A phobia is defined as the “irrational fear” of certain things or situations. Arachnophobia is a fear of spiders (though some might argue that is a perfectly rational thing to be afraid of!). Then there’s globophobia and xocolatophobia. These and some 400 other phobias are real and documented. It seems we can become afraid of most anything.
On our holiday of Shavuot we shall read about the
Revelation on Mount Sinai. Our Torah reading tells of the Israelites’ fear of
receiving the 10 Commandments: “When the people saw the thunder and lightning…
they trembled with fear” (Exodus 20:18) Moses comforted them saying, “Be not afraid (תִּירָ֒אוּ֒);
for God has come only in order to test you, and in order that the fear (יִרְאָת֛וֹ)
of God may be ever with you....” (Verse 20) Moses seems to contradict himself:
“Don’t be afraid but be afraid.” In fact, the root of Hebrew word for fear “ירא”
contains at least two meanings-a trembling terror of something or a reverent
awe of God.
We may laugh
to learn that globophobia is the fear balloons and xocolatophobia is a fear of chocolate. The more serious
bottom line about phobias is that we can be afraid of all kinds of things.
Fears creep into our lives like spiders, and the world can be a scary place.
The rise of anti-Semitism throughout the world is real and well documented. As
we face our fears and fight anti-Semitism in our midst, Shavuot reminds us that
God is awesome. We trust in God’s love to give us strength for today and hope
for tomorrow so that bitterness will be kept far from us and despair not
overcome us in the midst of darkness.
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