Hi,

… It’s one of the most famous stories in the Torah.

And one of the most difficult.

The Akeida.  The “Binding of Isaac”.

We could spend weeks on it.  Full time.  Not just a minute a day!

But here are some thoughts.

G-d commands Abraham to bring his son Isaac as an offering.

G-d was not going to let it happen.

But it was presented to Abraham as a test.

… This would be an incredible challenge for anyone.

And especially for Abraham.

There’s the obvious.

He and Sarah waited their whole lives for Isaac.

And he was their whole future.

… And he was the future of the Jewish People.

The People that would change the whole world. 

And now…?

It went totally against Abraham’s nature.

He devoted his life to acts of kindness.

It also went against everything Abraham understood about G-d.

Everything that he taught about G-d.

Abraham devoted his life to teaching that G-d was a loving G-d.

A G-d that hated human sacrifice.

That we emulate G-d when we are kind to others.

And G-d says to him, “Take Isaac your son, whom you love…”

… Abraham taught the world so much.

But there was one final lesson he had to teach us.

One test he had to pass.

What would he do if a command from G-d made no sense to him?

Went against every feeling he had.

Because Jewish values are not based on our moral sensitivities.

On our sense of right and wrong.

How did the Torah change the world?

By teaching that G-d is the source of morality.

And that’s what has given people the strength to pass the most difficult moral challenges.

… Elie Weisel wrote the following about the Kapos.

(Prisoners who cooperated with the Nazis against the Jews)

“In the concentration camps, there were Kapos of German, Hungarian, Czech, Slovakian, Georgian and Lithuanian extraction. 

They were Christians, Jews and atheists.

Former professors, merchants, workers, philosophers, Marxists and staunch humanists.

But not one Kapo had been a Rabbi”.

All the best,