Previously we spoke about the רמב"ם that says that אהבה and יראה comes simultaneously by looking into creation. The רמב"ם actually mentions אהבה first. Interesting to note the חובות הלבבות in the tenth gate, the gate of אהבת השם, clearly states that אהבה is all at the end of the totem pole, it's his final gate. And he says that quite often the Torah mentions fear of Hashem before love. Like it says, ואתה ישראל, דברים 10:12, מה השם אלוקיך שואל מעמך? What does God want from you? כי אם ליראה to fear ולאהבה and to love. דברים 10:20, את השם אלוקיך תירא ובו תדבק. Fear Hashem and cleave to him. Cleaving refers to loving him. And he says, חייב להקדים היראה על האהבה באלוקים. You have to start with fear. Because if you don't have fear, he says, you can't come to love. Again he says, אי אפשר שיגיע אדם אליו, you can't reach it, אלא אחר שתקדם יראתו ופחדו. First you have to have fear and פחדו and and trembling from your God. Interestingly enough, as the source for why we need to look into creation, the חובות הלבבות quotes a פסוק in קהלת 3:14, והאלוקים עשה, God created the world, שייראו מלפניו that we fear him. So the חובות הלבבות is consistent with his reasoning that I have to start looking into creation to fear him, to realize how great he is, that I shouldn't sin in front of him, to stand in front of him with awe and trepidation. Love will come later. That's the tenth gate. Got some time for that.And now let's discuss this פסוק והאלוקים עשה שייראו מלפניו. God created the world to fear him. The גמרא מסכת ברכות in two places quotes this פסוק. One time, רבי יוחנן says this refers to a bad dream. The purpose of a bad dream is that you should be afraid. What does that mean that bad dreams were created for people to fear Hashem? The גמרא מסכת ברכות says that a bad dream is actually a good sign. Because you have the bad dream, in the dream you were whatever the in a car accident, and you're all shaken up. Well, hey, you got scared from the dream, you got all shaken up. You say, oh no, these things could happen. I gotta get closer to Hashem. And by having the bad dream, the bad event didn't happen. So the bad dream accomplished what it was supposed to do, to instill a little fear in your heart. Based on this, the Steipler says in one of his letters that one of the reasons why people חס ושלום have to go for a medical testing, and they have to wait for a week till they get the results, and then ברוך השם you say, ah, the results came out good. That's really, he says, the same message as a bad dream. You needed to have some fear in your life, you needed some trepidation, and that fear healed you. God does things in this world to cause fear of him. That's one example of the of the reason why of what an example of that is. Another place in ברכות אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי. You know why God created thunder? To smooth out the crookedness of one's heart. As it says, והאלוקים עשה שייראו מלפניו. God did things to make us fear him. When you hear, says the מהרש"א, thunder, which is very scary and seemingly there's no real purpose of it, the purpose was to instill fear into you, and that will cause you to repent because you're afraid. But there's a beautiful point over here. The חובות הלבבות is telling us you can get fear through a bad dream, you can get fear from thunder, but you know what? You could get fear from looking at the apple and the orange, by seeing Hashem in creation. He's always watching me, he's always with me. And therefore, the smoothest way, the easiest way, the most painless way of fear, is by us finding God in creation and that gives us a level of יראת שמיים. So that's what we're going to be doing over here. Either the רמב"ם we're doing love and fear, or the חובות הלבבות doing fear alone, but regardless, we're involved in a very important activity of finding Hashem in creation. שער הבחינה, finding Hashem, testing, probing, being able to discern God in creation. Interesting, the first ברכה in ברכות השחר, הנותן לשכוי בינה. God gave the שכוי, which could mean the rooster or the human. being, בינה understanding, להבחין to discern between day and night. That's the ability to be critical, to be a critical thinker, to be able to discern and see and find. That's the להבחין, בחינה, שער הבחינה. And we will