[Avodah] awe

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jun 14, 2023 at 05:51:24AM +0300, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> When we studied The Rambam's Sefer Hamitzvot and Hilchot Yesodei Hatora we
> found that one of the first mitzvot was yirat shamayim which is often
> translated as fear of HKBH but we found it was better translated as a awe
> of HKBH.

I think the whole awe / fear / both discussion is flawed.

If we understand the system from within itself, "yir'ah" has to be a single
concept.

Take the territory of middos and draw different borders. Yir'ah is a
region of emotional space that straddles the ones called "awe" and
"fear". It isn't "both", like there are two ideas it could mean either
of, or the combination of. It's a single concept in-and-of-itself.

So let's look for that single concept. One possibility:

Awe and fear both come from facing something or Someone greater than
ourselves. How that confrontation feels depends on whether your perceive
a threat or a risk. But that's pachad or eimah as a consequence of yir'ah.

I wrote about it at such length, the blog post ended up a two-parter:
https://aspaqlaria.aishdas.org/2012/11/15/awe-and-fear - in which I compare
   middah words to different cultures' color words. It is easier to see
   distinctions between colors that your language gives different names.
   How you divide the territory into words changes your list of subjective
   experiences.
https://aspaqlaria.aishdas.org/2012/11/26/the-country-of-yirah - more on
   applying that idea to yir'ah, pachad, eimah...

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Zion will be redeemed through justice,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   and her returnees, through righteousness.
Author: Widen Your Tent
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF