יראה מחמת הבושהAwe Born of Shame

yirah mechamat ha-bushahIn Gamatria ↗

The sea stops at a line of sand. And you?

One step of awe is shame. The Sifrei on Ha'azinu has God tell Israel to look at heaven and earth: the sun has never risen in the west, the earth has never given barley where wheat was sown, and the sea stays behind the line of sand set for it (Jeremiah 5:22). Drawing on Chovot HaLevavot, de Vidas says all creation keeps its covenant, even the body's own organs. How, then, can a person not be ashamed to break the covenant of the One who made him?

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