Bereshit 22:12 states: וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אַל־תִּשְׁלַ֤ח יָֽדְךָ֙ אֶל־הַנַּ֔עַר וְאַל־תַּ֥עַשׂ ל֖וֹ מְא֑וּמָּה כִּ֣י ׀ עַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּֽי־יְרֵ֤א אֱלֹהִים֙ אַ֔תָּה וְלֹ֥א חָשַׂ֛כְתָּ אֶת־בִּנְךָ֥ אֶת־יְחִידְךָ֖ מִמֶּֽנִּי׃ And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear Gd, since you have not withheld your son, your favoredContinue reading “Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson: “Now I know that you fear Gd” as consolation”
Category Archives: Essay
The Binding of Isaac from Abraham’s Perspective — a Great Pink Slip From the Sky?
Human sacrifice, as horrible as it is, has a certain logic to it. There are times when an ultimate price is needed to be paid to the divine in order to obtain great salvation, and for any parent, that ultimate price would be their own child. Even among the scholars who hold that the CarthaginiansContinue reading “The Binding of Isaac from Abraham’s Perspective — a Great Pink Slip From the Sky?”
Akedat Yitzhak as Limmud Torah
Woody Allen famously asks how Abraham knew it was G-d (and not, say, his neighbor who likes practical jokes) who ordered him to kill Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham certainly does appear to be quite certain about the source of the awful command. In fact, the episode of Akedat Yitzhak (the Binding of Isaac) isContinue reading “Akedat Yitzhak as Limmud Torah”
Akedat Yitzhak Takes 