The Binding of Isaac (Akedat Yitzhak) is considered the peak story of our forefather Abraham’s heroic faithfulness to God and his willingness to go above and beyond rational to fulfill his mission to found the Jewish religion. The Hamas-Israel war has given me a new understanding of the story – and a new appreciation that we are living in the heroic age of the Israeli people.
I was always troubled by the Akedah. Abraham and Sarah were childless for most of their lives. Then, long after it seemed possible, Sarah finally conceived and gave birth to Isaac. The parents were told that this child would be the realization of the divine promise that the covenant with Abraham will be carried forward into history and fulfilled. Abraham’s family would become a numerous nation, inherit the land of Israel, and build a good society there which will be based on justice and righteousness (Genesis 18:19).
But the command to sacrifice Isaac would render Abraham’s life meaningless. The miracle child would be snatched away. The father’s act of killing would make a mockery of his religious preaching of the new standard of morality and compassion. The future of Judaism and Jewry would be obliterated.
For millennia, Abraham’s willingness to carry out the command has been honored in the tradition as an ultimate statement of faith and obedience. His silence during the three-day trip to Mount Moriah was praised as an expression of his limitless commitment to God and faithfulness unto death to God’s instruction.
Still, Abraham knew that child sacrifice was morally wrong. Why did he not argue with God as he did when trying to save Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction? The glory of Jewish religion is that the partnership concept of the covenant meant that the human partner was an “equal” and could argue with God. Then why didn’t Abraham speak up when the life of his own beloved son was in danger? Why did he not protest when the outcome of his life’s mission seemed about to end in catastrophe?
Every Jewish parent knows we are binding our children to the altar for life
One answer gave me partial respite from my angst: after all, an angel did step in and stop the killing. Over the decades, I rationalized that human sacrifice was widely recognized in that age as giving God an ultimate gift, one’s most precious love object in one’s life. Abraham carrying out the sacrifice scenario, and God stopping the sacrificial act at the last minute, only underscored the decisive turn away from human sacrifice in the new religion of the loving of God.
Nevertheless, it gnawed at me: how cruel and tormenting it was for Abraham to carry the command out for three days. Did this not convict God of torturing his beloved Abraham? Although the angel praised Abraham for being ready for the ultimate sacrifice, what kind of God would place such a superhuman burden on Abraham? Is this not a heartless test that no one should have to undergo?
The Hamas-Israel war has given me another perspective on the Akedah. Judaism is a religion that makes life primary, which includes completely rejecting child sacrifice. God is served by creating and nurturing human life, not by destroying it. Still, the Binding of Isaac is a kind of divine “full disclosure.” In carrying on the covenant, we have repeatedly faced situations where we jeopardize the lives of our children.
Philosopher Emil Fackenheim wrote that after the Holocaust one must be more heroic and steadfast than Abraham to have a Jewish child. Every Jewish parent knows that by having Jewish children, we are binding them to the altar for life.
Hitler came to destroy children whose grandparents were Jewish, even though their parents were not. For a million and a half children in the Holocaust, there was no ram to substitute. They lost their lives because they were Jewish. Yet millions of Jews chose to go on living as Jews. They have children in order to affirm life and assure the Jewish future.
WHEN OUR first male grandchild was born, our daughter had made aliyah. We talked much about the risks of aliyah, one of these being that her son will be exposed to future army service and danger in war. He was born just after the Oslo Accords. We comforted ourselves with the thought that peace was on the way and that 18 years later there would be no war. There would be no need to serve in the army, no need to risk life. We were wrong.
When our other children made aliyah, we again wrestled with the question: do we have the right to bring our children into danger? I confess that with the Abraham Accords, and especially with the negotiation to normalize Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia, I envisioned a historic breakthrough.
There would be an end to the constant threats to destroy Israel. We could breathe easy in believing that normal diplomacy and domestic and foreign conflicts would go on, but war for survival and the sword over the head of every Israeli child would now be removed.
The Hamas-Israel war exploded that hope. The Akedah story reasserted itself before my eyes. Pursuing the covenant of life is the greatest Jewish teaching. The messianic vision has led the way for humanity to repair the world and move civilization toward a final redemption. But the Akedah’s full disclosure guides us. You must be ready to risk life, even the life of your most precious children, to be faithful to this mission and teaching of furthering life.
We now understand the corollary to Fackenheim’s insight. After the creation of the State of Israel, to be an Israeli parent, one must be more heroic and steadfast in their life work, more so than Abraham – or any previous generation in Jewish history.
For 75 years, Arab nations (and now Palestinians, Hezbollah, and Iran) have denied our right to exist as a Jewish state. Yet we have remained faithful to the covenant and built a good society as a model of repairing the world. Israeli parents courageously have children (more than in any other developed economic nation) to carry on and build the future – and fight for it, when necessary.
Note that the midrash portrays Isaac not as a child, but as a 36-year-old who understands the potential cost of his life, yet affirms that he is ready to give his all. Our children, the people of Israel, understand the risks. They serve in the people’s army – and come back as reservists to uphold our right to live.
Let there be no misunderstanding. The true carriers of the Jewish covenant religion are those who build a good society and put their lives on the line to defend it. Look at the parent, grandparent, or soldier to your right and appreciate their courage. Recognize that you, I, we are living in the heroic age of Jewish history.
We pray that our Isaac be spared. Some will not be. But whatever the cost, we are not turning back from our journey toward a society of justice, righteousness, and the good life.
The writer is a leading Jewish thinker who has written on post-Holocaust theology, the State of Israel, and the ethic of Jewish power. He is author of The Triumph of Life (Jewish Publication Society, forthcoming).