We ask for love and fear together – ויחד לבבנו לאהבה וליראה את שמך. How is it
possible to love and fear at the same time? Love is engendered by a feeling of
closeness. Fear is engendered by a feeling of distance.
The explanation is that one feels
love when he feels that Hashem is with him wherever he goes. אנא אלך מרוחך - where can I go away from your spirit? [Tehillim 139/7]. Hashem is my
"best friend", my father and my mother. He is there to help me and
lead me through all of life's circumstances. This feeling arouses tremendous
love.
This closeness is NOT a contradiction
to fear [as we thought] because true fear is not that Hashem is far away but
that He is RIGHT HERE which causes a יראה גדולה - great fear, יראת הדר עליון - the fear of his elevated glory, known in the
sfarim as יראת הרוממות - a fear of his exalted presence.
This dual feeling of love and fear
can only come when he understands the merging of love and fear – ויחד לבבנו לאהבה וליראה את שמך.
[מי מרום חי"ג]
לזכות ר' יהודה יעקב בן דינה חאשע לברכה והצלחה בכל מעשי ידיו
