Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L
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The Binding of Yitzchak
After all of "these things"*, G-d tests Avraham.*Side note: The Hebrew word for "things" ("דְּבָרִ֣ים") is the same as for "word". There are different interpretations as to what "these things (or "words")" is referring to: 1) According to one opinion (Sanheidrin 89b), this is a reference to the "words" of Satan who made accusatory remarks to G-d about Avraham, noting that Avraham only sacrificed one bull or one ram throughout all of the feasts that he made. G-d retorted that everything Avraham does is for his son, yet G-d was confident that if He were to ask him to sacrifice his son to Him, Avraham would not hesitate to do so.2)According to another opinion (Breishis Rabbah 55:40), this is a reference to Yishmael's "words". Yishmael was showing off the fact that he got circumcised at the age of 13 and didn't protest. Yizchak retorted that Yishmael could not intimidate him with "one organ" - Yizchak would be willing to sacrifice his entire self to G-d.
G-d calls out to Avraham, "Avraham" and Avraham replies, "Here I am*".*Side note: This is a reply of righteous people. It expresses humility and readiness.
So as not to shock and confuse Avraham suddenly and thus cause him to become distracted, and also to be able to make the commandment (of the binding of Yitzchak) more endearing to him by rewarding him for every part of the conversation, G-d didn't specify initially that it was Yitzchak who he was meant to take with him. Rather G-d first told Avraham that he was to take "his son". Avraham replied that he had two sons. G-d specified, "his only one". Avraham replied that both boys were only sons to their respective mothers. G-d specified, "the one that you love". Avraham replied that he loved them both. G-d specified, Yitzchak.
So G-d asks Avraham to please take* Yitzchak to Jerusalem (AKA "the land of Moriah**") and bring him up there as a burnt offerings*** on one of the mountains which G-d will specify. *Side note: G-d was asking Avraham here to please pass the test for the sake of others and what they would say if he didn't. **Side note: So called as that is where religious instruction (הוֹרָאָה in Hebrew) goes out to Israel. Alternatively, Onkelos translates the land of Moriah as being "the land of service", alluding to the incense service which included myrrh (which sounds like Moriah), spikenard and other spices. ***Side note: Note that G-d does not tell Avraham to slaughter Yitzchak, but rather just to bring him up in preparation for him being an offering. And indeed as soon as Avraham brought him up, G-d told him to take him down.
G-d did not specify which mountain he would be taking Avraham to, so as to increase his reward. This is common for G-d to hide some of His intentions from righteous people temporarily for this reason.
Avraham wakes up early, in a rush to fulfill G-d's commandment. Love causes a person to disregard for what is typical in regards to acting in a dignified manner, thus Avraham neglected to ask any of his servants to saddle his donkey, and rather did so himself.
A person of stature is not allowed to travel without the accompaniment of two men, so that if one needs to go to the bathroom, there will always be another one with him. Thus Avraham took Yishmael and Eliezer with him on the journey.
Avraham splits wood for a burnt offering and ascends to the place G-d had told him to.
G-d refrained from showing Avraham the place right away so as to deter people from claiming that Avraham went on the journey in a state of confusion and befuddlement, and if only he had had time to think it over, he would not have gone.
Finally, on the third day of the journey, Avraham sees from afar a cloud attached to the mountain, which was the place where he was headed.
Avraham tells Yishmael and Eliezer to stay back with the donkey while Avraham and his son go a bit further on where they will prostrate themselves and then come back*.*Side note: Rashi cites several sources which point out that this was an inadvertent prophecy on Avraham's part, declaring that he and Yitzchak would both return.
Avraham places the wood he had brought with him to set up a burnt offering on Yitchak and held the fire and knife* and they walk onwards together. *Side note, the word used for knife here in Hebrew is מַאֲכֶלֶת, etymologically related to the word אוֹכֶלֶת (to eat), alluding to 1)the fact that a knife consumes flesh, 2)because one uses a knife to make meat edible and 3)this particular knife was called by this name because Jews still "eat" the reward from this happening.
Avraham, who thought he was about to go kill his son, walks just as joyfully as Yitzchak, who was unaware of this.
Yitzchak calls out to Avraham, "My father!" and Avraham replies "Here I am, my son." Yitzchak then pointed out that they had the fire and wood but where was the lamb for the burnt offering? Avraham replies that G-d would provide the lamb for the offering. What Avraham meant by this was that G-d would pick the lamb He felt was fit, and if He found none, then Yizchak would serve this purpose. Yitzchak understands this implication and yet he walks onwards, both of them in the same mindset/heart.
They arrive at the place that G-d had told Avraham about, and Avraham builds the altar there and set up the wood. He binds Yitzchak's hands and feet behind him* and places him on the altar on top of the wood.*This type of binding is called an עִקֵידָה, wherein one's ankles become white, making the place where they are bound noticeable.
Avraham reaches out his hand and picked up the knife to slaughter his son.
An angel of G-d calls out to Avraham from heaven, "Avraham! Avraham!"* to which Avraham replies, "Here I am". *Side note: Repeating one's name is an expression of affection.
The angel tells Avraham not to reach out to slaughter Yitzchak. Avraham replies that that meant he had come there in vain and that he would wound Yitzchak and cause him to bleed a little bit. The angel replied that no, he should not do anything to him and not cause any blemish to him at all.
Avraham complains to G-d about the apparent inconsistencies of G-d's words - first He told Avraham that Avraham's progeny will come about through Yitzchak, after which He told him to take Yitzchak up to the mountain, and then now He is telling him not to harm Yitzchak. G-d explained that he never told Avraham to kill Yitzchak, but rather just to "bring him up", which is what Avraham did, and now G-d is requesting that he take him (Yitzchak) down.
After seeing Avraham obey all of this, G-d declares that He now can tell the Satan as well as the nations who wonder what G-d's love towards Avraham is about, that He now knows that Avraham is a G-d fearing man.
Avraham looks up and sees a ram* whose horns were caught in a tree.** The ram had been running towards Avraham, and the Satan caused it to get caught in the tree. *Side note: This ram was prepared since the six days of Creation for this very purpose. **Side note: According to one interpretation, this happened right after the angel told him not to reach out his hand towards Yitzchak. According to another interpretation, it happened after the angel and the Shechina finished talking as well as after Avraham's arguments.
Avraham takes the ram and offers it up as a burnt offering. Over each sacrificial act he did (i.e. slaughtering the ram, sprinkling its blood, flaying it, burning it and reducing it to ashes), Avraham prayed that these acts should be considered as if it were being done to his son.
Avraham names that place "יִרְאֶ֑ה" (lit. "G-d Will See"). The reason for this is that G-d will choose this His Divine Presence will rest there and that it will be a place to offer sacrifices. Also, future generations will declare about that mountain that that is where G-d appears to His people. Also, in the future, every year, G-d will see this binding and forgive Israel and rescue them from retribution.
Then an angel of G-d calls out to Avraham a second time from heaven, telling him that G-d declares that in the merit of Avraham not withholding his son from G-d, G-d will bless him and his son and multiply his and his son's seed like the stars and the sand and that their progeny will inherit the cities of their enemies. Additionally, all of the nations of the world will be blessed through their children.
Avraham returns to Yishmael and Eliezer and they go back to Be'er Sheva (although Avraham lived in Chevron at the time).
Upon returning from Mount Moriah, Avraham thought about the fact that if he would have killed Yitzchak, Yitzchak would have died childless, and that he should have married him off to a woman from the families of Aner, Eshkol or Mamre. However G-d told him that Rivka, Yitzchak's intended spouse had been born to Milcah and Nachor (Avraham's brother).
Milcah produced twelve families, just as Avraham did (through Yaakov), and in both cases, eight were the sons of the wives and in Yaakov's case, four were the sons of the maidservants and in Milcah's case, four were the sons of a concubine.
These eight sons born to Milcah and Nachor were:
* Uz (the firstborn)
* Buz
* Kemuel (Aram's father)
* Kesed
* Chazo
* Pildash
* Yidlaph
* Bethuel
Rashi explains that this entire genealogy is listed to tell us about Bethuel, who was Rivka's father.
Nachor's concubine, who was named Reumah, gave birth to:
* Tevach
* Gacham
* Tachash and
* Maachah
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