Daily Tanya 21st Nissan Chapter 42: Spending time in deep contemplation to arouse fear of G-d

(LY) 21st Nissan

1. Spending time in deep contemplation to arouse fear of G-d:

• The second effort and exercise is for one to exert his soul to deeply contemplate the greatness of G-d for a long and consecutive time period.
• The amount of contemplation necessary to arouse fear of Hashem: Every person needs to dedicate some time for contemplation of G-d’s greatness in order to arouse fear of Heaven. This amount of time is not equal amongst all souls.
• Souls who have an easier time: Some people have a naturally more refined soul, and as soon as they contemplate the greatness of G-d, they receive fear and trepidation of G-d. This follows the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch which states that as soon as a person contemplates that G-d, the great and mighty king of all kings who fills all the earth with His glory, is standing over the person and watching his actions, then he will immediately be overtaken by fear.
• Souls who have a harder time: Other souls, however, which are low by nature and hereditarily, have a much harder time arousing fear of G-d. This is a result of the soul deriving from the lower aspects of the ten Sefiros of the lowest world of Assiya. This prevents their thoughts from finding G-dliness without great effort and toil.
• People who have sinned: This difficulty in arousing fear of G-d especially applies to those people who have contaminated their souls with sins of their youth, as sins prevent the person from feeling fear of G-d.
• With great effort, they too can arouse fear: Nonetheless, even the above said individuals can arouse a fear for G-d if they strengthen and focus their minds with great toil and effort to deeply contemplate G-d’s greatness with tremendous concentration and depth, for a very long time. Certainly, after doing so even they will eventually arouse and experience the lower level of fear [i.e. Yirah Tatah] at the very least, as our sages teach us that one who exerts effort and finds, you should believe him.

2. Searching for the treasure of fear of Heaven:

• Finding a physical treasure takes much digging: The verse states “And if you search for it like silver, and like treasures you shall search for it, then you will understand fear of G-d.” This verse is coming to say that just as a person must search for a hidden treasure which is found in the depths of the earth, through digging after it with great effort, so too regarding fear of G-d.
• Digging into the soul to reveal fear of G-d: To achieve fear of G-d a person must dig with tremendous effort into his soul in order to reveal the treasure of fear of heaven which is hidden and concealed within the understanding of the heart of every single man amongst Israel.
• Bringing the hidden fear to one’s conscious mind: This level of fear found within the heart of every Jew, is on a level that is above time and is the natural hidden love that every person contains on a constant basis. Nonetheless, in order for this fear to become expressed in action for the person to fear sin and actually avoid doing action speech and thoughts that are sinful, then he must reveal this fear from its hidden chambers within the heart. He must take it from its state of being above time, into his actual thought process which is in his mind. To accomplish this, he must dedicate some worthy amount of time to contemplate it in depth in his mind until this fear comes out from its potential state into a state of actuality.
• Fearing to sin due to realization of G-d’s presence: This means that as a result of one’s revelation of the fear and his now conscious realization that G-d watches, listens, and discerns everything he does and thinks and feels, he will therefore abstain from doing evil, and will perform good, in his thought speech and action. This follows the saying of the sages that one should contemplate three things, that G-d has eyes which sees one’s actions, and ears that hears one’s speech.