Walking Into The Fire

We are told that if one seeks rachamim from Above it is beneficial to read the parsha of the akeidah. The words of the pesukim are in our siddurim, we can find them after completing our morning brachos. I am always touched by the scene and try to imagine what must have been going through the minds and hearts of both Avraham and Yitzchak Avinu.

“Vayomer kach na es bincha, Hashem said (to Avraham) please take your son, your only son whom you love – Yitzchak …bring him as an offering upon one of the mountains which I shall tell you.”

Yitzchak questions his father. “Avi, my father. Henai haesh vehaeitzim veayeh haseh leolah? Here are the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for the offering?”

Avraham Avinu must have been trembling as he replied to his beloved son, “Elokim yireh lo haseh leolah bini, Hashem will seek out for Himself the lamb for the offering my son.” Avraham Avinu knew that it would be his son who would be chosen as the lamb.

“Vayelchu sheneihem yachdav and the two walked together. Rashi comments that at this point Yitzchak was aware that he would be the offering. Yet father and son walked as one, in peace.

“Vaya’akod es Yitzchak, He bound Yitzchak.” Our sages ask, Why did Avraham have to bind him? Could he bind a 37-year-old man without his consent? We are privy to the words of Yitzchak. “Father, I am a vigorous young man and you are old. I fear that when I see the slaughtering knife in your hand I will instinctively jerk…therefore, bind me well so that at the final moment I will not be deficient in filial honor and respect.”

We all know how the story concluded. So why go through all the pain, the fear, the binding of Yitzchak and the test of Avraham to sacrifice his precious son?

At that moment both Avraham and Yitzchak created a cosmic reality that had never existed before. They gave birth to the spiritual gene within Am Yisrael of mesiras nefesh. From that moment on we were given the fortitude to walk through fire, to resist those who wish to extinguish our light. In every generation there have been warriors and courageous souls who have answered the call of “kach na es bincha, take please your son and bring him as an offering.” From the days of the crusades, inquisitions, gas chambers until the battle for the survival of Eretz Yisrael in our days, we draw upon this spiritual gene. There have been the greatest and bravest who, like Yitzchak, knew that they were going to walk into the fire and yet, they continued walking.

We have witnessed the most valiant of our nation ready to sacrifice their limbs and their very lives for Am Yisrael. We have watched as fathers and mothers place their hands upon their children’s heads, trembling as they give their bracha, not knowing what the future brings. Wives and children wave goodbye, asking for one more hug as they wipe away their tears.

Indeed, the words of the akeidah have come alive before our eyes.

Staff Sergeant Nave Yair Asulin fell in Gaza and left behind a letter for his family:

“This is the greatest privilege and mitzvah a Jew could get. They say ‘whoever saves one life from Israel it is like he saved the entire world.’ If I’m going to die-let it be for the land of Israel.

“If you read this the worst probably happened… But know with full heart, I’m proud of what I did and do not regret it for a moment. I think that it’s a great privilege to continue in the path of our ancestors in the land of Israel and to fight for this land and to avenge the blood of our Jewish brothers who were slaughtered for being Jews.”

“Continue to live! Even though I’m not among you, I’m still with you…I will continue to watch over you from above wherever there’s a danger and I can protect you better. I leave you but not forever-only in this physical world, which is anyway nonsense.”

 “Vayelchu sheneihem yachdav, they walked together in peace.” I know that our avos have greeted the bravest of our generation who have sacrificed their very lives for Am Yisrael. They walk together in Shamayim, hand in hand, as they call out the words of Avraham Avinu. ‘Hineni’, here I am, ready to serve You, HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

May we see the geulah shelaimah bimhairah, and find the rachamim that we seek, as we draw upon the words of the akeidah.