Way 5: The Power of Awe – Breaking Through Laziness and Pettiness
We now resume way number five of the 48 ways, and way number five is with awe, be-ay-ma. So what does awe mean to you? How is awe different from fear? Many times people confuse the two, and we'll talk about fear in the next way. But in way number five, awe, awe is when someone lives on an elevated plane. Let's explain. So if you were to take Hashem's unlimited power, the waves of the ocean, the winds of a twister,
the galaxies, the shooting stars, the human body, look at the fruits and vegetables, you're in awe, wow, it's incredible. Life is so incredible, and we need to seek those wows of life. That's awe, when you're blown away by the majesty of the Almighty, by His greatness. The noun awe is a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear and wonder. But the awesomeness of life is without end. Awe can break through laziness and ruts. When you're in awe, you're on an elevated plane.
You can just break through anything. You're like, wow, it's incredible. Just to put it into perspective, have you ever stood by a Sefer Torah, by a Torah scroll, and you're like, wow, it's just like, and you feel a little elevated when you leave, when you take a step away. I can accomplish more than, I believe in myself more than I believed before. It unleashes the potential and locked up energies that are within us. It's a human tendency to be petty.
Awe pulls us up and out of it. The reality of this world is that there is nothing mundane. Life has the potential to be one thrill after another if we understand the power of every single moment. We have unbelievable power, unbelievable potential. You look at the world, you look at a sunset, and it's like, awe, it's like, wow, it's incredible. Living with this awe helps maximize our life. And that's why the Mishnah lists it as the fifth item. We set to learn, we set to listen,
we set to speak things out, and we set to put things into our heart, put them into action. But now we're gonna be talking about awe, about putting it into action is not enough. Now it's the way in which we see the world. We can live every single day with awe. That means we don't have depression. That means we don't have challenges. Of course we have ups and downs. Of course we have days that are great days
and days that are not such great days. But when we have awe, we're able to just blaze right through it. We need to concretize awesome experiences so you can recall them at any time. You have a great event with your family, take that in, soak it up, make it something special in your memory so you can bring it back and smile when you're having a rough day. Bring it back. Awe is what mankind is capable of. Awe of the enormous responsibility
of being a link in the chain of Judaism. You know, think for a second. Awe of what mankind is capable of. I mean, think of it. I watched the SpaceX launching a rocket to space, sending five astronauts on a private mission to the space station. I mean, and then landing back the booster rocket, landing it back on a floating platform in the ocean. I mean, this is remarkable that human beings can be so productive, that can do such incredible things
with the world that God gave us. But then think even more. Think of the enormous responsibility of being a link in the chain of Judaism, that Moses and Aaron and Joshua and all of the great sages, we're a link in that chain. Feel a sense of awe. Awe is also the result of seeing potential actualized. When you work on writing a book, when you work on a project and you see that potential being actualized, it's amazing.
You know, they say that Rav Baruch Bear, one of the leading scholars of Eastern Europe, pre-Holocaust, once met the New York City mayor. And the mayor, after meeting this great sage who was visiting the United States to raise funds for his yeshiva, the mayor said, now I believe that man was created by God. He says, till now I was believed in evolution, but after seeing this great sage, he was in such awe, he says, such a thing can come from evolution.
This is a God creation. That's what we need to each aspire to be, to be a person who's really great. See the power and the pleasure of understanding truth. You are in touch with the awe of wisdom. Step outside under the stars and it'll put you right on track. Awe is important in order to gain perspective. When you meet someone of true, an honorable person, someone who's a respected person, you get a sense of awe. I remember this clearly,
learning with my rabbi of blessed memory, Rav Barel Eisenstein. Every time I got up from learning with him, I felt like I was learning with an angel, someone who was so perfect in his character traits, someone who was so righteous and so loving and so knowledgeable and so spiritual. I was in awe. I remember every time I got up, I felt like I was on a cloud. Remember the awe we have, we mentioned previously for the Torah scroll.
A rabbi, a sage, is a living Torah scroll as well. The same power to do evil can do good. If it can destroy, it can build. It's remarkable that this podcast is being recorded on Yom HaShoah on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Rav Shach of blessed memory told Rav Noah Weinberg the following statement. He said, if one person can murder six million, one person can also bring six million to life. And this is the charge, the mission of TORCH and organizations like TORCH,
that our goal is to bring Judaism to life in people's experience, in people's lives, to transform their lives. That's what we're here for. We're here to assist every Jew who's interested in learning, in growing, to have the avenue, to have the platform to learn and grow. Alfred Nobel created the Nobel Peace Prize to correct his ways for discovering dynamite, which destroyed and killed people. He said, I need to do good, and he created the Nobel Peace Prize.
You will see that Isaac loved his son Esau, why? Because he was in awe of his potential for good, even though he didn't use the potential for good. He used the potential that he had for no good, but Isaac saw the good that was capable to come out of him. Now, we know that laughter is important, comedy is important, but in excess, it isn't healthy, because you lose a sense of awe for Hashem and what is important in life.
If you spend five minutes a day contemplating the awesomeness of this world, your life will change forever.
