Q&A: Did Abraham kill Isaac?
Did Abraham kill Isaac?
Question
With God’s help,
Hello Rabbi, how are you?
Is the Rabbi familiar with an interpretation that says that Abraham our forefather actually killed Isaac at the binding, and afterward Isaac came back to life in the resurrection of the dead?
I heard from a friend who gives classes that this was his bottom line. By the way, he said that his father taught him this way when he was a child as well. (And this approach would explain, for example, “and offered him up as a burnt offering instead of his son” in the sense of instead of = under, so that the sacrifice was the ram + Isaac, and that Abraham had been commanded by the Holy One, blessed be He, to kill him and therefore did not heed the words of the angel, since he was only a messenger; and there are several other proofs.)
Personally, the approach seems wrong to me, and I also have not found any commentator who takes this view. Has the Rabbi heard of this interpretation? Has anyone written it up in an orderly way?
One more thing: I wanted to know when and where the Rabbi gives classes that one can join.
Thank you very much!
Answer
Hello Ayin.
I have heard of such interpretations in the past, but they seem far-fetched to me. I’m not an expert in biblical interpretation, but just now I found a bit about it here:
https://www.kipa.co.il/%D7%99%D7%94%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A2/%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%90/%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A9-%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%9D-%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%97%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D/
His proofs are not really proofs, of course. The comparison to Isaac does not necessarily mean that he was actually killed, only that Abraham was prepared to kill him. There are midrashim that say his ashes were piled on top of the altar, but in other versions it says that it was as if he had been killed and his ashes piled there.
Aside from the kollel at Bar-Ilan, I have two regular classes: in Petah Tikva every Thursday evening at 8:45 PM at Mishkan Yisrael Synagogue, 7 Glitzenstein Street. And in Ra’anana on Friday morning after Shacharit (prayer at 7:00, class at 7:30), at Ohel Ari Synagogue on Rabutzki Street.
In both places I give a series of several classes on one topic and then move on to another topic.
The Chida writes this at the end of “Simchat HaRegel.”
I also saw that it is brought in the name of Ibn Ezra, but I have not seen it there myself.