This Torah portion contains God's tenth and last trial of
Abraham: the binding of Isaac. Abraham is commanded to sacrifice
his son, his beloved son Isaac. Abraham does not complain. He
does not engage God in dialogue. He does not negotiate with God,
as he had on other occasions. It seems that Abraham senses that
this is something which he must do. What was the purpose of the
test? Numerous scholars over countless generations, Jewish and
non-Jewish alike, have studied this text and attempted to
penetrate the lesson of the passage. Soren Kierkegaard, the
Danish philosopher, in his book The Fear and Trembling, labels
the act a "leap of faith," a term which has entered the lexicon
of virtually all contemporary religious thinkers. But it is
interesting that in Jewish sources, Abraham is not described as
one who excelled in faith per se, as much as he is described as
the one who loved God. The Zohar states: So it is written 'thou
didst love righteousness and hate wickedness' [Psalms 45:8] and
it is further written