LEV309 It adds up, then, to reverence and awe, with a touch of fear perhaps to ensure against lapsing. There is an old saying: Familiarity breeds contempt (Aesop, The Fox and the Lion (fl. 550 BCE)). This is what mora, yir'ah would prevent and counteract. The Divinity, our parents, and our teachers of Torah share a common, continuing role: they grant us life, growth and development, physically and spiritually, so that we can realize our potentialities and fulfill our destiny toward life in the Hereafter. Therefore we owe them reverence, veneration all our life. Similarly, there should be reverence, respect, and affection for our rabbi, not a fear that would keep us from the synagogue or his classes and meetings. With our reverence, we should seek to be close to our Father in Heaven and to our teachers and rabbis. We should find gratification in the company of a good Torah educator and spiritual leader; it pays to visit such a person in his home, to learn from him and to emulate his ways. Let the "fear" of your teacher, says our text, be of the same kind as your "fear" of Heaven: in both instances let it bring you to devotion and faith.