The Fear of Punishment and the Fear of God Welcome to the "Heshbon HaNefesh" (Soul Accounting) series. The 26th reflection asks: What happens when a person in authority gives you a command and you're afraid of being punished if you don't listen? The parallel for us today isn't a king, but a police officer, a mayor, or a governor. Think about driving on the highway and seeing a police car with its lights on in your rearview mirror. Your heart drops in fear of getting a ticket, and then you realize the officer is chasing someone else. That moment of relief can be a powerful trigger for self-reflection. This event is a mashal (parable or analogy) for our relationship with God. Why are we so concerned with the arbitrary rules of society—like a speed limit that can change from 35 mph to 25 mph—and so afraid of their consequences, yet we are not equally concerned with God's commandments? The fear of getting a ticket feels immediate and real, but the fear of God's punishment often feels distant. What's the difference? A human authority figure has limitations. They can't always see you and are often distracted. God, on the other hand, is constantly watching. He is never preoccupied or deterred. This realization should lead to a profound question: Why do I not have a similar fear of God? Lessons from Judgment and the High Holidays This is especially relevant as we approach the High Holidays. There is a story about a great rabbi who would visit a court during the month of Elul (leading up to the High Holidays). He would sit and watch people's fear as they were judged, observing how much time and effort they put into their cases. This, for him, was a living mashal for the coming Day of Judgment. Rabbeinu Yonah , in the second gate of his work Shaarei Teshuva , discusses the Aseret Yemei Teshuva (Ten Days of Repentance). He uses the example of a person in a real-life court case to inspire repentance. He writes that an intelligent person should feel a certain shame. Here we are, standing before God, whose decrees are everlasting and who is constantly overseeing our actions, yet we go through life without a fear of God or a fear of punishment, continuing to sin while He watches. The Supernatural Disconnect Rav Yitzchak of Petersburg , a student of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter , offered a profound insight: There is an almost supernatural trait in humans that prevents us from fearing God as we fear people. If we truly grasped that God is all-powerful, ever-present, and could punish us at any moment, our free will might disappear. We would be so terrified that we could never sin. God, in His mercy, created this "disconnect" that allows us to ignore this fear and maintain our freedom of choice. This is the deeper meaning behind the famous story of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai telling his students on his deathbed, "May you fear God as you fear a human." When they responded, "Is that all?" he replied, "Would that it were! Fearing a human is a great thing." We are able to be ashamed of our actions in front of others, but we struggle with the same shame before God. Arrogance and Inattentional Blindness So why do we lack this fear? A verse from Psalms (10:4) may provide an answer: "Due to his arrogance, the wicked one does not seek; all his thoughts are, 'There is no God.'" The verse uses the term " bal yidrosh " ("he does not seek"), which is particularly striking when we remember that the Ten Days of Repentance are called "Drashu Hashem Behimatzo" ("Seek God when He is to be found"). The wicked person's arrogance blocks them from seeking God. This is also supported by another verse: "Your heart will become arrogant, and you will forget." Arrogance causes us to forget God. This concept can be understood through "inattentional blindness," a psychological phenomenon where a person fails to notice a fully visible, unexpected object because their attention is focused on something else. We are so focused on our own affairs and our own ego that we fail to see God's presence in the world. Our arrogance creates an interference. It's not just inattention; it's an attentional blindness driven by our desire to see ourselves, not God. Like a clinician who is so hyper-focused on looking for one specific thing on an X-ray that they miss something else, we become so focused on our own lives that we don't see God unless we actively look for Him. Arrogance causes us to not want to see Him. That's why we fear the police officer but not God—our arrogance gets in the way. This leads to the crucial first step of Rosh Hashanah : humility . By humbling ourselves, we can remove the arrogance that blinds us. Only then can we begin to see God and truly turn back to Him.