Asking for Help

I remember a few years ago, listening to Radio Kol Chai (a religious radio station in Israel) when I heard an advertisement for a new call-in program with the following appeal:  If you have a medical issue, surely you would call a doctor. If you have a legal issue you would consult with a lawyer and a tax issue, you would contact an accountant.  Why then with a moral or spiritual question, wouldn’t you consult a rabbi and mystic? 

In last week’s Torah reading Rivka was having a difficult pregnancy, as it states:

  וַיִּתְרצְצוּ הַבָּנִים, בְּקִרְבָּהּ, וַתּאמֶר אִם-כֵּן, לָמָּה זֶּה אָנכִי; וַתֵּלֶךְ, לִדְרשׁ אֶת-ה.

And the children struggled within her, and she said, 

“If this is so, why am I such” and she went to inquire of Hashem. (Genesis 25:22).

I am not here to judge Rivka’s neonatal care (nor her parenting style after the delivery), rather I wanted to note that she, almost naturally, turns to prayer and in turn receives a prophecy.

Who can we turn to today for spiritual guidance and advice for our moral quandaries?  How can we teach our students to have the same care and humility to recognize the need for guidance in situations that seem beyond our control or comprehension?