The Yalkut Shemoni (Parashas Vayeira 101) teaches that Avraham Avinu’s eyes looked into Yitzchak Avinu’s eyes,while Yitzchak’s eyes gazed up at the Heavens. Tears dropped incessantly from Avraham’s eyes. We derive from here that Avraham did not abrogate his human emotions. He was a father whose overwhelming love for his son was evident throughout the Akeidah. His love for Hashem was evidently greater. Avraham wanted to carry out Hashem’s command with total equanimity and joy. Nonetheless, it pained him greatly that executing the command meant slaughtering his son. The Alter, zl, m’Slabodka wonders why Avraham did not subdue his emotions altogether in order to perform the mitzvah in total simchah.
He explains that Avraham refused to subdue his emotions totally, because this would involve uprooting his unparalleled love for his son to an extent. Hashem imbues a father with love for his child. It is wrong for a parent to uproot this love, because doing so would make his service to the Almighty almost mechanical in nature. Hashem does not want robots without feeling and sensitivity. He wants us to be normal and to serve Him amid normalcy. On the contrary, Hashem commanded Avraham to sacrifice the son whom he loves. One whose relationship with Hashem causes him to become emotionless, unfeeling, uncaring and robot-like is missing the point. This is not what Hashem asks of us. He wants normal human beings – not angels.
