page_title: Devekut
section_title: Forms of love and fear of God
hierarchical_section_title: Devekut / In Hasidism / Love of God, Awe of God, and nullification of the ego in Hasidism / Forms of love and fear of God
caption_attribution_description: Иудейская религиозная утварь. Ханукальная лампа, Польша, Варшава, 1879. Серебро, позолота, пунцирование. Jewish utensils
context_page_description: Devekut, debekuth, deveikuth or deveikus is a Jewish concept referring to closeness to God. It may refer to a deep, trance-like meditative state attained during Jewish prayer, Torah study, or when performing the 613 mitzvot. It is particularly associated with the Jewish mystical tradition.
context_section_description: The "love of God" and "fear of God" receive different interpretations across the historic texts of Judaism, from their different appellations in the Song of Songs, through the Talmud, Medieval Jewish Philosophers, Musar literature and the Kabbalah. To Maimonides, for example, based on the synthesis of Jewish revelation with Greek philosophy, love and fear were to be awakened by contemplating the wonders of Creation, which could reveal the presence of their Creator. Hasidism adopts the Kabbalistic interpretations of the different forms of love, and the mystical interpretations of fear as awe before the Divine majesty. Basing itself on the Kabbalistic explanations of the terminology in the Song of Songs, the classic Hasidic manual for serving God, the Tanya by Schneur Zalman of Liadi, describes many types of mystical love and awe. The methods of Jewish meditation advocated here are particular to the Chabad school of thought, but this text is revered across general Hasidism, as being a systematically structured guide to daily Hasidic life. In all Hasidism, as in Kabbalah, love and awe are awakened by study of mystical texts, in Hasidism of Hasidic philosophy, and in the varying ways of the different schools within Hasidism of applying this in daily Jewish life. Based on Kabbalah, it differentiates between lower and higher forms of love, awe and nullification of the ego.
caption: In Hasidic literature, Love and Awe of God are compared to the warmth of gold and luminosity of silver. The rise of a flame reflects the soul's desire to rise
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