Rosh Hashona 5770 day 2, Torah Introduction
By Tobias Balick-Schreiber

Today’s readings are seemingly as different as they could possibly be. One, the binding of Isaac, talks about how Abraham was told by God to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. The other one, three books later, discusses what must be sacrificed during Yom Kippur. In the Akedah, Abraham is told by God to take his son to the land of Moriah, and offer him as a burnt sacrifice. Abraham unflinchingly obeys and takes his son there, and just before the sacrifice is about to occur, God comes to Abraham and tells him not to sacrifice his son, for God sees that Abraham is a God-fearing man. After the event, just as God told Abraham that if he left his home and went where God told him to go, God would make him a great nation, again God tells him Abraham that he will make his generations as numerous as the stars. I have a big problem with what God was making Abraham do. If God is omnipotent, wouldn’t he already know that Abraham worshipped and feared him? Other commentators agree with me on this point. For instance, Maimonides said that God knew Abraham would pass the test, but Abraham’s show of faith would be a sign to others. Maimonides implies through this explanation that human free will is compatible with divine foreknowledge. I think that this test wasn’t to prove Abrahams devotion to God, rather it was to enforce Isaac’s devotion to God as well as possibly to his father, and his fathers’ faith. Isaac, during the whole ordeal did not question his fathers’ actions even up to the moment he was to be killed. Isaac was destined to be the next leader of Abrahams’ generation.

The fact that God let Abraham even attempt the sacrifice, and the fact that Abraham did nothing to stop it from happening, horrified me. Forbidding people from murdering one another is one of the Ten Commandments although they had not yet come into existence. When God wanted to destroy the cities Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham fought God, asking him to spare the cities if he could find a certain number of honest people in the city. Each time he couldn’t find anyone, he’d argue for a lower and lower number until he couldn’t find one good person. When it came to his son, however, he didn’t even try to argue to spare him, even knowing what the end result most likely would be. Though, there is a sign of faith shown by Abraham that he will not sacrifice his son, saying "God will provide", when Isaac asked where the sacrifice was.

There are many other interesting commentaries on this portion. One, put forth by Abraham Ibn Ezra, theorizes that God did not stop Abraham in time, and actually killed Isaac. After the sacrifice, there is no mention of Isaac returning with his father. Also, scholars note that after the Akedah, both Sarah and Isaac have no interaction with Abraham. They go on to suggest that because of this incident neither are talking to Abraham. This is supported by the fact that Abraham does not go back to Hebron after the incident where Sarah is, but instead went to Beersheba. Readers even go as far as to suggest that Sarah dies shortly after because of what Abraham did.

I honestly can not even fathom my father doing something like this to me so unflinchingly, and can’t even remember a time when I was made to do something against my will, except for the laborious tasks of mowing the lawn, and taking out the garbage. This reading opens up a conversation on faith, and father-child relations, one that never ends. God does not demand such a high level of sacrifice. And fathers should not sacrifice their children in order to satisfy their own faith; rather, it is the faith and sincere prayer of the individual that matters.