Of angels and men – and women The play ‘If Not for the Angel’
looks at the Binding of Isaac from several new perspectives. If
Not for the Angel Photo: Courtesy Sara, the biblical matriarch
of the Jews, dies as the New Year is born. This is the premise
behind Theater Company Jerusalem’s (TCJ) play If Not for the
Angel. The multifaceted performance sheds a new light on the
well-known biblical story of the day that Abraham’s wife learns
that her son Yitzhak was bound as a sacrifice on an altar by his
father. Gabriella Lev, artistic director of TCJ, tells The
Jerusalem Post that the impetus for the play came after she
heard a lecture by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg on why Sara’s death
follows directly after the Akedah (the Binding of Isaac). As a
contemporary and innovative form of Midrash, TCJ’s If Not for
the Angel offers a glimpse into the dynamic substratum of the
biblical text. If Not for the Angel is no ordinary performance.
“It’s more of an event,” says Lev. At the start of the play, the
audience is led into a