ON SADNESS AND FEAR
R’ Pinchas said: “There is one who prays in sadness because of his state of melancholy (lit. ‘black bile’) and imagines that he prays with great fear. Likewise, there is one who imagines that he prays with great love and this is because of his state of euphoria (lit. ‘red bile’). However, when one is in a state of [true] love of G-d, and shame thereby descends upon him and he wants to praise G-d and triumph over the evil impulse for His sake, that is good. For man is only called a servant of G-d through fear and love. He must see to it that fear should descend upon him [from Above] and not inspire it in himself. True fear occurs when shuddering and trembling descend upon him such that because of the fear one does not know where he is, his thoughts have become purified, and his tears roll down of their own accord. But when this is not the case, then even if it appears that one loves G-d, that certainly is not so. For this is the gate to the Lord (Psalms 118:20). Fear is the gate to love, and if one does not enter the gate, which is fear, how can he attain love? When one is in the above state [i.e., self-generated melancholy or euphoria], he is not even a ‘servant,’ and is certainly not capable of having fear descend upon him. This is not the proper service for a Jew; it is simply a service by rote. One [who is in this state] imagines that he actually serves G-d in joy, but it is nothing more than foolish joy. Therefore, let him return to G-d with all his heart and all his soul”.*
*Likkutei Yekarim, p. 3a, in The Religious Thought of Hasidism: Text and Commentary, by Norman Lamm, p. 106 (B)
By Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz
Source: Two Tzaddiks
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