Between the Akeida and Al-Qaeda B'nai Israel Ohev Zedek 12 Marcheshvan 5777 - November 13, 2016

(1) Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.” (2) And He said, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.” (3) So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him. (4) On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. (5) Then Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the ass. The boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you.” (6) Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together. (7) Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” (8) And Abraham said, “God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together. (9) They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. (10) And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. (11) Then an angel of the LORD called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” (12) And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.” (13) When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. (14) And Abraham named that site Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, “On the mount of the LORD there is vision.” (15) The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, (16) and said, “By Myself I swear, the LORD declares: Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your favored one, (17) I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. (18) All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command.” (19) Abraham then returned to his servants, and they departed together for Beer-sheba; and Abraham stayed in Beer-sheba.

The Midrashic explanation is: May God see this Binding of Isaac every year to forgive Israel and to save them from punishment, so that it may be said “in this day” — in all future generations — “there are seen in the mountain of the Lord” the ashes of Isaac heaped up as it were and serving as a means of atonement (Tanchuma).

(15) All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the blare of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they fell back and stood at a distance. (16) “You speak to us,” they said to Moses, “and we will obey; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” (17) Moses answered the people, “Be not afraid; for God has come only in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be ever with you, so that you do not go astray.” (18) So the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

(2) קח נא TAKE NOW — The word נא is used as a request: God said to him, “I beg of you, stand firm for me in this trial, so that people may not say that the previous trials were no real tests”.

And it came to pass after these words, that God did tempt Abraham. What is meant by ‘after’? R. Johanan said on the authority of R. Jose b. Zimra: After the words of Satan...

(4) After these matters - After the second thoughts that were there. Who had second thoughts? Avraham did so and said: "I have rejoiced and caused joy for so many, yet I have not designated for God one bullock or ram!" God responded to him, "It is in order that we say to you that you shall offer your son and not restrain."

Here too, the words mean that what follows occurred after Avraham and Avimelech had concluded their covenant according to which until the fourth generation Avraham’s descendants would not register a claim against lands owned by the Philistines at this time. G’d became very angry at this high-handed action by Avraham, seeing that he had given away lands which were part of what G’d had promised to Avraham and his descendants at the “covenant of the pieces” in chapter 15. We know that a condition of that covenant had been not to allow a single soul of the Canaanites to survive in that land...

And that act which was the greatest and the farthest removed from human nature was that of our father Abraham, may peace be upon him, in the binding of Isaac. For he would have incurred no punishment whatsoever if he did not sacrifice him, the Blessed One not having commanded him to do so. And, furthermore, the L-rd had assured him (Genesis 21:12): "…for in Isaac shall seed be called to you." And the language of the verse bears this out, viz. (Ibid 19:2): "Take, na, your son…," it being well known that this term ["na"] is not one of command, but of request [i.e. "I pray you"], G-d indicating that it would find favor in His eyes if Abraham waived the assurance and sacrificed his son. And if Abraham had responded: "But You have given me no seed but him and assured me in him, and how can I do this?" he would not be considered as having sinned and would have incurred no punishment. In spite of this, in his great love for the Blessed One he found it in his heart to sacrifice him — for the sole purpose of doing the Blessed One's will, though no punishment would have overtaken him had he not done so. This is the significance and essence of the binding of Isaac.

(2) אחד ההרים ONE OF THE MOUNTAINS — The Holy One, blessed be He, first makes the righteous expectant and only afterwards discloses fully to them his intention — and all this in order to augment their reward. Similarly we have (Genesis 12:1) “[Go to] the land which I will show thee”, and similarly in the case of Jonah 3:2 “Make unto it the proclamation which I shall bid thee” (Genesis Rabbah 39).

(2) והעלהו AND OFFER HIM (literally, bring him up) — He did not say, “Slay him”, because the Holy One, blessed be He, did not desire that he should slay him, but he told him to bring him up to the mountain to prepare him as a burnt offering. So when he had taken him up, God said to him, “Bring him down”.

(6) Ten things were created on the eve of the [first] Shabbat at twilight. And these are they: The mouth of the earth [that swallowed Korach in Numbers 16:32]; and the mouth of the well [that accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness in Numbers 21:17]; and the mouth of the donkey [that spoke to Bilaam in Numbers 22:28–30]; and the rainbow [that served as a covenant after the flood in Genesis 9:13]; and the manna [that God provided the Israelites in the wilderness in Exodus 16:4–21]; and the staff [of Moshe]; and the shamir (the worm that helped build the Temple without metal tools); and the letters; and the writing; and the tablets [all of the latter three, of the Ten Commandments]. And some say, also the destructive spirits, and the burial place of Moshe, our teacher, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say, also the [first human-made] tongs, made with [Divine] tongs.

(13) תחת בנו IN THE STEAD OF HIS SON — Since it is written, “He offered it up for a burnt offering”, surely nothing is missing in the text; what then is the force of “in the stead of his son”? At every sacrificial act he performed on it he prayed saying, “May it be Thy will that this act may be regarded as having been done to my son — as though my son is being slain; as though his blood is being sprinkled; as though his skin were being flayed; as though he is being burnt and is being reduced to ashes” (Genesis Rabbah 56).