(Genesis 22:4)
Marcheshvan 17, 5779/October 26, 2018
This week's Torah reading, Vayera, comes to a close with the final and most dramatic of Avraham's ten trials, the binding of Yitzchak, known in Hebrew as the akeidah. When G-d commanded Avraham, "Take your son, your only one, whom you love, yea, Yitzchak, and go away to the land of Moriah and bring him up there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains, of which I will tell you,"(Genesis 22:2) didn't G-d know that he was asking the impossible of Avraham? The very son that G-d promised Avraham, repeatedly telling Avraham to be patient, for Sara would indeed give birth to a son, G-d is now asking Avrahamto make an offering of? The very son who G-d promised Avraham would be the beginning of a great nation which would span the generations to the end of time, G-d is now telling Avraham to slaughter as an offering leaving not a single descendent to carry on the line? What was G-d thinking?