At the end of Parshat Vayera we read the story of Akedat
Yitzchak. God commands Avraham (Breisheet 22:2) “Please take your son, your
only one, who you love-Yitzchak- and go to the land of Moriah; bring him up
there as an offering upon one of the mountains which I shall tell you.”
Avraham would have been willing to sacrifice his son Yitzchak
if that was what God was asking for. Child sacrifice was commonly done during
that time period so although Avraham did not want to sacrifice the son that he
waited one hundred years to finally receive, he would have done it if
necessary.
However, that is not what God wanted.
Rashi points out that God did not say to Avraham, “slaughter
him!” because God did not wish him to be killed, but, only to be brought up the
mountain to be made into an Olah (sacrifice). Once he brought him up God said
to him, “Bring him down.”
We learn from here that Judaism is a religion of life. Even
if other nations are sending their children off to die in the name of their religion,
it is not something that we do.
You may ask why we even need to discuss this topic as we are
no longer living in the days of child sacrifice.
The answer is that unfortunately child sacrifice is still
taking place. During Operation Protective Edge children served as human
shields. Throughout the world we hear about young children who are being sent
out in explosive belts to carry out suicide bombings. Teenagers are sent by
their parents to throw stones at Israeli soldiers, Israeli cars and the light
rail train knowing that there is a chance that they may get killed in clashes
with the soldiers.
Last week, a 32 year old Islamic Jihad terrorist who was a
resident of
tried to assassinate Rabbi Yehuda Glick. Fatah’s youth movement in
martyr of
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas himself said the man who
shot Yehuda Glick would go to heaven as a martyr.
This terrorist
was 32 years old. Yitzchak’s age at the time of the Akeda was 37 (as he was
born when Sarah was ninety and she passed away at 127 about the same time as the
Akeda). The Akeda reminds us that our children are our children no matter how old
they are and contrary to what Fatah and Abbas have to say, it is unacceptable
for them to martyr themselves at any age.
And where did the
Akeda take place?
Avraham was
specifically told to bring Yitzchak up to Har HaMoriah, the
which from that moment became the Jewish nation’s holiest site.
