Solid Foundations

לזכר נשמות לאה שושנה בת אהרן ריעדער מורינו ר׳ צבי הערש בן ר׳ ניסן חיים מורינו ר׳ ישעי בן ר׳ משה ר׳ יעקב בן ר׳ שמואל יוסף מ׳ חוה רבקה בת ר׳ שמעון ריעדער

Based on Nefesh Shimshon by Rav Shimshon Pincus, zt”l

There are three foundations of Yiddishkeit: Faith. Love. Fear.

These are emunas Hashem, ahavas Hashem, and yiras Hashem.

They correspond with our three avos, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.

People think these three mitzvos are difficult to fulfill.

But in reality, this isn’t the case.

Faith in Hashem – it’s almost impossible not to believe in Hashem.

Imagine looking up at the ceiling, and asking your friend: “Where did that light bulb come from?”

And you friend replies: “Oh, it just appeared.”

Obviously, that would be foolishness.

We go outside, we see the sun, moon, and stars; we look at ourselves and see our fingers, eyes, limbs.

Who made all of this?

Dovid Hamelech exclaims: “If I go up to Heaven, You are there. And if I lie to rest in the Netherworld, there You will be too.”

Hashem is found everywhere.

His kindness constantly surrounds us.

See? It’s difficult not to believe in Hashem.

Loving Hashem — how can you not?

Imagine having a very wealthy father. You now need to marry off your children and your father says, don’t worry, I’ll pay for the young couple’s apartment. When the young couple need a car, your father pays for it. Your father is also a doctor, and when the new grandson is born with heart disease, your father helps heal him.

This father is obviously loved dearly.

All we would want to do would be to hug him, kiss him, and tell him how beloved he is.

We all believe our lives are from Hashem. Our children came from Hashem.

Hashem keeps us alive… how could we not love Him?

Fear of Hashem – how is it possible not to fear Him?

Imagine you’re in a restaurant, about to take a drink from the cup in your hand, when a mental patient breaks out of the institution across the street, runs in in his pajamas, and shouts, “Don't drink it, it’s poison!”

He’s then led away by doctors. You have no reason to think the drink in your hands in poison, but suddenly, you have no interest in drinking it.

When it comes to Gehinnom’s punishments, we have no doubt.

So of course we fear Hashem.

But why don’t we?

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Let’s Reflect:

We can put up “don't speak lashon hara” stickers to remind us about shemiras halashon.

What can we do to remind us about yiras Hashem? We’re all in this together. Let’s brainstorm ideas to clear the fog that clouds us from what we know for certain.

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