This Rosh Ashana, we’ll once again read the story of the Binding of Isaac, one of the most impactful stories in all of Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Like each year before, we relive the staggering suspense of a father being asked to do the unthinkable, sacrifice his son at God’s command.
While many in the modern age struggle to understand such an act, Bronze Age Canaan and Mesopotamia, the main setting of Abraham’s lifetime, had many instances of human sacrifice, including that of children. This practice would later continue through the Iron Age by the Phoenicians in Lebanon, as well as Carthiginian colonies across the Mediterranean.
During this time, it was normal, if not common, to offer up one’s children to local deities as a commodity akin to goats or cows. In some contexts, the children of noble people were sacrificed as an honor for their families’ high status.
When commenting on the first verse of this Perasha: "after these things, God tested Abraham," two great Torah scholars tell us something interesting: Don Yitshaḳ Abravanel, a 15th century Sephardic Torah scholar and political statesmen in Spain, and Rabbi Yitshaḳ Arama, another 15th century Spanish Rabbi who was forced into exile in the 1492 Expulsion. They both remind us that since God knows our minds and is aware of all secrets, there was no real need for Abraham to prove his convictions.
But that begs the question: Why would God need to ask Abraham to go through this episode at all? Why could the Creator simply just tell him not to refrain from human sacrifice in the first place?
Using this cultural context, the Italian-born Kabbalist and Biblical commentator Rabbi Elijah Benamozegh notes that the exact purpose of this divine imperative was to eradicate the association of child sacrifice with the worship of the one true God. This revolutionary message of this story required a powerful mode of instruction that would allow Abraham to truly internalize the truth.
Through giving the command to sacrifice Isaac, forcing Abraham to develop the proper intention to perform this command, and revealing at the final moment that Isaac must not be harmed, God imprinted on Abraham’s soul the true meaning of the episode: the opposition of the divine will to human sacrifice.
By withdrawing this instruction as the knife was raised, when Abraham had made the conscious decision to sacrifice his son, God rewarded this act of devotion with the insight that human sacrifice is anathema to what his descendants should practice.
As noted by Rabbi David Kahmi, another great Sephardic sage, the account of the Binding of Isaac was first passed down orally from Isaac to Jacob before being written down during the revelation of the Torah. This chain of transmission helped keep the story alive, influencing the spiritual and moral fiber of future generations. The example set by Abraham was critical to guiding the generation of the Exodus that received commandments against child sacrifice as well as Prophets who decried latter generations in the land of Israel that backslid into these awful practices .
Despite the periodic failings of a few, the Jewish nation has continued to stand strong against human sacrifice and idolatry, standing for the inherent value of human life, the most beautiful gift granted by the transcendent, ineffable God.
Anyada buena i dulse!
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