Roped In

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Sacrifice of Isaac Artist: Carravagio

The end of the parsha (Bereishit 22), describes how Avraham was commanded by G-d as his tenth and final trial, to offer up his son Yitzchak as an olah, a burnt offering, on one of the mountains which G-d would show him in the land of Moriah.

The pasukim and the mefarshim go into great detail about the preparation. Avraham woke early, cut down trees for wood (in case they got to Har Moriah and there would be no wood there). The pasukim describe how he prepared the “ma’achelet,” the knife and the tools to make fire. How he concocted an intricate ruse with Sarah, telling her that he was taking Yitzchak to Shem’s yeshiva in Chevron. That is why he took Eliezer and Yishmael with him – as part of this ruse. The pasukim go on to explain how Avraham and Yitzchak were in sync throughout, “Vayeilchu ShneihemYachdav.” How the yetzer hara tried to trip Avraham up repeatedly but failed. How Avraham built the mizbe’ach himself, while hiding Yitzchak in a box so that he should not be injured in any way and develop a blemish, rendering him unfit for a sacrifice.

Then we get to the nitty gritty. Avraham places the wood on top of the mizbe’ach, he ties up Yitzchak and places him on top of the wood, takes the knife and gets ready to sacrifice him.

I want to ask a simple question: Who said anything about tying Yitzchak up? Hashem certainly didn’t tell Avraham to tie Yitzchak up, He told him to offer Yitzchak as an olah. If you examine the halachot of Korban Olah (and shechita in general), nowhere does it say you have to tie the animal up before slaughtering it. In fact, until the time of Yohanan Kohen Gadol in the second Beit Mikdash, animals were never tied up before shechita. Yohanan Kohen Gadol instituted that they install rings on the floor of the azara to restrain the animals, to make shechita easier (Sota 48a), but this is not obligatory!

Isn’t it a little strange that this whole chapter is called Akeidat Yitzchak – the tying up (binding) of Yitzchak, when no command was given to tie him up?

What did Avraham use to tie Yitzchak up? Nobody knows – because it doesn’t say anywhere! Avraham meticulously prepared all the components for the commandment – he cut the wood, he readied the knife, the fire – if the central purpose of the exercise was to tie Yitzchak up (Akeida!!!) why doesn’t the Torah (or Chazal, or any of the mefarshim) tell us what was used to tie him up?

In contrast, the horns from the ram that was sacrificed in Yitzchak’s stead have tremendous symbolic significance (the Shofar blown at Har Sinai and the Shofar that will be blown in the time of Mashiach). In fact, Chazal say that no part of the ram went unused – each tiny bit had some intricate symbolism. What about the rope, twine, leather or whatever was used to tie Yitzchak up? Doesn’t that have any significance? Didn’t that also survive for millennia and will one day be used for something momentous? What more symbolizes the Akeida, the “tying up” than the “rope” used to tie Yitzchak up?

Silence!

The whole episode of the Akeida is silent about the very title of the Akeida itself! And the question is why?

The only elaboration of the actual Akeida, the binding, is in the Midrash (Tanchuma 22:23, Targum Yonatan 22:9 and in slightly more detail in Vayikra Rabbah 30:10). Avraham tied Yitzchak’s hands behind his back and also his feet and then tied his hands to his feet and placed him face down on the wood. However, the initiative to do so came from Yitzchak! Yitzchak said to Avraham “Tie me up well so that I will not kick you by mistake and will then be liable for the death penalty.”

Can you imagine that? Avraham is just about to cut Yitzchak’s throat with the knife and all Yitzchak is worried about is that he will accidentally do something to his father for which he will be liable the “death penalty?”

From these midrashim it now becomes clear why Avraham did not prepare anything special to tie Yitzchak up with, it was not part of his original plan. Had it been, it would most likely have been prepared with the same meticulous dedication as the wood, the knife and the fire. The tying up part was not something commanded by G-d, it was a surprise initiative of Yitzchak! The cord, rope etc., or whatever was used in the end to tie him up, has no symbolic significance, like the shofarot of the ram, because the significance of it was not the material, but the initiative. In fact, the entire episode was subsequently named because of that initiative. It is remembered for all eternity as Akeidat Yitzchak, the binding of Yitzchak – because Yitzchak asked his father to tie him so that he would not unintentionally kick him!

G-d did not tell Avraham to tie Yitzchak up. Yitzchak read the situation and said “If I accidentally and unintentionally kick my father, I will be liable the death penalty and then if Avraham kills me, it will no longer be as an olah as G-d intends, but simply executing the death sentence required by halacha (Shemot 21:15).” Yitzchak had thought of a facet that Avraham had not thought of. G-d did not command Avraham to hide Yitzchak in a box until the Akeida either to prevent him incurring a blemish – that was Avraham’s initiative. Now Yitzchak added an initiative of his own, for the purpose of glorifying G-d’s commandment. This selfless act of Yitzchak transformed the trial of Avraham into a trial of both Avraham and Yitzchak and is forever more remembered … in Yitzchak’s name – Akeidat Yitzchak.

Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: Avraham tells Sarah in the beginning of the parsha to bake “uggot,” cakes, for the three visiting angels (Bereishit 18:6). What type of cakes was he referring to?

Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: What is Amrafel’s other name? Nimrod.