Kabbalah Library

67. It is a commandment to love the Creator as a whole and individually. Fear is because a person should always fear the Creator, as it is written, “that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God.” Because of that fear, he will guard his ways. Fear is a place called “fear,” Malchut, since there, there is the fear of the Creator, which is called “the fear of the Creator,” that we should fear Him, as it is written, “and fear My Temple.” This is so because in this fear, in Malchut, there is a whip of fire to strike the wicked who do not observe the commandments of the Torah, since the punishments come from Malchut. For this reason, we should be afraid in general, which is the fear of punishment.

68. Afterwards, we should be afraid of Him individually. When a person knows what is fear of the Creator, when he attains the quality of Malchut herself, which is fear because of love, which is the core and the basis of loving the Creator, that fear makes him observe all the commandments of the Torah, so that a person is a faithful servant of the Creator as he should be.