Do you remember the Billy Crystal movie, Mr. Saturday Night? Billy Crystal plays Buddy and David Paymer plays his brother Stan. As kids, they put together vaudeville routines and performed at family get-togethers, but when they finally get their chance to perform for an audience, Stan becomes paralyzed by fear. His brother Buddy goes on to become a star, while Stan works as his agent. When Stan meets the girl of his dreams, he again succumbs to fear and is unable to ask her out, however Buddy does and eventually they marry. Stan’s fear causes him to live bitterly in his brother’s shadow, watching resentfully as his brother Buddy lives the life he wished for himself. The sad ironic message is that in action because of fear of failure is what actually causes the failure.

F.E.A.R: Forget Everything And Run. Tomorrow afternoon we will read the story of Jonah, the prophet called by God to admonish the Ninavites to repent or suffer the consequences. Jonah, like all prophets, had absolutely no desire to be a part of this plan. Who would, when you think about it? The prophets where charged with the unpopular task of telling the people they had to stop doing something that they enjoyed. Jonah was afraid to deliver God’s message and tried to flee. He escaped by boat, hopeing that God would not find him. But God brought a great storm to the seas and Jonah was thrown overboard, swallowed by a whale who eventually spewed poor Jonah out onto dry land. Eventually Jonah had no choice but to meet his fear and fulfill his prophetic obligation.

Jonah ran from his fears and he spent a lot of unnecessary time running and hiding, trying to escape from God, from his fear, from the unknown.   Yet he still wound up having to do the very thing he was afraid to do. What a waste of time and effort! How many of us can relate to Jonah? Putting off what we are afraid of and then having to do it or experience it anyway?

Fear. It is a helpful emotion when it saves us from entering a dangerous situation, or alerts us to danger. Fear is a basic physiological response that has existed long before humans walked the earth. It is the foundation of the “fight or flight response,” a primitive, automatic, innate response that alerts our body to either fight or flee from perceived danger, attack or threat to our survival.   When our fight or flight instinct is activated, we do whatever we can to escape danger. This basic instinct has helped keep us alive…. But as humans began to settle and attacks by wild beasts and barbaric neighbors became less the norm, the helpful fear instinct mutated and evolved. It’s permutation took the form of panic, apprehension, self-consciousness—all useful to a certain point. Today however the flight or fight response is activated by many things other than real threats to our safety. Hormones produced in our bodies by stress, for example, activate the fear response.[1] When we operate in fear mode—we see most everything as a threat to our survival and we lose our sense of rationality and view the world from a place of danger and vulnerability and we are unable to feel a sense of safety. We push panic past the point of prudence to a place of paralysis.

We all have fears; we are afraid of a loved one getting hurt, or God forbid, dying, we are afraid of getting older, of losing our job, of not making ends meet, we are afraid for the safety of our communities. We are afraid of what might come from out of the complex and tragic political climate in which we live, we are afraid of the violence ravaging our cities and suburbs, of terrorism, of global warming… the list is endless. We also have fears born from the flight or fight response that have blurred our lines of reality today and causes us to run and hide, rather than be still and face our fears. Our rational being is often consumed by fears about what other people think of us, about what they might say to others about us, we fear we are not good enough, that we won’t ever fit in, that we will never find our purpose in life, and that others will laugh at us. These kinds of fears too, limit our potential, stop our behaving in compassionate and loving ways and therefore are stumbling-blocks, preventing us from living our best lives.

We could spend our energies in fear: F.E.A.R FORGET EVERYTHING AND RUN or we could F.E.AR. – FACE EVERYTHING AND RISE. Facing our fears and rising above them certainly takes courage –that strange energy that fuels us to act in the face of danger, but more significantly it takes awareness and stillness. We cannot just decide to create more courage, but we can consciously chose to slow down, collect ourselves and not act impulsively. If we do this, then we will be able to pass through our fears and be our best selves.

If we are human, we have fears. What matters, teaches Reb Nachman is that we know that we fear, and we do not let our fears limit us, we do not let fear get the best of us. Rabbi Nachman of Braslov wrote, K’she’adam, tzarich l’avor gesher tzar moed… the well-known translation of this is “all the world is a narrow bridge, the most important thing is not to be afraid.” However, a more exact translation is: “When a person must cross an exceedingly narrow bridge, the general principle and the essential thing is not to frighten yourself at all.”[2] In other words, do not bring fear to yourself. Reb Nachman knew that we do not succeed from a place of fear. Fear will hold us back; an awareness of love that only comes from stillness will hold us. Fear is about scarcity and being alone. Love is about abundance and connection. Connection to others, the Holy One and ourselves.

There is perhaps no more common a verse in our Tanach, our Bible from God than, “Al tirau”, do not fear. When Avram sets out to an unknown land, God says to him, “Al tirau, do not fear, I am with you.” (Genesis 15: 1-5)

When God heard the cry of thirst from a dying Ishmael, an angel of God called to Hagar, “Al tirau, Fear not, for God has heeded the cry of the boy….” (Genesis 21:17):

When Isaac sets out alone to build new wells, God said, “Al tirau …Fear not, for I am with you.” (Genesis 26:24):

When Jacob prepares for Journey down to Egypt to see his beloved son Joseph for the first time in decades God says, “Al tirau, Do not fear going down to Egypt, I am going with you….” (Genesis 46:3): God says “Do Not Fear” to David, to Ruth, to Daniel (10:19) and to the prophet Isaiah (41:10). God says “Al tirau” to them and to us: do not fear, I am with you. God offers this statement of love as Love itself.

It is not easy to face everything and rise but the Torah teach us how.

In the book of Exodus, we read, “As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites caught sight of the Egyptians advancing upon them. Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out to Adonai, ‘We want to go back to Egypt how could you do this to us! Fear and trembling set in and Moses replied: “Have no fear![3] Stand by, and collect yourselves, and see the deliverance, which Adonai will work for you today… be still.. Hold your peace. These few verses, Rabbi Alan Lew of Blessed Memory, teaches are a working prescription for managing fear.[4] Let’s unpack if for a moment. The Israelites Cry out, they are afraid, and they are panicking! Caught in between the Egyptian army and the Sea that has not yet parted, God calls out to them: “Al tirau!” Don’t be afraid! Don’t let your fear stop you from moving forward! Do not succumb to your fears! Do not let fear control you. God begs, “Al-tirau—do not fear,” you are not alone. Next God says, “Collect yourselves.” Pull yourselves together. Release into this fear and notice it. Return to the self, for I am there, with you, says God. The Israelites are then asked to See. “See” the salvation which Adonai will make for you today….Adonai will fight for you and it will be okay! And then we are commanded to be still. Do not fear, collect yourselves, see and be still. Here, it is our time to return to the self. Quiet the mind and come back to the breath. Stop talking; quiet the thoughts and the worry. SHHH. Lastly God asks Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to just get going.[5] Give in to the action that is the next right step. We do not stay in a place of stillness, but rather after we collect ourselves, notice what it is that we fear, and return back to the self, only then can we get going. Sometimes we get going after the fear subsides; sometimes we get going and walk on the narrow bridge, through the fears.

Similarly to our Torah teaching, theologian Henri Nouwen writes:

The challenge is to let go of fear and claim the deeper truth of who I am.  When you forget your true identity as a beloved child of God, you lose your way in life.  You become scared and start doing things not freely, but because of fear.  But when you make space for God in your life and begin to listen to God’s loving voice, you suddenly start to realize perfect love. You can claim it, and you can gradually let go of your fear.  The fear may come back tomorrow and you will have to struggle, and you can again return from fear to love.  Every time you feel afraid, you can open yourself to God’s presence, hear God’s voice again, and be brought back to perfect love that casts out fear and brings in greater freedom.[6]

It get’s easier to live through fear the more we do it. Our Torah teaches how, and reminds us that there is no one, no one at all, exempt from fear. This is one of the reasons why in our bedtime prayers we recite a paragraph, the same paragraph as the one the ends the hymn Adon Olam: “In Your hand I place my sprit, when I sleep and when I wake. With my spirit, my body too, God is mine, God is near, I shall not fear.”[7] Fear is inevitable and part of our life and God knows this and asks us to trust enough to hear the voice whispering to us, al tirau, do not be afraid, I am with you. Collect yourself, see and be still. And get going.

As we walk across the exceedingly narrow bridge that is our life May each of us be blessed with the ability to hear the eternal truth, al tirau—do not be afraid, for I am with you.

[1] The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are, Second Edition. By Daniel J. Siegel

[2] Likutei Moharan (II:48)

[3] 14:10-14

[4] Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice For Real Life. By Alan Lew.

[5] ibid

[6] Spiritual Formation: Following The Movements of the Spirit. Henri Nouwen.

7] Psalm 118:6