We Walk Together | Rabbi Stewart Weiss | Beit Midrash

Torah Portion and Tanach
Vayera

קטגוריה משנית

The centerpiece of Vayera is the Akeida, the binding & near-sacrifice of Yitzchak, the last & arguably the most difficult of Avraham’s 10 tests. Avraham, the man of chesed who spoke up for S’dom’s inhabitants, must now accept the harsh sentence pronounced on his beloved Yitzchak. Yet how can he reconcile this act with the G-d of love & kindness, who forbade human-sacrifice? How will he ever again trust the G-d of Truth, who explicitly promised that Yitzchak - & only Yitzchak - will be his heir, but is now taking away that very same heir?

Somehow, Avraham suppresses his doubt along with all its moral dilemmas, & reacts to Hashem’s command with Emuna Sh'lema. The man who discovered G-d through deductive reasoning, logic & common sense must now put all those aside & activate his element of pure Faith.

But Avraham is not the only hero of this story. Yitzchak - no mere "lad" at age 37 - also submits to Hashem’s will. At one point he asks (sheepishly?), "where is the lamb for the offering?" but then he accepts Avraham’s assurance that "G-d will show us the lamb." Fittingly, this episode is called, "Akeidat YITZCHAK" (and not "Nisayon Avraham) in Yitzchak's name and honor.

Approaching Har HaMoriah, Avraham sees glowing clouds ringing the place of the Akeida, future home of the Bet HaMikdash & he asks Yitzchak, "Do you see the place?" Yitzchak says he does. Avraham then asks Yishmael & Eliezer, but they see nothing! So they stay behind with the donkey, as father & son go forward. The pasuk then dramatically declares: "The two of them walked together."

This Shabbat is our beloved Ari z"l’s Bar Mitzva parsha. I am thinking of all the parents who brought their children to Israel, to live in this "challenging" neighborhood, to fight like lions in our holy army against the enemies of Am Yisrael. These parents deserve enormous credit for answering the command of Hashem to come here with their families, despite all the risks that this entails.

But it is the children, the "Yitzchaks" of our people who risk their lives. They are the ones who face the knife as they selflessly defend us, who "tie" themselves down for several years while other kids their age around the world go on with simpler, safer lives. Somehow, like Yitzchak, they, too, see what the others do not see, they perceive the mountain of Hashem that must be climbed.

It is in their great z’chut that the foundation of the future – and the final Bet HaMikdash - is being built here & now. May we & they "walk together" as we proceed to Geula Shlema.

Vayera