38. The Fear of God Is His Treasure
I heard on March 31, 1947
A treasure is a Kli [vessel] in which the possession is placed. Grain, for example, is placed in the barn, and precious things are placed in a more guarded place. Thus, everything that is received is called by its correlation to the light, and the Kli must be able to receive the things. It is as we learn that there is no light without a Kli, and this applies even in corporeality.
Yet, what is the Kli in spirituality, in which we can receive the spiritual abundance that the Creator wants to give, which will match the light? That is, as in corporeality, where the Kli needs a correlation with the object that is placed in it.
For example, we cannot say that we have treasures of wine, which we poured in new sacks to keep the wine from turning sour, or that we took a lot of flour in barrels. Instead, there is a conduct that the container of wine is barrels and jars, and the container for the flour is sacks and not barrels, etc.
Thus, there is a question, What is the spiritual vessel, the Kelim [vessels] from which we can make a big treasure of the upper abundance?
There is a rule that the cow wants to feed more than the calf wants to eat. This is because His wish is to do good to His creations, and the reason for the Tzimtzum [restriction], we must believe, is for our own good. And the reason must be that we do not have the right Kelim where the abundance can be, like the corporeal Kelim, which must be right for what is placed there. Hence, we must say that if we add the Kelim, there will be something to hold the added abundance.
The answer to this is that, in His treasury, the Creator has only the treasure of fear of heaven (Berachot 33).
Yet, we should interpret what is fear: It is the Kli, and the treasure is made of this Kli, and all the important things are placed in it. He said that fear is as it is written about Moses: Our sages said (Berachot, p 7), “The reward for ‘And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look,’ was to be rewarded with ‘the image of the Lord does he behold.’”
Fear refers to one’s fear of the great pleasure that is there, that he will not be able to receive it in order to bestow. The reward for this, for having had fear, is that thus he had made for himself a Kli in which to receive the upper abundance. This is man’s work, and besides that, we attribute everything to the Creator.
Yet, it is not so with fear, because the meaning of fear is not to receive. And what the Creator gives, He gives only to receive, and this is the meaning of “Everything is in the hands of heaven except the fear of heaven.”
This is the Kli that we need. Otherwise, we will be considered fools, as our sages said, “Who is a fool? He who loses what he is given.” This means that the Sitra Achra [other side] will take the abundance from us if we cannot aim in order to bestow, because then it goes to the vessels of reception, which is the Sitra Achra and Tuma’a [impurity].
This is the meaning of “And you shall observe the commandments.” Observing means fear. Although the nature of the light is that it keeps itself, meaning that the light leaves before one wants to receive the light into the vessels of reception, yet one must do it by himself, as much as he can, as our sages said, “You will keep yourselves a little from below, and I will keep you a lot from above.”
The reason we attribute fear to people, as our sages said, “Everything is in the hands of heaven but the fear of heaven,” is because He can give everything but fear. This is because what the Creator gives is more love, not fear.
Acquiring fear is through the Segula [power/remedy] of Torah and Mitzvot. It means that when one engages in Torah and Mitzvot with the intention to be rewarded with bringing contentment to one’s Maker, that aim that rests on the acts of Mitzvot and the study of Torah brings one to attain it. Otherwise, one might remain—although he observes Torah and Mitzvot in every item and detail—he will still remain merely in the degree of still of Kedusha [holiness].
It follows that one should always remember the reason that obligates him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot. This is the meaning of what our sages meant by “that your Kedusha will be for My Name.” It means that I will be your cause, meaning that all your work is in wanting to delight Me, meaning that all your actions will be in order to bestow.
Our sages said (Berachot 20), “Everything there is in keeping, there is in remembering.” This means that all those who engage in observing Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to achieve “remembering,” by way of “When I remember Him, He does not let me sleep.” It follows, that the keeping is primarily in order to be awarded remembering.
Thus, one’s desire to remember the Creator is the cause for observing Torah and Mitzvot. This is so because it follows that the reason and the cause to observe the Torah and Mitzvot is the Creator, as without it one cannot adhere to the Creator, since “He and I cannot dwell in the same abode” due to the disparity of form.
The reason that the reward and punishment are not revealed, and we must only believe in reward and punishment, is because the Creator wants everyone to work for Him, and not for themselves. This is discerned as disparity of form from the Creator. If the reward and punishment were revealed, one would work because of self-love, so the Creator would love him, or because of self-hate, for fear that the Creator would hate him. It follows that the reason for the work is only the person, not the Creator, and the Creator wants that He will be the compelling reason.
It turns out that fear is precisely when one recognizes one’s lowliness and says that his serving the King, meaning that one’s wish to bestow upon Him is considered a great privilege, and it is more valuable to him than he can say. It is according to the rule that with an important person, what is given to him is considered receiving from him.
To the extent that one feels one’s lowliness, to that extent he can begin to appreciate the greatness of the Creator, and the desire to serve Him will awaken in him. However, if one is proud, the Creator says, “He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.”
This is the meaning of “A fool, a wicked one, and a rude one go together.” The reason is that since one has no fear, meaning he cannot lower himself before the Creator and say that it is a great honor for him to be able to serve Him without any reward, he cannot receive any wisdom from the Creator, and he remains a fool, and he who is a fool is wicked, as our sages said, “One does not sin unless the spirit of folly entered him.”