Parsha 1 - Joseph Katinsky

I chose to report on parashat Vayeira because it is in my opinion one of the most interesting torah portions. In this portion, Abraham is instructed to sacrifice Isaac as an offering. It is a test of Abraham, to see if he is willing to obey G-d's instruction on such a high level. It spoke to me because it truly proves how far Abraham would go to listen to G-d. Not only was he going to kill his only son, he lied multiple times about G-d providing the lamb for the offering. I found it very interesting because if I were Isaac, I would probably have known what was going on, so I wondered what went through his head as the events played out. Something else that interested me was how Abraham was rewarded for his actions, as he almost did go to such extreme lengths as to murder his child.

Here is a famous picture of the torah portion. It was done by Rembrant. The picture is entitled 'the binding of Isaac'.



A short summary of the story is that Abraham is instructed to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, in an offering for G-d. He brought him up a mountain and prepared for the sacrifice, all the while lying to Isaac about it. Turns out that it was only a test, and Abraham passed. Right before striking down his son with a knife, an angel of G-d came down and said "Do not stretch forth your hand to the lad, nor do the slightest thing to him, for now I know that you are a God fearing man, and you did not withhold your son, your only one, from Me." Abraham looked up and saw a ram that was stuck in a thicket. He used that ram as part of the burnt offering instead. As a reward, G-d said he/she would "greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand that is on the seashore, and your descendants will inherit the cities of their enemies."

I thought this Torah portion is very unique in that sacrifices were common nature back then, so doing something like this was probably just normal to Abraham. However doing it to his own son just shows how faithful he was to G-d, as it was his only child. After researching this parsha, I found some commentary. Rashi said that "Although Isaac understood that he was going to be slaughtered, they both went together". I'm unsure as to whether I believe that or not, because if I were Isaac, I would not willingly let myself be killed by my own father. If this were true, it also shows how trusting Isaac was in G-d, even more than Abraham, because he was the one being killed, and he knew that it was the 'right thing'. This commentary makes sense because Isaac doesn't struggle, even as obvious clues are given to show that Abraham is intent on killing him.

Source for Commentary