November 6, 2020
You can now watch a YOUTUBE recording of Rabbi Herzfeld’s D'var Torah:
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What Message Can We Take from the Akedah
Vayera, 5781
Recently our congregation heard a brilliant lecture from Professor Aaron Koller, author of the recently published book, Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought, and he generously shared his expertise on the thorny topic of the Akedah.
The Akedah (22:1-19) is an extremely provocative and deeply disturbing story. The most literal reading of this story is that Gd did directly command Avraham to take Yitzchak up the mountain and that Avraham did understand this to be a commandment to sacrifice Yitzchak.
Many of us are deeply uncomfortable celebrating under any circumstances an action in which someone willingly goes to sacrifice their child – or for that matter – any human being. The story’s disturbing tone is made even more challenging by the central role it plays in our faith. Not only do we read this story on the Shabbat of parashat Vayera, but it is also the Torah reading for the second day of Rosh Hashanah (Megillah, 31a). Furthermore, the Akedah also appears prominently in our liturgy. The Shulchan Aruch records that it is “good to recite the passage of the Akedah every day” (Orach Chayyim, 1:4). It is a major theme in the prayers recited on Rosh Hashanah (see, for example, Rosh Hashanah, 16a). And the Talmud records that it is appropriate in our prayers to recall the “ashes” of Yitzchak on a fast day (Taanis, 16a).
In his lecture to us, Koller suggested that as religious Jews in the modern era we should not feel like there is something wrong with us if we are uncomfortable with the actions of Avraham. He showed us that there is a long and ancient history of pious Jews expressing misgivings about the actions of Avraham in this story –specifically his eagerness to carry out the command to sacrifice his son.
One of the main sources Koller cited is a piyyut from the great, Rabbi Eleazar Kallir. Kallir is an ancient rabbi whose biographical information is scarce. But his greatness is unquestionable. So too, the manner in which our tradition reveres him is also without question. Rabbi Soloveitchik used to refer to him as having the greatness of a sage from the Talmud. Kallir’s piyyutim especially dominate our liturgy on the High Holidays and on Tisha Be’av.
Here are some lines that Kallir wrote about the Akedah:
“He became great, and his reputation spread throughout the land.
But he forgot how a father is supposed to have mercy on a son/a prayer or a plea he should have offered.”
Clearly these comments are critical of Avraham. Kallir is declaring that Avraham should have argued with Hashem on behalf of his son’s life before rushing up the mountain.
Still we should not overstate the importance of Kallir’s critical approach. In the history of rabbinic literature, Kallir’s criticism, while certainly noteworthy, does not reflect the main rabbinic approach to this story.
More indicative of the normative rabbinic approach is the Mishnah, which states:
“With ten trials was Abraham, our father (may he rest in peace), tried, and he withstood them all; to make known how great was the love of Abraham, our father (peace be upon him)” (Avot 5:3).
The Akedah was clearly one of Avraham’s ten tests and according to the Mishnah he passed it with flying colors.
We should of course emphasize that even though there is a debate about Avraham’s actions, it is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that for every single human being other than Avraham it is a tremendous sin to act in this manner. Avraham’s command from God was a one-time event in history never to be repeated. While there is much in Avraham’s actions for us to emulate, the specific act of slaughtering one’s child is a commandment that has never ever been repeated. Just the opposite, every other line in our sacred texts argues strongly against child sacrifice.
Indeed it is telling that the rabbis selected as the Haftorah for Vayera a story, which should be read as Akeidah, 2.0
Here is the story:
One day Elisha visited Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to have a meal; and whenever he passed by, he would stop there for a meal. Once she said to her husband, “I am sure it is a holy man of God who comes this way regularly. Let us make a small enclosed upper chamber and place a bed, a table, a chair, and a lampstand there for him, so that he can stop there whenever he comes to us.” One day he came there; he retired to the upper chamber and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call that Shunammite woman.” He called her, and she stood before him. He said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak in your behalf to the king or to the army commander?’” She replied, “I live among my own people.” “What then can be done for her?” he asked. “The fact is,” said Gehazi, “she has no son, and her husband is old.” “Call her,” he said. He called her, and she stood in the doorway. And Elisha said, “At this season next year, you will be embracing a son.” She replied, “Please, my lord, man of God, do not delude your maidservant.” The woman conceived and bore a son at the same season the following year, as Elisha had assured her. The child grew up. One day, he went out to his father among the reapers. [Suddenly] he cried to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” He said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” He picked him up and brought him to his mother. And the child sat on her lap until noon; and he died. She took him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and left him and closed the door. Then she called to her husband: “Please, send me one of the servants and one of the she-asses, so I can hurry to the man of God and back.” But he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” She answered, “It’s all right.” She had the ass saddled, and said to her servant, “Urge [the beast] on; see that I don’t slow down unless I tell you.” She went on until she came to the man of God on Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her from afar, he said to his servant Gehazi, “There is that Shunammite woman. Go, hurry toward her and ask her, ‘How are you? How is your husband? How is the child?’” “We are well,” she replied. But when she came up to the man of God on the mountain, she clasped his feet. Gehazi stepped forward to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.” Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say: ‘Don’t mislead me’?” He said to Gehazi, “Tie up your skirts, take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. And place my staff on the face of the boy.” But the boy’s mother said, “As the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you!” So he arose and followed her. Gehazi had gone on before them and had placed the staff on the boy’s face; but there was no sound or response. He turned back to meet him and told him, “The boy has not awakened.” Elisha came into the house, and there was the boy, laid out dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. Then he mounted [the bed] and placed himself over the child. He put his mouth on its mouth, his eyes on its eyes, and his hands on its hands, as he bent over it. And the body of the child became warm. He stepped down, walked once up and down the room, then mounted and bent over him. Thereupon, the boy sneezed seven times, and the boy opened his eyes. [Elisha] called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman,” and he called her. When she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” She came and fell at his feet and bowed low to the ground; then she picked up her son and left.
The connections between this story and the Akedah story are numerous.
Here are some notable ones:
1-The birth of Isaac is miraculous as is the birth of the son to the woman of Shunem.
2-Avraham and Sarah are promised a child after they excel in the area of hospitality. So too, the woman of Shunem is promised a child from the prophet, Elisha, as a reward for her hospitality.
3-Elisha virtually repeats the language of the angels’ promise to Avraham in Genesis 18:14.
4-Elisha’s assurance that the boy will survive matches the theme of an ancient Midrash that Yitzchak will survive the attacks of his enemy, Og (Bereishit Rabbah 53:10, noted in Haftarot based upon the writings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, 27)).
5-Elisha’s rescue of the child from death recalls how Yitzchak was rescued by Gd.
6-Elisha resurrects the dead child. There is a strong tradition of Yitzchak being slaughtered by Avraham and then being revived by an angel (See Shalom Spiegel, The Last Trial).
The many similarities in the story serve to further highlight their crucial differences.
One significant difference is that while Yitzchak is bound with his arms and legs spread out in order for his father to sacrifice him (thus the term akeidah), Elisha also spreads out. But this time the spreading out is not to kill the boy but to save his life. It states: “and he spread himself over him and the body of the child became warm” (v. 34). The act of spreading out over the son has thus transformed from an attack into an embrace.
A second difference –perhaps the main difference--between the stories is that when Avraham hears the command from Hashem, he saddles his own donkey and rides off to slaughter his son. In contrast, upon hearing of the death of her son, the Shunamite woman saddles her own donkey and rushes to save her son. She says to her servant – “Do not stop unless I tell you to (lakh)” (2 Kings 4:24). When we read this word lakh, we hear echoes of Abraham rushing off to sacrifice his own son after Hashem said, “Lekh lekhah, you go” (22:2). It is as if the Shunamite woman is saying, “Do not listen to Gd about this matter, only listen to me. I will not stop until my son will be saved.”
The Shunamite woman does not accept the Divine decree that killed her son. Unlike Avraham she does not accept the death of her child. She fights. She believes against all odds that her child will survive.
The Midrash says that Gd says to Avraham, “I never actually commanded you to kill your son, just to bring him up the mountain” (Bereishit Rabbah, 56:8). Regardless, Avraham understood the commandment as an order to kill his son and so he rushes off to fill the command with all his heart and soul.
In contrast, the Shunamite woman understands–even without a divine commandment and even in the face of contrary evidence–that it is her responsibility to save her son.
The Akedah story must be understood with its sequel, the story of the Shunamite woman. This story makes clear that the true message –a message shared by the actions of Avraham and the Shunamite woman—is that we can and must be deeply committed in our service to Hashem. When Gd calls Avraham his response can only be, “hineni, here I am” (22:1).
This is why the Akedah story is so prominent in our liturgy. Its eternal message is that a Jew must be ready to always say hineni to Hashem.
Since the Akedah story was a singular event in history we must be careful when trying to determine the relevant message for our lives. The true take away from the akediah story is not that we are commanded to sacrifice our children. NO! NO! NO!—that was a one time commandment never to be repeated in history -- but that we must demonstrate our belief in and our commitment to avodas Hashem no matter how challenging our circumstances. For Avraham the command was to give up his son. But from that point on in history the Shunamite woman teaches us that we now all have a different commandment; namely that we must all do everything possible to save the lives of our children and all human lives.
The Akeidah story and the Shunamite woman both teach us the importance of dedicating our lives fully in service to Hashem. For Avraham it was the unspeakable sacrifice of giving up a child, but for us it is different. Our service to Hashem requires from us the overwhelming commitment that we must make to preserving life and sanctifying life.
In the context of the Akeidah and its modern message that we must deeply commit our entire lives to preserving life, I would like to share with you a story that happened this week regarding the 21,000 Jews of the Rovno Ghetto who were murdered in the Sosenki Forest on November 6, 1941.
In 2018, our congregation spent a Shabbat in Rovno. That Sunday morning we traveled to the Sosenski Forest to recite prayers for the kedoshim who were murdered. When we arrived there we were horrified to see that the mass graves were open and that there were bones above the ground. Apparently grave robbers had raided the mass grave and we were seeing the remnants of their vile activity. Not knowing what to do we worked with the few local Jewish leaders and we contacted Hryhoriy (Grisha) Arshynov, a Jewish activist who fought for decades to rescue and preserve the Jewish cemetery in Ostroh, Ukraine, a short drive from Rovno.
Grisha took the bones that we brought him and buried them in the Ostroh cemetery where he personally guarded them and protected their sanctity. Then Grisha took us to see his pet project. Next door to the Ostroh cemetery is one of the most well known synagogues in the world, but it now is in ruins. It is the synagogue of the Maharsha and it is known as a Fortress Synagogue: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvtbNy1fu3o&fbclid=IwAR39phNn7UyLh2lIoi3thNpKwNPVE2qhdKETApofL1QeMqqsGy0aWX2tsxM. Although the synagogue was in ruins, Grisha had taken upon himself the herculean task of rebuilding it.
Tragically we learned this week that Grisha died suddenly from covid-19 and was buried on Monday in the Ostroh cemetery: https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2020/11/02/ukraine-arshynov/
When I heard of his death I took it upon myself to contribute to his project and to help rebuild the Maharsha’s synagogue. After making a pledge from my own family I decided to call an old friend for help. This person is well known in the Jewish community for their extraordinary generosity. Although I haven’t seen him or spoken on the phone with him in almost twenty years he contacted me after our visit to Rovno in 2018. He told me that his father was from Rovno and that his father’s whole family was killed in the Rovno ghetto. I figured I should call him and tell him Grisha and the Maharsha’s synagogue.
So I called him on Tuesday. I told him about my desire to help see this synagogue be rebuilt in part so that it could also attract visitors to the Rovno memorial in Sosinski Forest. After I hung up the phone I decided I needed to better educate myself about the massacre of the Jews from the Rovno ghetto. So I looked up the dates again. I couldn’t believe it. I started crying. The massacre of the Jews of Rovno—21,00 holy souls—took place on November 6, 1941. That year November 6 was 16 Cheshvan. This year 16 Cheshvan was Tuesday, November 3. I had called my friend on the yahrtzeit of the Jews of Rovno. I couldn’t believe it. Tears streamed down my face. How many people in the world knew about this yahrtzeit on Tuesday and here I was by chance calling up a person and asking for him to help preserve their memory?
According to Taanit (2:1) in a time of distress we are supposed to put ashes on the forehead of the av bet din and pray to God for help. Those ashes represent the ashes of Isaac.
We have discussed one way in which the meaning of the Akedah has transformed from being about a willingness to give our lives into a commandment to preserve our lives.
There is now a second way in which the Akedah has taken on an additional meaning for me. Whenever I read the Akedah story it is impossible for me not to think of those Jewish children in the Sosinski Forest who were murdered on November 6. They never had an angel who reached out and saved them. We must preserve their ashes.
Shmuel Herzfeld
