1997In the Torah parashah for this week, Vayera, Bereshit
18:1-22:24, we find one of the most eventful and wide-ranging of
all parashiot, teaching us many important mitzvot, and
concluding with one of the most central stories of our sacred
literature. This last chapter of the parashah, Bereshit 22, is
the Akedat Yitzkhak, the Binding of Isaac, which we also read on
Rosh Hashanah. I would like to focus on this final story in the
parashah. This chapter, seen as the tenth test of Abraham, is
incredibly rich and begs for attention. In the first 19 verses
of this story, in broad outlines, we read that God tells Abraham
to sacrifice his son, Abraham agrees without argument, and Isaac
goes along willingly. When Abraham, Isaac, and the two servants
who travel with them arrive at the place that God will tell
Abraham, Abraham leaves the two servants and journeys on with
Isaac on foot. They arrive, the altar is prepared, and Abraham
binds Isaac on the altar. Abraham takes the "knife" and is about
to slaughter Isaac when