Excitement Is a Great Blessing
Experiencing Emotion
We have noted the words of the Chovas HaTalmidim, who teaches that every human being has an innate need for emotion and excitement. Let us explain this in the following way: The nature of a person is to become moved and excited by things that happen around him. Some people experience emotions of anger, another person is moved to feelings of honor and pride, while yet another may become filled with satisfaction and joy. Every person is moved to some emotion by events around him.
We find an interesting phenomenon: The higher we are on the ladder of מדבר חי צומח דומם (inanimate objects all the way up to the genus of “speaker”), the more sensitive we become to the actions and attitudes of those around us.
The Domem Isn’t Moved
Inanimate objects are never moved to emotion. The stone rests on the ground, calm and nonchalant. People can throw it and step on it, kick it and cast it into the lake... but it’s utterly unmoved. It doesn’t react, and it doesn’t emote—at all. It fulfills its mission and objective in This World without any drama or feeling.
Water is the same way. Water isn’t moved by anything. This is the way that Hashem created it. When Klal Yisrael was trapped in front of the Yam Suf, the sea had no intention whatsoever of splitting—until the Ribbono shel Olam commanded it to split, based on the emunah and mesirus nefesh of Klal Yisrael. Otherwise, it would have remained in its place, unmoved and unaffected by anything happening around it.
The “Vegetative” Is Somewhat Moved
While the “mineral” kingdom isn’t moved at all. The צומח, the vegetative genus, is somewhat affected by what happens around it. If you step on a plant in the wrong way, it will become damaged—because it’s softer, more refined, and more sensitive.
Botanists may tell you that if you speak to plants with encouraging words, it actually causes them to grow. According to this theory, you can see the difference between plants that received words of affirmation and those that didn’t. Most of us will scoff at this idea, because we haven’t experienced it... but there are scientists who insist that it’s true. In any case, it’s clear to all of us that members of the vegetative kingdom are moved by events around them to a certain degree. If a rock falls on a flower, it will become crushed, whereas the stone isn’t affected at all.
Living Beings Are Very Affected
Living beings are far more affected and moved by the actions of others than the vegetative creatures. Can you upset a tree? Of course not! But an animal, as we all know, can become very upset. There’re entire sections of Bava Kamma that deal with the damage caused by animals when they’re angry. Animals possess feelings—and they’re liable to express them and act upon them. A חי בעל, a living being, is on a higher level than the vegetative, and for this reason it experiences emotions.
Humans Are the Most Affected
The highest rung in the ladder is the creation of מדבר—a human being. And this genus of the creation has extremely sensitive and fine-tuned feelings and emotions. Everything that transpires around a person affects him in some way. If someone in his surroundings is nervous or on edge, he senses it immediately. If someone looks at him sideways, he’s beside himself for a week.... Even if he encourages and strengthens himself, understanding that everything is bashert, he has nevertheless become affected in a strong way. Even a tough person who ignores things that people say to him is also moved by what people say and do; he remains unmoved only because he made the choice to allow his mind to control his feelings.
The Rambam even rules that this is the halachah (Hilchos Dei’os 6:1): וחביריו ריעיו אחר ובמעשיו בדעותיו נמשך להיות אדם של ברייתו דרך, It is the nature of a person to be drawn, in his beliefs and in his actions, after his companions and friends. He further says (ibid.) that if a person finds himself among sinners and evil people, he must escape from there immediately lest he become influenced by his surroundings.
Weakness or Strength?
Having said all this, it may seem that emotion is a tremendous weakness in a human being... and one may wonder why the pinnacle of creation should possess this fallibility. As we have explained, the higher a creation is, the more susceptible it is to being influenced and affected by outside factors. Why is man, specifically, so... weak?
The answer is that it is precisely the opposite. The fact that a person is so easily affected is a strength, not a weakness! Of course, it carries with it hazards and nisyonos. But in general, it’s a strength. And why is it a strength? Because feelings move a person—providing him the ability to say a kappitel Tehillim and thus change his entire life situation!
Inspiration Breeds Connection
Try placing a Tehillim on a rock... let it sit there for two hours, affording the rock the opportunity to unburden and connect. Nothing will happen! But a person, a human being, a מדבר, can do so much when given a Tehillim for two hours. He can shed tears, and he can really feel his dependence on Hashem—internalizing his reliance and connection with the Ribbono shel Olam.
The power of amazement and being moved carries with it a great power of connection. It enables us to connect with whatever we’re being moved by, and this changes us. We become different. We used to be one person, but we were transformed into another person through our emotions when we experience them again and again. This experience changes the person’s entire outlook and his attitudes. A person who’s moved to emotion has the capacity to grow and change.
Programmed with Inspiration
Back in the day, when one purchased a keyboard to play music, you got what you paid for. It came with a specific set of beats and sounds, and that was it. Today, tons of extra disk space are included, in which you can install your own programs to improve the user experience.
The same applies to computers themselves, as well as to countless other technological devices. There are scores of programs that can be installed after the initial purchase, and they will improve the device. If a programmer comes along to develop software for your device, you’ll be able to purchase it and enhance your machine’s capacities.
When we say that a person has the capacity for amazement or being moved, it means that he may be empty right now, but there’s a system inside the person that enables him to accept new programs of Torah, tefillah, and avodas Hashem—to change who he is.
Becoming Changed
A stone can’t change when you give it new information. It will remain precisely the way it was created for ever and ever. But when you give a person a new piece of information, he has the capacity to become moved by it, to internalize it, and to become changed by it. The more he becomes moved, the more his heart, mind, and soul become changed and broadened. There’s no limit to this; the more we “install,” the more we will change. Every event that transpires with a person gives him understanding and wisdom and depth in avodas Hashem—providing him with more vessels and programs to amass ideas in Torah, emunah and bitachon, and so forth that he had never thought of before.
Sometimes, we meet a person we haven’t seen in a while, and he’s not the same person we knew. He has clearly changed. These people tend to be “listeners,” who are ...מקבל. Such people are able to make changes in their lives even when they’re seventy. Their minds and hearts are constantly changing. They internalize ideas in humility, joy, and bitachon, and they accept new wisdom in the realm of giving thanks and gratitude to Hashem. They constantly change—because their depth of connection to Hashem has no bounds. They’re constantly experiencing new pleasant insights—and this is why they’re able to change in big ways that are discernible to those around them.
This is the power and the strength of amazement and movement, and this is why it is a strength that humans possess so strongly—precisely because humans are superior to other species.
Amazed by Words of Wisdom
There are many levels and layers in התפעלות, amazement and inspiration. We’re far more affected by other humans than are other species, and we’re far more deeply affected by hearing deep words of wisdom and by insights while thanking Hashem.
The Yismach Moshe brings in the name of the Sefer HaIkrim that deep words of wisdom have the greatest power to bring us the most pleasure. The reason is that the Torah is a vessel for Elokus Itself, and this is the pinnacle of the entire creation, and therefore it has the most chiyus in the entire creation. For this reason, we’re most moved by words of wisdom.
