Miller's Musings Parshas Vayishlach: Be Afraid. Be Nary Afraid.

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חוה ברכה יעקב אהרן בן    לרפואת      

and is לעילוי נשמת   לאה בת אברהם

BS'D

The threat of impending doom embodied in the form of Eisov, would be enough to strike fear into the heart of any normal man.  But Yaakov was no normal man.  He was a man of incredible levels of righteousness and faith in Hashem. A man who must have surely had absolute trust in his Creator.  So where was there room for fear? And lest one think that in fact the real matter he was fearful of was having used up all his merit, careful examination of the words shows us that this was not the case.  He clearly specifies the source for his dread by declaring "Save me...because I fear him"?

There are certain characteristics that no matter who you are, are part of what makes you a human being.   Fear is one such attribute.  No matter who you are, no matter how courageous, there is always something that will make you afraid.  This is the nature of us all and there is nothing wrong with experiencing this emotion, nor in reality is it a matter of choice.   What is a matter of choice however, says Reb Shimon Schwab zt'l, is how we react to that fear.  Whereas some may cower or run from the source, a Tzaddik faces it head-on by putting their trust in Hashem and turning to Him for help. Prayer and an abrogation of one’s natural inclination towards anxiety, by focusing on the truth of it ultimately all being in Hashem’s hands, is what is required.  Once this has been done, there is no more space for being afraid.   It was not remiss of Yaakov to be scared of Eisov.  It was simply the catalyst to his putting his total faith in Hashem, which, when done, meant all fear totally ceased to be. 

We are told repeatedly that we must trust Hashem and if one does that we will never have any worries or concerns.  In terms of what the ideal is, this is of course completely true.  But the danger is that we may start to feel guilty and remorseful every time that we do experience anxiety or trepidation about something that has, or is going to happen.  This is not all helpful and with what we have said we should see that these feelings are natural, expected and no cause for self-reproach.  This is how we are created and should elicit no shame.  What we are responsible for is how we then react to it and this is where faith must come to the forefront.  When confronted by moments that trigger distress, we must then put all our focus on prayer to Hashem and developing our total belief in His absolute control over all that happens.  Do not concern yourself with trying to combat innate instincts, but rather work on what you can control, how you respond to those moments that test us and turn swiftly and entirely to Hashem.

 *May the power of Shabbos grant us deeper faith in His total control* 

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