Let Go and Let God

By Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg

EDISON, New Jersey — During the High Holidays what can I advise Jews to do to better handle their stress and offer them hope?

Letting go is something we must learn to do in all aspects of our lives. Do you think that every time you get stuck in an unexpected traffic jam, or your flight is delayed for three hours causing you to miss your connection, or you get sick on a day when you simply can’t afford to miss work, do you really think you’re in control?

The best damage control is to realize that you’re not in control! As the 12-step recovery slogan puts it: “Let go and let God.” It’s a great spiritual truth and so it is found in most spiritual traditions from Yoga to Christianity and, of course, in Judaism. And that is: Do what you can to help your situation and then just let it go, give it to God to work it out — you’ve done your part.

If you don’t surrender control, for example, you might be sitting on the runway as the hours tick by, but your blood pressure will be catapulting to dangerous levels and you may find yourself shouting at the stewardess or making vain threats never to fly that airline again even though it’s the only one that flies to where you need to go. Instead, try to figure out what God has in mind for you in this delay.

Letting go and letting God can be a liberating and beautiful experience. Understanding that although we don’t know why this or that is happening to us… or how we’re going to get out of the situation we’re in… or how we’re going to get better… or how we’re going to stop drinking or drugging or smoking… but God knows. Every situation wants to positively change us, but we’re more focused on changing the situation. We hurry life along to get to “the point,” as if we know where and what the point really is.

It may sound cliché, but the journey is the point — the opportunity to hear the call and to respond to it. The whole trick of a spiritual life is to be where you are, to really be in the moment and in the place that you find yourself in, and not to be so focused on the place toward which you are going that you don’t see the Divine sparks that call out to you on the way.

Kids will say: “Are we there yet?” But wise people travel with their eyes and ears and hearts open, for who knows? We may not want to be in this place that we are passing through, but God may want us to be here — completely here — awake and alive to where we are and to what is going on around us to bring a little more light to where we are. So just let go and let God!

Really understanding this feels great. It doesn’t mean that you’re not going to have to work hard at solving your problems — just that you won’t have to fill yourself with worry about it. Our pain, most of the time, comes from unfulfilled expectations. So don’t expect — don’t be attached to the outcome. Sometimes God has something else in mind for us. Let go and let God.

Immediately, benefits will be felt and become visible and tangible — inside and out. You’ll feel renewed strength, faith and courage as you feel more of God’s presence within you. As you let go and trust God, everything is transformed into a blessing. God continuously makes dark places light, rough places smooth, crooked places straight and empty places full. He does that for everything — including you! You just have to let go and let God.

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Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth-El in Edison, New Jersey and is the author of Theological and Halachich Reflections on the Holocaust, among other books.