by Rabbi Russ Resnik

"You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him." (Deut. 13:5)

Moses is preaching his final sermon to the generation of Israelites who will inherit the Promised Land, the sermon that we entitle Devarim or Deuteronomy, and it seems clear that one of his goals is to instill the fear of God in his listeners. Contemporary readers of Deuteronomy and the rest of the Torah, however, often have a problem with this concept. They see fear as a bad thing that we need to overcome, or at least as an immature stage on the journey with God. Yeshua-followers will sometimes cite the phrase "Perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18) to argue that fear of God might be okay for beginners, but we must grow out of it as we grow in love for God.

I've been thinking about fear quite a bit lately. Last month, I visited a service at UMJC member congregation Ayts Chayim in Boca Raton, Florida, which highlighted Beit Moreshet, a nationwide youth-young adult discipleship program they sponsor. During the program, leaders ask the young disciples what they fear the most. Then the leaders ask them to do the very thing that they fear. So, at the service at Ayts Chaim, in place of the sermon, three or four of the Beit Moreshet kids gave short messages. These were the individuals who had said their greatest fear was public speaking. To face the fear and overcome it, they were given the assignment of speaking at the service that very week. (Facing one's fears is voluntary at Beit Moreshet; no one is forced to do the thing they fear, but encouraged to do so as part of their program for growth.)

Facing our fears to overcome them is a worthy exercise, and overcoming fear is a liberating experience. But Moses does not speak of fear just as something to be overcome. Rather, he seems to promote fear of God, as in this summary of numerous verses in Deuteronomy: "So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul . . ." (Deut. 10:12).

This week, I believe I caught a glimpse of this positive fear of God and its value. Last year, my old friend Ed, with whom I've shared many backcountry adventures over the years, went rappelling in southern Utah. This sport involves lowering yourself down sheer cliffs by rope and harness, so that you can explore canyons that would otherwise be inaccessible. Ed invited me to come along on his next rappelling adventure and told me I'd love it. I have a normal, healthy fear of heights, and enough other outdoor pursuits to keep me happy, so I resisted Ed's invitation for a while, but he was insistent and so I spent most of this week canyoneering, and am glad I did.

Our guide was great about explaining all the knots and procedures and safety backups, and making sure everything was set up properly. I focused on the set up and the techniques that he taught me rather than the sheer drop behind me, but the moment comes when you step up to the edge of the abyss, lean all your weight into the harness attaching you to the rope, (that thin, albeit super-strong, line that is all there is between you and a screaming drop down the rocky cliff-face to certain perdition) and go over the rim. The lesson about fear in this context is to face it down, to channel the rush of adrenaline into extra focus that helps you ignore your inner second-guessing and concentrate on doing everything right for a successful descent. You feel the fear, but you keep moving over the edge, and after a few steps you find yourself relaxing into the rope harness, still alert, but enjoying the journey down.

Learning to move ahead despite the fear, and even to channel the fear into more effective action, is a great lesson. And some things in life, especially the life of the spirit, demand that decisive step empowered by trust.

So we overcome our fears by facing them, by stepping forward despite the fears and trusting God for the outcome. Still, all this does not explain fear as a goal, which is what Moses has in mind as he instructs the Israelites in this week's parasha: "You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him . . .  " (Deut. 13:5). And lest someone claim that this is "Old Testament" teaching superseded in the New Testament, let's remember that Yeshua said it too: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Mt 10:28). "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!" (Lu 12:5).

I believe I caught a glimpse of this positive aspect of fear on my canyoneering trip. One reason to descend a 100 foot cliff on a line of rope is that this is the only way to encounter the beauty and transcendence of the place-beauty and transcendence that are enhanced by its fearsomeness. We fear such places because they are not designed for our safety, indeed not for us at all. We fear them because they are so different from our ordinary places, and it is this otherness that renders them so beautiful. I believe this is an echo of the fear of God that Moses wants us to cultivate, even as we mature. It recognizes the fearsomeness of God's own nature and being, what we once might have described as God's awesomeness-his awe-inspiring nature-before that word became so overused as to mean little. Fear is a response to God's beauty and transcendence. Such fear can co-exist with love for God, a love that does not trivialize God but is swept up in his glory.