This week’s Parsha, Parshat Vayeira, is the fourth Parsha in the Book of Bereshit. Vayeira begins with G-d sending three angels to the tent of Avraham to tell him and Sarah that they will soon have a child (which we know is the second forefather, Itzhak). Later on, the Parsha also delves into Avraham’s negotiations with G-d to save the cities of Sedom and Amora. Towards the end, the Parsha also discusses the birth of Rivkah (Isaac’s future wife) as well as the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael. The Parsha is quite full; it is full of events which individually could have been the subject of a whole Parsha. Many of these events are quite familiar even to those less knowledgeable in biblical scripture. However, none of them come close to the importance of the main storyline: Akeidat Itzhak, the binding of Isaac. 

In the story of Akeidat Itzhak, Hashem asks Avraham to take his son, Itzhak (who at this point is 37 years old), and go to Mt Moriah and sacrifice him. This isn’t just such a completely unreasonable request, it also absolutely contradicts G-d’s promise to Avraham that his seed will continue for eternity and be as numerous as the stars in the sky. How could this promise be fulfilled if his only son (with Sarah) dies? Nonetheless, Avraham doesn’t hesitate for a second and does exactly what Hashem asks him to do; he takes Itzhak to the mountain that G-d leads him to and prepares to kill his only son. At the last second, G-d sends in an angel  and stops Avraham from killing Itzhak. This was a test from G-d to see Avraham’s loyalty and faith in G-d, and Avraham passed. 

Rav Forshlager raises two questions. His first question is about the change of G-d’s communication to Avraham; he points out that the original command to Avraham was directly from Hashem’s mouth while the second command to not sacrifice Itzhak, was through an angel. Why did this change? His second question is, why is Avraham’s faith and willingness to sacrifice Itzhak talked about so much while other stories involving sacrifice and Emuna Shlema (complete faith) are barely mentioned? What is so special about the faith exhibited in Akeidat Itzhak?  

Rav Forshlager gives the following answer; G-d’s words alone can create reality. Whatever G-d commands becomes reality. Verse 2 in chapter 22 reads “Take your son, your favoured one, Itzhak, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will point out to you”. Having this verse in mind and the concept that everything that G-d commands becomes reality, we can now understand why Akeidat Itzhak is so special. When G-d said “Itzhak, whom you love,” G-d brought to reality Avraham’s love for Itzhak and commanded Avraham to sacrifice Itzhak with an open heart, fully expressing his love for him and not suppressing any bit of it. This makes this task infinitely harder because in an alternate world, Avraham would have probably suppressed his feelings the entire way to the mountain to feel minimal pain after the sacrifice. However, this is not the case, Avraham had to sacrifice his son at the peak of his love for him, a love that has been infused into the world by the G-d of the universe. How challenging is that? And what can we learn from this?

We can look on the macro level at the war in Israel - and we can also look on the micro level at our forthcoming timed summatives and examinations.

The lesson we can learn from Akeidat Itzhak is more relevant than ever. Just like Avraham, every one of us should have faith in G-d and the knowledge that eventually things will get better. Everyday in Tefillah, right at the end, there is a line which reads “G-d rewards the righteous and punishes the evil”. If we as humans strive every day to be as kind and positive to ourselves and to others as possible, G-d promises to reward us and also punish any evil that might hurt us. We can ask ourselves “have I been kind to myself and others lately?” And if the answer is yes, just like Avraham, have faith in G-d that everything will be okay and that your hard work will pay off. 

Shabbat Shalom

Aviad, Grade 11