Every year, you hear Rabbis rip drinking on Purim. How its the cause of terrible accidents, a terrible example for children, whatever.

But have they ever thought about the cost of giving up drinking? Seriously, without drinking on Purim, I think hordes of people would simply leave the fold! Drinking on Purim is what keeps us frum!

Maybe we should go on a pro-drinking on Purim campaign...

Can Atheists Have Fear of Heaven?

Although it is an aspiration of mine as a Jew, I'm not really sure if I'll ever understand what the Jewish concept of Yiras Shamayim (Fear of Heaven) is really about. On *extremely* rare moments, perhaps during Neilah on a particularly good Yom Kippur, I've felt emotional trepidation at the thought of being judged by God. A tearful physical shudder at the thought of the standing before the Creator, knowing that my future is at the mercy of this awesome Force that I can't possibly comprehend. When thinking about misfortune that I see around me, I am even more likely to have this reaction. Is this Yiras Shamayim? Or perhaps the baby steps leading up to it?

Regardless of whether or not one believes in God, man must recognize that there is a force greather than himself at play in the cosmos. For the atheist, the forces of nature act at random with no will or intelligence. But the honest atheist will concede that there is a power greater than man, even it is not a cognizant entity. We are at the "mercy", if you will, of the forces of nature. Man can exert control over many aspects of existence, but can never completely protect himself from disease, natural disasters, accidents, violent acts, or the like. Sincerely contemplating the awesome nature of this force (or these forces) and how we may or may not be affected by them in the future can inspire trepidation, regardless if this force is a willful intelligent God or pure chance. I suspect that given an environment and mood that lends itself to contemplating this uncertainty in an emotional way, an atheist could fairly easily come to tears and tremble. So if what I've described above is the beginnings of fear of Heaven, can an atheist have Yiras Shamayim?

Or more likely, what I've described is not at all Yiras Shamayim, rather an inward and selfish fear for my own future, or existential angst that has much more to do with the uncertainty surrounding existence than it does with God. Oh well, I'll just have to keep trying.