Which is more powerful: love or fear? / Sotah 27b & 31a

Which is more powerful and lasting: love or fear? A corollary question: do you keep Jewish traditions because of other people or because of God? And if because of God, is it out of love or fear?

For many Jews, living Jewishly is about family, community, ethnicity, and history. Jewish traditions, rituals, and practices emanate from their relationships with other people (present and past). For others, it is a direct response to their relationship with God. They do what they do either because they love God, or because they fear God.

Curiously, the mishnah in Sotah 27b asks about a Gentile and what lay at the root of his loyalty and commitment to God: they ask about none other than Job. R Yehoshua b. Hyrcanus attributes Job’s service to God to his love for God. R. Yochanan b. Zakkai, however, as R. Yehoshua tells us, taught that Job served God out of fear.

On that day R. Yehoshua b. Hyrcanus expounded: Job only served the Holy One Blessed be God out of love, as it is said, Though he slay me yet will I wait for him (Job 13:15). And should it still be in doubt whether the meaning is “I will wait for him” or “I will not wait,” there is another text to declare, until I die I will not put away my integrity from me (Job 27:5). This teaches that what he did he did out of love. R. Yehoshua [ben Chananiah] said: Who will remove the dust from our eyes, R. Yochanan b. Zakkai, since you have been expounding all my life that Job only served the Omnipresent out of fear, as it is said, that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil (Job 1:1). Did not Yehoshua, the student of your student, teach that what he did was from love?

The gemara on Sotah 31a discusses this mishnah. R. Meir draws a parallel between Abraham and Job to conclude that both served God out of love, rather than fear. He doesn’t suggest what the difference is between serving God out of love or out of fear, however. R. Shimon b. Eleazar, however, declares that serving God out of love is superior to serving God out of fear because the attachment forged by love lasts through many more generations.

It has been taught: R. Meir says: It is declared of Job one who feared God (Job 1:1) and it is declared of Abraham you fear God (Genesis 22:12). Just as “fearing God” in the case of Abraham indicates from love, so “fearing God” in the case of Job indicates from love. Whence do we have it in connection with Abraham himself [that he was motivated by love]? As it is written: The seed of Abraham who loved Me (Isaiah 49:8). What difference is there between one who acts from love and one who acts from fear? The difference is explained in this teaching: R. Shimon b. Eleazar says: Greater is he who acts from love than he who acts from fear, because with the latter [the merit] remains effective for a thousand generations but with the former it remains effective for two thousand generations… (Sotah 31a)

I would have thought that had he said that love evokes a strong bond than fear in the lifetime of one individual would have been interesting enough. Love inspires behavior for the sake of the relationship, to bind the two parties more tightly, to express appreciation, to bring pleasure. Throughout the ages, Jews have engaged in mitzvot (commandments) to feel God’s presence more keenly in their lives, to express their appreciation for God’s blessings, and to fulfill obligations they believed would please God (from the earliest sacrifices whose rei’ach ni’cho-ach – pleasing odor – was understood to please God). Fear also inspires behavior, largely to avoid negative repercussions and punishment. Love draws one in, but the urge to serve out of fear evaporates as soon as the perceived threat is withdrawn. I have always considered the religious claim that God desires our fear peculiar and misguided, and most likely designed for manipulation of people by those who promulgate such ideas. If God is a punishing God, God is also an immorally capricious God, because punishment is meted out arbitrarily and unjustly. Job recognized this (not the job of the first and last chapters of his book, but the real Job of the poetic dialogues that comprise the vast majority of The Book of Job.

R. Shimon b. Eleazar makes quite a different point, however. He tells us that love that induces the bond of attachment and the desire to serve lasts for many more generations. This approach to Judaism – positive, warm, loving, affirming, joyful –is attractive from generation to generation. This attitude toward Judaism opens the door to creativity and innovation, celebrating each generation’s encounter with the Covenant and role in redefining it for their own lives.

© Rabbi Amy Scheinerman

Why Go to Shul? Why Stay There? (Berakhot 5b-6a)

What is the magic to enticing people to come to synagogue? Is it entertaining worship? Fabulous music? Gourmet food? Intellectually stimulating drashot? In all these questions, two elements are strikingly missing: God and the community.

The Rabbis faced the same issue from this angle: what in fact does it mean to be in shul? We find an answer in the Bavli (masechet Berakhot 5b-6a) that is strikingly different from discussions overheard in savvy Jewish circles these days.

Abba Binyamin begins with the simplest case scenario: two Jews enter a synagogue to pray and one finishes before the other. What happens?

It has been taught: Abba Binyamin says, When two people enter [a synagogue] to pray, and one of them finishes his prayer first and does not wait for the other but leaves, his prayer is torn up before his face. For it is written: You who tear yourself to pieces in anger, will earth’s order be disrupted for your sake? (Job 18:4)

Abba Binyamin asserts that the prayers of the person who left before his companion was finished praying are “torn up,” that is rejected by God. The proof text verse from Job comes from the mouth of Bildad the Shuhite. Bildad responds caustically to Job’s physical pain and spiritual anxiety. He has run out of patience and displaces his anger onto Job: “You who tear yourself to pieces in anger, will earth’s order be disrupted for your sake? Will rocks be dislodged from their place?” Bildad is sick and tired of trying to comfort Job, sick and tired of hearing his tale of travail, sick and tired of waiting for his friend to snap out of his funk.

So too the one who doesn’t wait for his fellow to finish praying. He came to say his prayers for his own sake without regard to the other human being in close proximity. He didn’t care that his presence meant something to the other person. He didn’t feel in any way responsible for the other person. He had no sense of responsibility or connection to the other person. And so Abba Binyamin continues:

And more than that, he causes the Divine Presence to remove itself from Israel. For it says, Will the rocks be dislodged from their place? (Job 18:4) And 'rock' is nothing other than the Holy One, blessed be God, as it says: You neglected the Rock that begot you, [forgot the God who brought you forth] (Deuteronomy 32:18).

This is powerful stuff with far-reaching implications: When we behave in this selfish its-all-about-me way, we erode any sense of community. Community is built when people consider not only the needs of others, but realize that they are assets in the lives of others. It matters to the second person that the first person stays to keep him company while he davens (prays). The Shechinah (the Divine Presence of God in this world) craves community and seeks community and abides in community. So the actions of the first person matter for not only the second person, but for the larger community.

But Abba Binyamin is saying even more. Note his use of Deuteronomy 32:18 (only the first half is quoted in the gemara, but I’ve given you the second half so the meaning and application of the verse will be clear). When you abandon your companion in shul, it’s like abandoning God. God cares about our relationships because God is party to our relationships. The divine spark in each of us participates in the relationships we develop with one another, which is why they can become so meaningful and important. If abandoning your friend in shul is like abandoning God, then nurturing your friendships also nurtures God.

People come to synagogue for a variety of reasons and from a Jewish perspective there are many legitimate reasons: for spiritual nourishment, for social needs, for intellectual stimulation, for good food, and for a sense of community. There’s an old joke that my chevruta partner told in his most recent posting. Here's another version: Schwartz and Cohen are leaving the synagogue midday on Shabbat afternoon. Shapiro encounters them and says, “Hey, Schwartz, what are you doing here? You told me last week you don’t believe in God. Did you come this morning to talk to God?” Schwartz replies, “Cohen came to talk to God. I came to talk to Cohen.” But notice this: Schwartz was there. He showed up. And he made a difference to Cohen, and apparently to Shapiro, as well.

Abba Binyamin does not merely tell us the downside. He explains the upside to creating community – even between two individuals:

And if he does wait, what is his reward? R. Yosi b. R. Chanina says: He is rewarded with the blessings enumerated in the following verse: If only you would heed My commands! Then your peace would be like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your offspring would be as many as the sand, their issue as many as its grains. [Their name would never be cut off or obliterated from before Me.] (Isaiah 48: 18, 19).

Abba Binyamin again uses a proof text that is pregnant with meaning. The simple act of waiting for another has redemptive potential. I’ve included the end of verse 19 (not included in the gemara) because I think it’s crucial. Our Rabbis presumed we would know it. Their name would never be cut off or obliterated from before Me. When we wait for our companion, when we nurture our relationships and create community, we strengthen our connection to God.

(c) 2009 by Rabbi Amy Scheinerman