Q&A: On the Binding of Isaac
On the Binding of Isaac
Question
Hello Rabbi. I am a student in a pre-military academy, and we were asked to write an article for the academy’s journal. I thought of writing about the Binding of Isaac, about the messages that emerge from it—whether morality is nullified before God’s command, or perhaps Abraham’s test was that he trusted God not to tell him to do something immoral. In any case, I would appreciate it if you could point me to sources you have written on the Binding, and on Jewish law and morality (I already came across one column here on the site). And if you have additional sources by other people, I’d be glad as well. In addition, I’d be happy to hear your view on the subject—what is really the main message of the Binding?
Answer
Hello,
I don’t deal with biblical interpretation. If you saw what I wrote, then that is what I have to say about the Binding (I assume you saw that I cite Olat Re’iyah by Rabbi Kook there). As I understand it, the main message of the Binding is that Abraham was God-fearing. A God-fearing person must carry out what the Holy One, blessed be He, instructs him to do, whether it is moral or not. And there is no assumption that everything He commands is moral (search here on the site for Jewish law and morality).
Good luck.
Discussion on Answer
I referred you to search the site.
Hello Rabbi,
I came back from reserve duty, and there was a friend with me in the tank who defines himself as formerly religious, and this was his question: what is the educational/moral message in the Binding of Isaac? I read Rabbi Kook’s interpretation of the Binding, but it does not seem apparent from the verses that the message is that God wanted Abraham not to bind him; on the contrary, God commands self-sacrifice for the sake of His command, and even the sacrifice of our sons if we are commanded to do so. If so, what educational and moral idea is there in the story of the Binding?
I would strengthen the question based also on what you said in the podcast with Daniel Dushi—that a person is responsible for his choices, and since there is no absolute certainty even about the existence of God, why did Abraham agree to the idea of slaughtering his son? Unless you think Abraham had absolute certainty that he had received a command from God. But then there is an even greater complication: how does he believe that God commands something immoral? He should have refused the command because it was a manifestly illegal order.
The educational message is the obligation to sacrifice for the fulfillment of God’s will. God did ask him to bind Isaac; otherwise there is no demand for sacrifice here. But from the outset He planned not to carry it out, because the lesson is only the willingness to sacrifice.
As for certainty, I have written more than once that a prophet apparently has enough certainty to decide in favor of the command and against morality. Search here on the site for the Binding of Isaac. For example, column 333.
Thank you very much, Rabbi.
If the Holy One, blessed be He, is absolute goodness, how could He instruct us to do something immoral?