Shalom.
I am Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg of Skokie, Illinois. This is about the portion of Vayera. It is very famous because two of the chapters, Genesis 21 and 22, we read on Rosh Hashanah. But it is in the sequence of the Torah reading, you have Bereishith and we have Noah, the leifakah and then Vayera is the fourth portion and the most famous are these 14 sentences which are really some of the most famous lines in all of literature, the binding of Isaac. And God tell us Isaac. After promising Abraham and Sarah they will have a son on their old age and they do, and a great miracle occurs. God then tells Abraham in one of the great tests, he test Abraham by saying, in Genesis 22, “Go take this son you love. The only son, the one you love and take Isaac and go bind him.” And two of the servants go with us and tells his wife to Sarah. That is interesting that Sarah dies in the next portion never having spoken to Abraham again. And Abraham takes him and they walk and according to the Midrash, Abraham and Isaac are not young father and son. Abraham, of course is a very old man and Isaac is in his 30s, 37 by some accounts. Of course, he is depicted as a little boy, but he is actually a grown man. He is now walking, Isaac to his dad, I see the water, the fire and a knife, but I do not see the sacrifice. Abraham says we will go and we will return. That was not hinting that Abraham knew he was going to have to go through with this because he said we will return. And in any case, they get there, and then Abraham ties Isaac up. Now, imagine that scene. The Midrash depicts Isaac saying, “Dad, listen I know God wants you to do this and I want you to do what God wants you to do, but I am a grown man, I am strong and I am going to fight you and it actually is against my will when you come to kill me so better bind me tightly.” And that is amazing, the main thought of that story. And Abraham was conflicted between doing unimagined, between doing what God wants and killing his only son, the one he loves and then, of course, the angel comes and says to Abraham, “Abraham, stop.” Abraham looks and sees a ram clothed in the thicket with a horn and that is one of the reasons we read the story on Rosh Hashanah. Besides, it is drama, an idea of faith in God. The sure fire that was caught and the thicket and they sacrificed the ram. Then Isaac and Abraham return a long ride. What happens to Isaac? On the Midrashit says, he went off to Heaven to study, but, interesting if that happens.
But, did Abraham fail the test or not? God never speaks to Abraham again. Is it not surprising that God said to sacrifice your son? No, because before the Bible, one of the primary raise people thought they should worship God was sacrificing their children, it is called Moloch version. The Bible wants to put a stop to that and so, what is surprising was that when the angel said, “Do not do it,” it is a revolution of religion there. God does not want you to sacrifice your children in that way. A very powerful and dramatic story. One of the great tests of Abraham.
Now, the Muslims tell the story differently. They tell the story with Ishmael. Of course, we recognized Ishmael as a descendant of Abraham through the concubine Hagar, but Jewish history goes through Abraham to Isaac and Sarah to the next generation. So, we have here the binding of Isaac, the test of faith. It is interesting when you read the story of Solomon and Gomorrah and God tells Abraham he is going to destroy this evil city. Abraham bargains with God and says, “How can we judge of all the earth not do justice? Why would you not spare the righteous?” He does not argue here about a son. And so, some of the rabbis thought he should have argued. It was a test so he should have argued with God. And so, you have both sides in the tradition debating this very beautiful and holy story. What do you think?
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