“The Akeida”
(updated and revised from Vayeira 5762-2001)
by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald
It took quite a few years of preparing weekly Torah messages for me to work up the courage to finally bite the bullet, and address the challenging issue of the עֲקֵדָה —Akeida, the binding of Isaac, which is found in this week’s parasha, parashat Vayeira.
In Genesis 22, the closing chapter of parashat Vayeira, we learn that G-d tests Abraham. He calls to Abraham (Genesis 22:2), and says: קַח נָא אֶת בִּנְךָ אֶת יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתָּ אֶת יִצְחָק, וְלֶךְ לְךָ אֶל אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה; וְהַעֲלֵהוּ שָׁם לְעֹלָה עַל אַחַד הֶהָרִים אֲשֶׁר אֹמַר אֵלֶיךָ, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you.”
The Akeida proclaims a new and vital message to the world. Once and for all, the Akeida puts an end to the acceptance of the abominable practice of child sacrifice, especially when performed in the name of G-d, which was rife among the ancient people.
Writes Rabbi Joseph Hertz:
In that age, it was astounding that Abraham’s G-d should have interposed to prevent the sacrifice, not that He should have asked for it. A primary purpose [of the Akeida], was to demonstrate to Abraham and his descendants after him that G-d abhorred human sacrifice with an infinite abhorrence…
It was the spiritual surrender alone that G-d required, [not physical sacrifice].
(The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Genesis, additional notes, p.201)
It is therefore profoundly telling and revealing, that in the biblical story of the Akeida, G-d instructs Abraham to sacrifice his son, while a lesser power, an angel, overrides G-d’s instructions and tells Abraham (Genesis 22:12), אַל תִּשְׁלַח יָדְךָ אֶל הַנַּעַר, וְאַל תַּעַשׂ לוֹ מְאוּמָה, “Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do anything unto him.”
Can we possibly conceive of a more powerful means of proclaiming the message of the sanctity of human life than the Akeida?
May we, the Jewish people, never be called upon again to make these ultimate sacrifices. Let us say to the angel of G-d: “We’ve proven the point, now just allow us live in peace.”
May you be blessed.
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