Q&A: Reading the Weekly Torah Portion
Reading the Weekly Torah Portion
Question
Have a good week,
In connection with this week’s Torah portion (Vayera):
Is a person allowed to give up his life because of an obligation that was imposed on someone else? Abraham was instructed to slaughter Isaac—was Isaac allowed to give up his life?
And on that same topic, was Isaac allowed to kill Abraham on the grounds that he was a pursuer?
Best regards,
Answer
The Holy One, blessed be He, commanding Abraham to kill Isaac was, to the same extent, also a command to Isaac to be killed. From that it follows that he was also forbidden to kill Abraham—just as a condemned person may not kill an agent of the religious court. I wrote about this in column 471.
Discussion on Answer
If he believes him, then he believes him. If not, then he probably won’t sacrifice his life. Who says the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself at Sinai? So why give up my life in cases where Jewish law requires it?
Because it makes sense to say that an event like the revelation at Mount Sinai would not have been planted into history unless it had actually happened. But the testimony of a single person (an old man) saying that God commanded him to do something that affects me—that’s not so plausible. Agree?
That is, Sinai is far stronger, logically speaking, as something that actually happened. It’s not the testimony of one or two people.
Apparently Isaac believed Abraham. Whether it’s stronger or weaker is beside the point. Many people will tell you that the revelation at Mount Sinai never happened at all.
Seemingly, why should he sacrifice his life for something that might not even be true? Who says God really spoke to Abraham?