traditions and spiritual practices received from his revered father, the Gaon Rav Yitzchok Zev, “the Gry’z.” As a rosh yeshiva in Yerushalayim, “Rav Dovid” was a faithful gatekeeper of the Brisker dynasty, and of meticulous observance, analytical study and strict and uncompromising adherence to halachah and minhag.
Yeshivas Brisk in Yerushalayim is renowned for its powerful learning and its serious commitment to precision and punctiliousness. One morning, as a talmid arrived late for morning seder, he saw that Rav Dovid was standing in front of the building. Certainly, he would notice the bachur’s lateness. Aware of how makpid the Rosh Yeshivah was about shemiras hasedarim and valuing every moment of learning, he lowered his eyes and kept walking quickly, as if he was on his way to some other destination, hoping Rav Dovid wouldn’t see him. But Rav Dovid had seen him….
The Rosh Yeshiva was extremely distressed over what had transpired and struggled to hide his displeasure. He was so visibly upset that his older, closest talmidim finally asked him was wrong. When Rav Dovid described the incident the talmidim seemed unmoved—nu, sometimes a bachur comes later to seder; it didn’t seem like such a big deal.
Rav Dovid explained. While he was bothered by the young man’s lateness, that was understandable. “What hurts me is that he was concerned that I would see him, and he made a shpiel out of it. That means he is worried about what I’ll think, or say, or do. Why wasn’t he concerned about what the Ribbono shel Olam thinks? Who am I? Yes, a moment of discomfort before one’s rosh yeshiva is normal. But what about the shame before the Borei Olam? Where have we gone wrong here?”
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Our sidrah recounts the wonderful berachos that flow from a life of living with ratzon Hashem as well as the pitfalls of forgetting that we are constantly in G-d’s presence.
Pesukim selected from our parashah are customarily recited by many as the Parshas haYirah each day after davening:
And now Yisrael, what does Hashem, your G-d, ask of you? Only to fear Hashem your G-d, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to worship Hashem your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul. To keep the commandments of Hashem and His statutes, which I command you this day, for your good (Devarim 10:12-13).
To many of us, living with deep yiras Hashem sounds exceedingly difficult, a level reserved for the likes of Moshe Rabbeinu, highly attained ovdei Hashem and great roshei yeshiva. Surely, this is where Rav Dovid was standing when lamenting the talmid’s seeming lack of yiras Shamayim. He expected the talmid to be on an exalted spiritual level as if it was completely natural to fear Hashem more than people.
Regarding the language in our pasuk, the Gemara seems to agree: “Is yiras Shamayim, fear of Heaven, a minor matter that it can be presented as if Hashem is not asking anything significant of us—‘only’ to fear G-d?” Rather, “Fear of Heaven is the beginning of wisdom”—yiras Shamayim is valued and treasured over all else! The Gemara then responds:
“Indeed, for Moshe, yiras Shamayim is a ‘minor matter.’ As Rebbi Chanina stated, ‘This is comparable to one who is asked for a large vessel and he has one; it seems to him like a small vessel because he owns one. One who is asked for just a small vessel and he does not have one, it seems to him like a large vessel. Therefore, Moshe could say, “What does the Hashem your G-d ask of you other than to fear”—because Moshe Rabbeinu had acquired true yirah, in his eyes it was not a big deal.’”
For those of us not on the level of Moshe Rabbeinu or the Brisker rosh yeshiva, yiras Shamayim is a very big vessel and a very big deal. However, in another Gemara, Rebbi Yochanan (Brachos 28b), brings a resolution and hamtakah, guiding his students within the reality of the human condition: We are baderech, in process….
The students of Rebbi Yochanan ben Zakai gathered around his deathbed and said to him: “Our teacher, bless us.” Rebbi Yochanan said to them, “May it be His will that the fear of Heaven shall be upon you like the fear of flesh and blood.”
His students were puzzled and said: “That’s it? To that point and not beyond? Shouldn’t one fear G-d more (than one fears flesh and blood)?” The elderly leader of the generation responded, “If only a person would achieve that level of awe! Know that when a person commits an aveirah, he says to himself: ‘I hope that no person will see me!’ If one would be as concerned about avoiding shame before G-d as he is before people, he would never in fact sin.”
The Mishnah (Avos 4:12), too, accepts our fear of flesh and blood, while employing it in our growth toward greater yiras Shamayim: “(And let) the yirah you have for your teacher (become) like your fear of Heaven.”
Indeed, earthly fears were created in order to lead us toward awe of Hashem and teshuvah: “Thunder was created to straighten out the crookedness of the heart” (Brachos 59a). May we therefore accept ourselves if and when fear of flesh and blood or other earthly fears arise—and may we leverage such fears to achieve higher states of awe and wonder….
“The sum of the matter, when all is said and done: have yirah for Elokim and observe His commandments, for this is the whole of human existence” (Koheles 12:13). n
Rav Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children. He is the mashpia of OU-NCSY, founder of Tzama Nafshi, and the author of “Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuva.” Rav Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife, Ora, and their family.