|
|
October 25, 2002/Cheshvan 19 5763, Vol. 55, No. 9
Abraham failed his test of faith
Torah study
RABBI B. CHARLES HERRING
Vayera/Genesis 18:1-22:24
The Torah portion for this coming Shabbat is called "Vayera." Within its columns unfold the emotional, hairpin turns in the lives of Sarah and Abraham, as they follow the directions given them by God.
At the end of the parasha (Torah portion) comes the Akeda, recounting a test that God has given to Abraham. The test requires that Abraham take his son Isaac and sacrifice him to God. Not knowing it to be a test, Abraham accepts.
The Akeda continues to disturb countless generations of Jews. We question how God could ask such a thing of Abraham. Yet the key to understanding this difficult passage lies in knowing the culture from which Abraham and Sarah came, and its religious subjugation to its god, Molech. Torah in Leviticus, Chapter 20, forbids the sacrifice of children to Molech, and it was from that very society that Abraham and Sarah departed, to follow the word of God.
So, even though I agree that God tested Abraham, I believe that Abraham failed the test.
In this same parasha, before the events of the Akeda, God informs Abraham of his intention to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham involves God in a spirited, albeit humble debate, as to how the Teacher of Righteousness could undertake such an unrighteous act, seeing that there might be innocent people killed along with the wicked.
True, Abraham knows four members of his family live there, but he suspects there might be at least 50 righteous people. And he fights to save their lives. The dialogue between God and Abraham is extraordinary. It is as if God is teaching Abraham by allowing him to question God's intentions and, in fact, God's ways.
But after fighting for the lives of those he did not know, when asked to destroy his own son there was not so much as a whimper of protest.
The real test, I imagine, was God's attempt to discover how far Abraham and Sarah had come from their previous, pagan lives and faith. To what extent did they understand God's will that they transform the world from the hideous and terrifying acts forced on humanity by belief in gods of violence? To what extent did they grasp God's demand that all human life be valued? And to what extent did they comprehend their role as catalysts for change?
Thus, when God said to Abraham, "Take you son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering," (Genesis 22:2) I think the expected answer would have been a resounding "no." But, alas, it wasn't. Abraham was still a part of his past, a past where it was an honor to offer your child's life to the ruling deity.
In the Midrash in my mind, God stops Abraham from his deed, and praises his willingness to do what he was asked. For God is a great teacher. A great teacher praises an incorrect answer, and then asks the student to discover the correct one.
So has God taught all the generations of our people, lovingly guiding us through our mistakes, to become what God wanted Abraham and Sarah and us to be and to become: a blessing to all the families of the earth.
Rabbi B. Charles Herring is the rabbi of Temple Kol Ami in Scottsdale. He can be contacted at 480-951-9660. Jewish News has invited local rabbis to present commentaries on the weekly Torah portion. This is the first of more to come throughout the year.
|
