Serving God while overcome with emotion (Lech Lecha)

Rav Johnny's original thoughts on the weekly parsha

Parshat Lech Lecha opens with God’s command to Avraham to, ‘Go – from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house – to the land that I will show you’ (Bereishit 12:1) – with the obvious question being: why did God not tell Avraham where He wanted him to go?

Rashi summarizes the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 39:9) which directly addresses this question, and which informs us that: ‘[God] did not reveal the land to him (i.e. Avraham) immediately to make it dear in his eyes (k’dei l’chavevah b’einav) and to give him reward for every individual command [that he fulfilled]. Similarly, [when God instructs Avraham regarding Akeidat Yitzchak, God does not initially identify which son. Instead, He states]: “your son, your only one, whom you love, Yitzchak” (Bereishit 22:2), and similarly [God tells Avraham to travel], “to one of the mountains that I will say to you” (ibid.), and similarly [Yonah is instructed], “cry out the call that I will tell you” [though God does not, at that point, tell Yonah what to specifically to say the people of Nineveh].’

Based on this Midrash we learn that God intentionally holds back important information relating to the journeys that He asks us to undertake so that we continue to be emotionally surprised while we are on our journey, and so that each step we take on our journey is an act of faith.

So far we have explained the Midrash according to its basic meaning. However, there is a further way to interpret this teaching, as suggested by Rabbi Simcha Zissel Broide (see Shai LaTorah on Bereishit 12:1), who explains that the concept of l’chavevah b’einav (‘to make it dear in his eyes’) means that the varied emotions which we experience when we are on a journey whose destination is unknown to us are themselves part of our service of God. In fact, Rabbi Broide then explains that this is the meaning of the phrase found in the repetition of the Yom Kippur Shacharit Amida, ‘veratzita shevach mehomei b’regesh’ - and you wanted praise from those overcome with emotion - meaning that God wants us to serve Him with the various emotions that we experience in our journey of life.

As it happens, this specific issue arose in a spiritual coaching session that I had with a client last week. This particular client is justifiably anxious about something very important which is going on in her life, but she is also bothered by the way in which this anxiety is distracting her from her prayers. In our conversation I validated the reason for her anxiety, and I then suggested that rather than her feelings being a distraction to her prayers, maybe they are themselves a form of prayer.

The moment I made this suggestion my client immediately expressed a sense of profound relief. Instead of feeling tension between two valid feelings, she came to realize that God wants us to serve Him with the genuine emotions that we are experiencing, and so, her being ‘overcome with emotion’ (mehomei b’regesh) was itself a powerful prayer which God wants.

We often think of our emotions getting in the way of our divine service, but what we learn from Parshat Lech Lecha, and especially from Rabbi Simcha Zissel Broide’s explanation of Rashi’s commentary to Bereishit 12:1, is that our emotions are our divine service.

Shabbat Shalom!