Litany Against Fear from Frank Herbert's Dune
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
(א) כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֨א לַמִּלְחָמָ֜ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֗ךָ וְֽרָאִ֜יתָ ס֤וּס וָרֶ֙כֶב֙ עַ֚ם רַ֣ב מִמְּךָ֔ לֹ֥א תִירָ֖א מֵהֶ֑ם כִּֽי־יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ עִמָּ֔ךְ הַמַּֽעַלְךָ֖ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃ (ב) וְהָיָ֕ה כְּקָֽרׇבְכֶ֖ם אֶל־הַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה וְנִגַּ֥שׁ הַכֹּהֵ֖ן וְדִבֶּ֥ר אֶל־הָעָֽם׃ (ג) וְאָמַ֤ר אֲלֵהֶם֙ שְׁמַ֣ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אַתֶּ֨ם קְרֵבִ֥ים הַיּ֛וֹם לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה עַל־אֹיְבֵיכֶ֑ם אַל־יֵרַ֣ךְ לְבַבְכֶ֗ם אַל־תִּֽירְא֧וּ וְאַֽל־תַּחְפְּז֛וּ וְאַל־תַּֽעַרְצ֖וּ מִפְּנֵיהֶֽם׃ (ד) כִּ֚י יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם הַהֹלֵ֖ךְ עִמָּכֶ֑ם לְהִלָּחֵ֥ם לָכֶ֛ם עִם־אֹיְבֵיכֶ֖ם לְהוֹשִׁ֥יעַ אֶתְכֶֽם׃
(1) When you take the field against your enemies, and see horses and chariots—forces larger than yours—have no fear of them, for your God יהוה, who brought you from the land of Egypt, is with you. (2) Before you join battle, the priest shall come forward and address the troops. (3) He shall say to them, “Hear, O Israel! You are about to join battle with your enemy. Let not your hearts falter. Do not be in fear, or in panic, or in dread of them. (4) For it is your God יהוה who marches with you to do battle for you against your enemy, to bring you victory.”
What does he say on the battlefield? “Let not your heart faint; fear not, nor be alarmed, and do not be terrified of them” (Deuteronomy 20:3). These four cautions correspond to four actions done by the nations of the world: They clash, and they blast, they shout, and they trample.
Anxiety in Jewish Sources by Michele Klein 2002
Anxiety affects the mind and the body, the body and the soul. As Sigmund Freud pointed out, “everyone has personally experienced this sensation, or to speak more correctly, this affective condition, at some time or other.” Freud, like many Jewish writers before him, assumed his readers knew the sensation or condition (closely related to fear and apprehensiveness) that he was talking about. However, most Jews who wrote before 1895, when Freud published his first paper about anxiety, assumed anxiety to be an emotional state or a disturbing character trait, related to a person’s faulty morality—an ethical problem.
We have chosen to use the word “anxiety” in this paper, because this is the word commonly used today when the “condition” becomes a problem. Doctors and psychologists use it when diagnosing and treating complaints that they label “anxiety disorders.” However, this word signifies a complex, multi-dimensional, probably universal aspect of human experience that includes fear, phobia, fretting, dread, worry, and apprehensiveness. Jews who wrote about this aspect of experience in the past used a number of Hebrew words and assumed the reader understood their meaning, just as we ourselves use several English words to convey a personal feeling or mental state.
(14) Happy is the one who is always afraid,
But one who hardens their heart falls into evil.
This student was once walking after Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei, in the marketplace of Zion. Rabbi Yishmael saw that the student was afraid. He said to him: You are a sinner, as it is written: “The transgressors in Zion are afraid, trembling has seized the ungodly” (Isaiah 33:14). The student replied: And is it not written: “Happy is the person that fears always” (Proverbs 28:14)? Rabbi Yishmael said to him: That verse is written with regard to matters of Torah.
Yehuda bar Natan was coming and going after Rav Hamnuna. Yehuda bar Natan sighed; Rav Hamnuna said to him: Do you wish to bring suffering upon yourself; as it is stated: “For that which I did fear is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of has overtaken me” (Job 3:25)? He responded: Is it not said: “Happy is the person who fears always”? Rav Hamnuna answered: That verse is written with regard to matters of Torah.
תַּנְיָא רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר גְּדוֹלָה צְדָקָה שֶׁמְּקָרֶבֶת אֶת הַגְּאוּלָּה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר כֹּה אָמַר ה׳ שִׁמְרוּ מִשְׁפָּט וַעֲשׂוּ צְדָקָה כִּי קְרוֹבָה יְשׁוּעָתִי לָבֹא וְצִדְקָתִי לְהִגָּלוֹת הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר עֲשָׂרָה דְּבָרִים קָשִׁים נִבְרְאוּ בָּעוֹלָם הַר קָשֶׁה בַּרְזֶל מְחַתְּכוֹ בַּרְזֶל קָשֶׁה אוּר מְפַעְפְּעוֹ אוּר קָשֶׁה מַיִם מְכַבִּין אוֹתוֹ מַיִם קָשִׁים עָבִים סוֹבְלִים אוֹתָן עָבִים קָשִׁים רוּחַ מְפַזַּרְתָּן רוּחַ קָשֶׁה גּוּף סוֹבְלוֹ גּוּף קָשֶׁה פַּחַד שׁוֹבְרוֹ פַּחַד קָשֶׁה יַיִן מְפִיגוֹ יַיִן קָשֶׁה שֵׁינָה מְפַכַּחְתּוֹ וּמִיתָה קָשָׁה מִכּוּלָּם [וּצְדָקָה מַצֶּלֶת מִן הַמִּיתָה] דִּכְתִיב וּצְדָקָה תַּצִּיל מִמָּוֶת
It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda says: ... Ten strong entities were created in the world. A mountain is strong, but iron, cleaves it. Iron is strong, but fire melts it. Fire is strong, but water extinguishes it. Water is strong, but clouds bear it. Clouds are strong, but wind disperses them. Wind is strong, but the body withstands it. The body is strong, but fear breaks it. Fear is strong, but wine dispels it. Wine is strong, but sleep drives it off. And death is stronger than them all, but charity saves a person from death, as it is written: “And charity delivers from death” (Proverbs 10:2, 11:4).
§ Three things diminish a person’s strength, and they are: Fear, road, and sin. Fear, as it is written: “My heart flutters, my strength fails me” (Psalms 38:11). Traveling on the road, as it is written: “He has weakened my strength on the road” (Psalms 102:24). Sin, as it is written: “My strength fails because of my sin” (Psalms 31:11).
“If there is a worry in the heart of a man, let him bend it [yashchena]” (Proverbs 12:25). Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi: One said: He should force it [yaschena] out of his mind. And one said: It means he should tell [yesichena] his troubles to others.
Fear Bestows Power by Rabbi Larry Tabick, from 'Terror, Trauma and Tragedy: Rabbinic Responses', 2016
Rabbi Yisrael Taub of Modzhitz (Modzicz, 1849-1921), the founder of the Modzhitz Hasidic dynasty, said:
The fact is: when righteous people are afraid and fearful of the wicked, it gives [the wicked] the power to harm them – God forbid! – as it says: ‘Like a muddied spring, a ruined fountain, are the righteous fallen before the wicked’ (Proverbs 25:[26])…
Divrei Yisra’el (Tel Aviv. 1984), pt. 2, pp. 9-10.
When we fear the wicked, those who would do us harm, we give them power over us. We let their agenda determine our own. His quotation from Proverbs suggests that the righteous who succumb to the wicked are themselves tainted, contaminated. Purity cannot be maintained when we give in to wickedness. The Modzhitzer knew that fear bestows power upon those we fear. It makes us dance to their tune, sing from their hymn sheet, march to their drumbeat. It taints and demeans us. Only overcoming our fear, only a determined decision to live our lives free of fear, can we wrest power back from the terrorists who would have us live in their thrall.
Between Fear and Awe: Forgetting the Self by Shai Held 2015
All of this raises a crucial question: If fear and awe are so different, why does the same Hebrew word (yir'ah) convey both? My teacher Bernard Steinberg once offered a powerful answer: "Awe is what happens to fear when it stops being about me." When I fear God, in other words, I think about God's might and the ways it could impact upon me, but when I hold God in awe, I think only of God's might; thoughts of how it could affect me simply fall away. Fear becomes awe, then, when I forget about myself and focus only on God.
We can discern something similar, I think, in the biblical Hebrew word todah. In contrast to modern Hebrew, where todah means thanks, in biblical Hebrew the primary meaning of todah is praise, though it can convey a sense of thanksgiving as well. Indeed, in some biblical texts it is difficult to know whether to translate todah as thanks or praise. Why does the same biblical Hebrew word convey both "thanks" and "praise"? When I am thankful to God, I acknowledge God's generosity and its impact on me. When I praise God, however, I acknowledge God's generosity in and of itself. Thanks becomes praise when I forget about myself and focus only on God. In other words, fear is to awe as thanks is to praise: The former give way to the latter when I transcend myself and think only of God.
(1) Of David. The Eternal is my light and my help; whom should I fear? The Eternal is the stronghold of my life, whom should I dread? (2) When evil ones assail me to devour my flesh— it is they, my foes and my enemies, who stumble and fall. (3) Should an army besiege me, my heart would have no fear; should war beset me, still would I be confident. (4) One thing I ask of the Eternal, only that do I seek: to live in the house of the Eternal all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Eternal, to frequent God's temple.