Vayeira parsha: Living, not dying, for God

Years back, a Hebrew Christian approached me, arguing that his belief in Jesus grew from the story of the Binding of Isaac, called the Akeidah in Hebrew. Jesus, he suggested, was able to do what Isaac could not. Jesus gave his life for God, while Isaac did not reach that level. An analysis of the Akeidah story meaningfully responds to this challenge.

One notably unusual feature of the Akeidah narrative is the absence of dialogue: Abraham and his son Isaac hardly speak. The Midrash fills in the empty spaces. As Abraham walked to Moriah to slaughter his son, the Midrash suggests that an elderly man approached him, arguing that it was improper for a father to sacrifice his son. Furthermore, the elderly man questioned the ethics of sacrificing life for God (Midrash Tanchuma 22:10).

Nehama Leibowitz concludes that the elderly gentleman represents Abraham’s inner conscience. As Abraham walked to Moriah, his inner soul stirred, and he began to ask himself profound questions about the appropriateness, both as a father and as the founder of ethical monotheism, to sacrifice his son’s life.

This Midrash may have been inspired by the only time in the narrative – and, for that matter, in the whole Bible – that Abraham and Isaac speak to one another. It occurs when they walk to Moriah. Isaac begins his comment with just one word, “Avi” (my father; Genesis 22:7). In other words, Isaac says, Father, how can you do this? How could you offer me, your son, as a sacrifice? Isaac, in the same sentence, continues asking, “Where is the animal to be sacrificed?” hinting at an ethical concern with respect to human sacrifice.

Although some conclude that Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son without question, in fact, he was filled with doubt. And it was through his doubt that he came to understand what God truly wanted from him. Doubt is not necessarily negative. It spurs us to ask questions, and from questions come answers that can catapult us to higher levels of understanding.

Once the father-son pair arrive at Moriah, the angel of God steps in and tells Abraham not to sacrifice the child (22:12). Here again, the Midrash quotes Abraham as asking, How can you so quickly change your mind? Yesterday, you told me to sacrifice my child, and now you tell me to refrain from doing so?! According to the Midrash, the angel responds, “I never told you to sacrifice [she’chatehu] the child, only to take him up to the mountain [v’ha’alehu]. You brought him up, now bring him down” (Bereishit Rabbah 56:8).

In broader terms, v’ha’alehu (literally “to bring him up”) means to dedicate him. Abraham assumes that the ultimate dedication is through death. In the end, the angel, who may have been Abraham’s inner conscience, tells Abraham that the greatest dedication to God is living for God, not dying for Him. For this reason, Abraham heeds the command of the angel. The angel was not contradicting God’s command but was giving Abraham an understanding of God’s will – to sanctify God by living every moment properly.

Indeed, the Midrash Tanchuma takes the argument beyond what may have been Abraham’s misunderstanding of the word v’ha’alehu, as it presents God declaring incredulously, How could one ever imagine that I would ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? In the words of the Midrash, “It never entered My mind to tell Abraham to slaughter his son” (Midrash Tanchuma, Genesis 4:40).

And this is what I told my Hebrew-Christian friend. Isaac reached the highest of levels, as through the Akeidah he was taught one of the most important messages: in Judaism, ultimate redemption comes through life, not death.

Candle lighting:

Vayeira parsha

November 3 at 6:21 p.m.