By Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb

Almost fifteen years ago, Rabbi Shalom Carmy, published an article¹ in which he parenthetically discussed the relationship between fear and joy in religious experience. He noted that even though we typically view these as opposite emotions, there is much evidence to the contrary. R. Carmy cited the presentations of the Sefas Emes and Rav Simcha Zisel of Kelm, both of whom attempted to clarify and crystallize the tenor of this delicate relationship.

The Sefas Emes’ point of departure is the complex personality of our patriarch Yitzchak. On the one hand, Kabbalistic thought identifies Yitzchak with pachad, fear. On the other hand, etymologically, the name Yitzchak suggests laughter and joy. In an attempt to resolve this apparent contradiction, the Sefas Emes comments:

True fear engenders joy, and this is a sign of the fear. So too does true joy engender fear. Therefore our father Yitzchak was named for joy, although he represents the aspect of pachad and yir’ah. It is a sign that he exhibited true fear. So too on the Yamim Nora’im, when pachad and yir’ah befall every creature, the children of Israel, who possess true fear, comes afterwards to joy².

In his cryptic prose, the Sefas Emes appears to indicate that in fact both fear and joy are incomplete emotions, each relying on the other to complete the full picture of religious experience. Nevertheless, the exact nature of this relationship remains somewhat of a mystery.

R. Simcha Zisel adds a further dimension to our understanding through his analysis of the phrase “gilu bi-re’adah” in Tehillim (2:11). Here too we are confronted with a combination of fear and joy which requires elucidation. What does it mean to “rejoice in trembling”? R. Simcha Zisel explains by way of an analogy:

To sit in the presence of a very revered man is a great burden to a man. It is like being in a prison, where one has no freedom to turn. His conversation must follow his will, and all with apprehension. One would not wish to abide unremittingly among elders and sages. But whoever is accustomed to seek the improvement of his soul, will rejoice in the yoke, for thus he will acquire the habit of wise living. . . .

Hence it says that fear will become intense joy. When we observe a man who accepts the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, although the yoke rests upon his neck, he takes joy in the true joy implanted in man³. . . .

By borrowing an experience familiar to so many, R. Simcha Zisel is able to communicate this profound theological insight with arresting relevance. In this conception, fear doesn’t lead to joy, they coexist.

II.

The paradoxical relationship between fear and joy can be further evidenced through an analysis of whether there is a halachic requirement to rejoice (chiyyuv simcha) on Rosh HaShanah.

Unlike most holidays in which here is a clear mandate, biblically or rabinically, to rejoice, there is conflicting evidence with regards to Rosh ha-Shanah⁴. There are many aspects of Rosh ha-Shanah which attest to this complexity. To take one example, on other holidays it is unequivocally prohibited to fast. Yet, when it comes to fasting on Rosh ha-Shanah there is a four-way debate which originates at the time of the Ge’onim. Rav Nachshon Ga’on and Rav Hai Ga’on are of the opinion that in fact Rosh ha-Shanah is no different than other holidays and it is thus similarly prohibited to fast⁵. Rav Natrunai Gaon prohibits fasting on the first day of the holiday but permits it on the second day⁶. The Beis Yosef (Orach Chaim 597) cites the Kol Bo who feels that it is permissible and perhaps even preferable to fast. And finally the Terumas ha-Deshen (#278) quotes an opinion that it is actually a mitzvah to fast on Rosh ha-Shanah⁷.

The simplest explanation is that this debate revolves around the question of whether there is a chiyyuv simcha on Rosh ha-Shanah. Some authorities believe that the essential character of the holiday is fear and dread of divine judgment and that these emotions preclude the possibility of a mitzvah to rejoice⁸. It is thus reasonable to assume that fasting would be permitted, or perhaps even encouraged, on Rosh ha-Shanah. There are others, however, who argue that, despite the judgment of the day, there is a mitzvah of simcha and thus fasting must be prohibited⁹.

III.

Given the complex nature of Rosh ha-Shanah as well as the conflicting evidence in the poskim, several authorities have theorized that even if there is an obligation to rejoice, it is in someway different than the obligation on other holidays. One possible distinction is quantitative; that is to say, the level of joy required on Rosh ha-Shanah is of a lesser degree than on other holidays. Persuasive evidence for this approach can be drawn from the comments of the Rambam (Hilchos Chanukah 3:6) who characterizes the days of Rosh ha-Shanah as “lo y’mei simchah yeseirah,” not being of excessive joy.

Alternatively, suggestions have been made to distinguish qualitatively between the nature of the joy required on Rosh ha-Shanah and the mitzvas simcha associated with other holidays¹⁰. One such approach, advanced by mori ve’rabbi Rabbi Michael Rosensweig¹¹, bears a striking resemblance to the aforementioned thought of R. Simcha Zisel of Kelm.

R. Rosensweig based his analysis on Rav Soloveitchik’s well- known view that the essence of simchas yom tov is the sense of being lifnei ha-Shem, in the intimate presence of the Divine¹². R. Rosensweig added that just as that intimacy generates a feeling of joy on other holidays, on Rosh ha-Shanah, the Day of Judgment, it also generates feelings of fear. In other words, joy and fear are flip sides of the same coin; they are both results of an intimate exposure to the Ribbono Shel Olam. In addition to citing the verse “gilu bi-re’adah” for support of this complex notion in general, R. Rosensweig adduced more specific proof as to the nature of Rosh ha-Shanah from a comment made by the Rambam in his Perush ha-Mishnayos (Rosh ha-Shanah 4:8).

The Rambam, in explaining why we do not recite Hallel on Rosh ha-Shanah, asserts that:

We do not recite Hallel on Rosh ha-Shanah, or on Yom ha-Kippurim, because they are days of worship, contrition, fear, and trembling from God and [we] run and flee towards Him . . . .

Of course, given the Rambam’s introduction, we would have expected him to conclude “run and flee from Him.” In fact, his striking formulation, “run and flee towards Him” indicates a dialectical relationship between man and God on Rosh ha-Shana. Even as we are in fear of judgment we are drawn closer and closer towards Him¹³.

R. Rosensweig’s explanation of the interrelationship between fear and joy on Rosh ha-Shanah thus correlates to R. Simcha Zisel’s analogy of the dual emotions one experiences in the intimate presence of a “very revered man.” Rather than being mutually exclusive, fear and joy are twin expressions of that intimacy, whether they are generated by the Day of Judgment or are experienced any other day.

As we strive to draw near to the Ribbono Shel Olam, may our enhanced understanding of the relationship between the fear of God and the religious experience of joy both enrich the process as well enable the desired result.

¹ “To Get the Better of Words: An Apology for Yir’at Shamayim In Academic Jewish Studies,” The Torah U-Madda Journal II (1990).

² Sefas Emes to Sukkos (Brooklyn, 1952), V, 200. Translation by R. Carmy, p. 13.

³ Chochmah u-Musar (New York, 1957), II, 133. Translation by R. Carmy, p. 13.

⁴ For a detailed treatment of this question, see my Ateres Yaakov (New York, 2003), chapter 3, “B’inyan Simcha B’Rosh ha-Shanah.”

⁵ Cited by the Mordechai to Maseches Rosh ha-Shanah (I #708) and the Rosh to Masechas Rosh ha-Shanah (IV #14).

⁶ Rosh, idem.

⁷ See also the Sha’agas Aryeh (#101) as well as the Taz (Orach Chaim 597:1).

⁸ See, for example, the Da’as Torah (Orach Chaim 584:8), Mateh Efrayim (583: Elef le-Magen #6), and Sdei Chemed (Ma’areches Rosh ha-Shanah 2:3).

⁹ See Bi’ur ha-Gra (Orach Chaim 597 s.v. v’ein mis’anin), Sha’agas Aryeh (#102), Teshuvos Chasam Sofer (Orach Chaim #168), and the Mishnah Berurah (Orach Chaim 597:1).

¹⁰ See the Tur (Orach Chaim 581:4), Chochmas Shlomo (Orach Chaim 581:4), and Derashas ha-Netziv (pp. 88-89) who connect the obligation to rejoice on Rosh ha-Shanah to the well known ma’amar Chazal (see, for example, the Talmud Yerushalmi, Maseches Rosh ha-Shana, 1:3) which expresses our confidence in receiving a positive judgment from God.

¹¹ Oral presentation delivered 2 days before Rosh Hashana, 1993 and summarized in Ateres Yaakov, ad loc.(pp. 31-33).

¹² “U’vikashtem Mi’sham” f.n. 19.

¹³ For further proof to this assertion based on an analysis of the verses in Sefer Nechemiah (8:9-11), see Ateres Yaakov, ad loc., p. 32. See also the comments of the Sha’ar ha-Tziyun (Orach Chaim 597:3) as well as R. Yitzchak Hutner in Pachad Yitzchok on Rosh ha-Shanah #5 for slightly different explanations of the unique nature of simchah on Rosh ha-Shanah. Furthermore, compare R. Rosensweig’s approach with that of Rav Shlomo Fischer in Derashos Beis Yishai (II #18).

Last updated on Nov 25, 2005 at 09:28 AM