Awe From Divine Exaltedness

המשך סוף התורה לכל המורא הגדול אשר עשה משה לעיני כל ישראל לבראשית ברא

This is a continuation of the very end of the Torah — "and for all the strong hand and for all the great awe that Moshe wrought before the eyes of all of Bnei Yisrael" (Devarim 34:12) — which connects back to the opening, "In the beginning Hashem created."

The Sfas Emes links the closing words of the Torah, praising the great awe Moshe inspired before Bnei Yisrael, with the Torah's opening words about Hashem's creation of the world.

דהכל נברא לכבודו וכ' והאלקים עשה שיראו מלפניו פי' חז"ל שכל עשיות העולם הי' בשביל היראה

For everything was created for His glory, as it is written, "and Hashem so made it that men should fear before Him" (Koheles 3:14); the Chazal explain that the entire making of the world was for the sake of yiras Shamayim.

He cites that the world was created for Hashem's glory, and that Chazal understood the entire purpose of creation to be that people should come to fear Hashem.

אבל אית יראה ואית יראה

But there is one kind of yirah and there is another kind of yirah.

He now draws a distinction: not all yirah is of one quality; there are two distinct levels.

כי כל היראה מעונשי עוה"ז או עונשי גיהנם זה יראה זוטרתי כי כל אלו נבראים הם

For all the fear that stems from the punishments of this world or from the punishments of Gehinnom — this is but a lesser yirah, since all of these things are themselves created beings.

Fear that is driven by dread of punishment, whether in this world or in Gehinnom, is only a lower form of yirah, because the punishments themselves are merely created things.

וכ' שיראו מלפניו

Yet it is written, "that men should fear before Him" —

He points to the wording of the pasuk to introduce the higher kind of fear.

מלפניו ולא מלפני ברואיו

before Him, and not before His creations.

The pasuk says to fear "before Him" — meaning Hashem Himself, not the created consequences He set in place.

ולכן העיקר יראת הרוממות

Therefore the essence is yiras haromemus — the awe born of His exaltedness.

Thus the true essence of yirah is the awe that flows from sensing Hashem's exaltedness and grandeur.

וזה המורא הגדול שעשה משה במתן תורה כדכ' למען תהי' יראתו על פניכם

And this is the "great awe" that Moshe wrought at the giving of the Torah, as it is written, "in order that His awe be upon your faces" (Shemos 20:17).

This exalted awe is precisely the "great awe" Moshe brought about at Matan Torah, where Hashem's awe was meant to rest upon Bnei Yisrael.

וזו היראה א"א להיות רק ע"י התורה שכל העוסק בתורה זוכה להארה שהי' במתן תורה ובא לזו היראה

And this yirah cannot come about except through the Torah, for whoever immerses himself in Torah merits the illumination that was present at Matan Torah, and through it he arrives at this yirah.

Such elevated yirah can only be reached through Torah, since learning Torah reconnects a person to the light of Matan Torah, which carries him to this awe.

וזו היראה נק' ירא בשת ירא שבת שחל עליו מורא גדול מרוממות אל

And this yirah is called "yirah of shame" — yirah of Shabbos — for one upon whom there has settled a great awe from the exaltedness of Hashem,

He plays on the words, calling it the yirah of shame and the yirah of Shabbos, describing one upon whom Hashem's exalted awe has come to rest.

ושובת מכל מעשיו ומחשבותיו ומתבטל כולו לזה היראה

and who rests from all his deeds and his thoughts and nullifies himself entirely to this yirah.

Such a person rests from all his actions and thoughts and surrenders himself completely to this yirah.

וע"ז נברא העולם

And it was for this that the world was created.

This surrender to exalted awe is the very purpose for which the world was created.

כי מכל הברואים הנוראים שנמצאים בעולם יכול החכם להבין איך שכל אלו הברואים כלא הם וכולם במאמר נבראו

For from all the awesome creations that are found in the world, the wise man is able to understand how all these creations are as nothing, and that all of them were created by a mere utterance.

By contemplating the awesome creations of the world, a wise person recognizes that they are all nothing before Hashem and exist only because He spoke them into being.

ויבוא מזה ליראת הרוממות שיראו מלפניו דייקא

And from this he comes to yiras haromemus — that men should fear specifically before Him.

This recognition leads him precisely to yiras haromemus — fearing Hashem Himself rather than His creations.

[ויתכן לרמוז זה הפי' בבראשית ברא

[And it is fitting to find a hint to this explanation in the words "In the beginning He created" (Bereishis 1:1),

The Sfas Emes adds a hint embedded in the Torah's opening phrase "In the beginning He created."

שתכלית הבריאה הי' להבין הראשית וכח שממנו בא כל הבריאה

that the purpose of the creation was to grasp the "beginning" — the power from which the entire creation came forth,

The aim of creation is to perceive the "beginning," the source-power from which all of creation emerged.

לירא ולהבטל לזה הראשית שקודם הבריאה

to fear and to nullify oneself to that "beginning" which preceded the creation,

From that perception one comes to fear and nullify himself before that "beginning" which existed before creation began.

ובשביל זה נברא הכל כנ"ל]:

and it was for this sake that everything was created, as explained above.]

And it is for the sake of attaining this awe that everything was brought into being.

Summary: The Sfas Emes joins the Torah's final words, praising the great awe Moshe inspired in Bnei Yisrael, to its opening account of creation, teaching that the entire world was made so that people would arrive at yiras Shamayim. He distinguishes a lower yirah, rooted in dread of punishment in this world or Gehinnom, from the true yiras haromemus, the awe of Hashem's own exaltedness, for the pasuk says to fear "before Him" and not before His creations. This exalted awe is the "great awe" of Matan Torah, attainable only through immersion in Torah, which reconnects a person to that original illumination; it is also called the yirah of Shabbos, in which one rests from all deeds and thoughts and nullifies himself entirely before Hashem. By contemplating the awesome creations of the world, the wise man sees that they are all as nothing and came into being by a mere utterance, leading him to fear Hashem alone. Hinting at this in the words "In the beginning He created," the Sfas Emes concludes that the goal of all creation is to perceive and nullify oneself before the primal "beginning" that preceded the world.