THE DETROIT JEWIS H NEWS — Friday, September 15, 1961 24
'Binding' of Isaac Gets Psycho-Analytical
Treatment in T. Ileik's 'The Temptation
accounts retold in "Road to
Sodom."
Every element in the Old Tes-
tament story is introduced in this
splendidly written biblidal narra-
er persists in the trade and later tive. Eliezer, Abraham's loyal
servant, plays an important role,
loses his life.
Then comes the period of wan- as do Laban and other biblical
dering, until Abraham settles characters.
While "Road to Sodom" is
down, but Lot, Adah and their
children go to Sodom. Adah con- a biblical story, it has all the
of a modern novel
stantly plots against Sarah, and
ader's attention is
the
suspicious
latter
remains
and the
held from ver to cover.
her. Adah's tragic
alt is
into a pillar
ishment for
od of Sar • s steril-
The
sad one, bu . there al-
ity is
Many interpretations have of a puberty initiation, that the
been given throughout the ages motifs of his death and resur-
to the Abraham-Isaac biblical rection correspond to the death
story, to the "Sacrifice" which and birth in the initiation ritual
was "The Binding" in Jewish of primitive societies. . . The
Christ story is a completed
tradition.
It has been called the most myth that reached its logical
fascinating narrative in world aim. It renewed the old idea
literature. Some have inter- and superstitions, resulting
preted it as the acme of man's from- the belief that adolescent
devotion to his Maker. There boys in primitive societies are
have been condemnations as killed during their initiation
and then reborn. The saga of
well.
s the hope of fulfillment
Isaac was an early abortive
Dr. Theodor Reik, the emi- myth of the Hebrew tribes.
vine promise that she is
nent 73-year-old practicing New Isaac was, so to speak, a sau-
have a son and that Abra-
York psychoanalyst, who was a veur manque."
am's offspring are to b like
se
student of Dr. Sigmund Freud
Turning again to the Chris- he sands on th ec'
es
in 1910, who. had lectured in tian analogy, Dr. Reik says tha
When the prom
I ac
Vienna, Berlin and the Hague, "the sacrifice arrested in t
reality and th
ngers
became a U. S. citizen in 1943 case of Abraham's son was
born, Sarah fa
Isaac
and since then has lectured at fered by Christ. In it man
—the
ih
's co
Yale and other universities,.has God who had been incarna
the ha is o
her so
made a psycho-analytical study confessed to his old cr
bine Hagar
of the subject. Tracing the ells- against the primal father
mael.
when. the
toms and beliefs of peoples in atoned for it.
That, too, is solv
d and Hagar
biblical times, he maintains that
plotting is disco
"It is at this point," D
e sent forth to
puberty initiation rites, circum- Reik declares, "that Judaism nd Ishmae
own fortunes, away
cision rituals and ancient Is- and Christianity part ways. In
rael's Covenant have important the Old Testament there is from Abraham and his flock.
"Road to Sodom" takes the
bearings on the theme.
an arrested sacrifice. In the
In "The Temptation," pub-
new there is a supreme self- reader up to the time of Isaac's
lished by George Braziller,
sacrifice brought to comple- betrothal to Rebekah.
The "sacrifice of Isaac",
Inc., 215 S. Park, N. Y. 3,
tion. In the Old Testament
(it is "the binding in Jewish
Prof. Reik gives an account
there is an only beloved son
tradition) Abraham's submis-
of his psychoanalytical search
who almost became a god. In
sion to divine command, the
into the primordial father-son
the New there is the Son of
subsequent rescue of the
conflict.
Man who is the incarnate
patriarch's son by a voice
"How did this horrible story deity."
of human sacrifice get into the
Prof. Reik also explains that from Heaven and the sub-
Bible?", Dr. Reik asks. "It was "there is no such thing as a vir- stitution of the rain sud-
desired," he states, "to show gin birth in the Old Testament. denly discovered by Abra-
that Abraham's devotion to the The misinterpretation of a Mes- ham in a nearby bush, are
Lord he worshiped was capable siah passage (Isa... VII:14), sci among the detailed biblical
of going to the farthest point often quoted as the prophetic
that religion could reach. Abra- announcement of Christ by
ham saw that the Canaanite Catholic theologians, is now
tribes were offering their chil- clearly recognized. The mis-
dren to their gods. . . . Surpris- translation of the Hebrew word
ingly enough, the voice of God `alina,' which means a young
says ultimately something com- woman of marriageable age, is,
pletely different: it is not the as Christian scholars have long
sacrifice of Isaac that God de- admitted, responsible for the
mands, but love and mercy 'and mistake that has been continued
the knowledge of God more through so many centuries. The
than burnt offerings' (Hosea famous sentence does not say
VI:63. The Almighty reveals `Behold, a virgin will conceive,'
Himself not as a cruel Moloch, but 'a young woman will con-
but as our father."
ceive.' "
Quoting examples of theo-
The challenge of the
logical and exegetic interpre- ham-Isaac problem is
tations, Dr. Reik states:
Dr. Reik in the thoro
"Before the scene on the in which he makes u of
mountain, God was conceived told number of
as a mysterious power removing theological sou
Abraham from his parental offered a most
home and then _asking him to planation of he
sacrifice the son promised to cepts of. lov and
him. Afterwards those cruel fea- trasted wit anti
tures of God have vanished. His sacrifices
mercy • emerges and remains terpretati
His fundamental characteristic ance of
e self-sac
in the patriarchal time. With Dr. Rei s "The
the end of the sacrifice scene we notewo
enter a new phase of the history cant bi
of religion, and Abraham is con-
•
ceived as the conqueror of the
* * *
practice
of
human
sacrifice
in
,
the Hebrew religion."
•• • • •
It is evident that Jean Rees,
wife of an evangelist, has delved
thoroughly not only into the Old
Testament account of her char-
acters and their environments,
but also into legends—Moham-
medan as well as Jewish. In its
entirety, "Road to Sodom" is a
very good novel.
Jean Rees has written many
stories and books for children.
Her current novel greatly adds
to her stature as an able story-
teller for people of all ages.
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Dr. Reik explains that "Ju-
daism does not acknowledge
the phrase 'sacrifice of Isaac,'
since the Genesis -story tells
of an attempted, but averted,
sacrifice. To term it a sacrifice
would be like calling a
planned but prevented mur-
der a killing. When the Jew-
ish theologians speak or write
about the cause celebre of the
patriarchal time — and they
speak and write about it fre-
quently—they use the term
`Akedah' which means 'the
binding.' . • . The Christian
theologians assert that the
binding of Isaac foreshadows
the crucifixion of Jesus."
He thereupon indicates that
"the story of the Binding of
Isaac became a symbol of Jew-
ish martyrdom," that the Ake-
dah was conceived "as an ex-
ample of Jewish faithfulness
and as a model of devotion."
Dr. Reik contends that
"Isaac's binding on the altar, as
Christ's hanging on the cross,
are variations of the same
theme, of an old mythical leit-
motif." He points out that in his
earlier book, "Mystery on the
Mountain," he "tried to show
that the biography of the young
Jesus follows the typical lines
Jea Rees"Road •
to S I orn' Relates
Abraha
Stor
credit
To Jean Re
for having written an excep-
tionally noteworthy biblical story.
Her "Road to Sodom," pub-
lished by Random House, is an
excellent portrayal of Old Testa-
ment episodes, with emphasis on
the life of Abraham, his wife
Sarah, his nephew Lot and his
wife Adah.
Sarah and Abraham — until
divine revelation late in the story
they are the traditional Abram
and Sarai—emerge here as the
compatible couple who strive to-
gether for the elevation of high
ideals among their kinsmen and
the people who are -in their tribe.
Lot concurs with Abram, but
he is under the evil influence of
Adah who constantly plots to be
in an environment like Egypt's,
and later succeeds in getting her
husband to settle in corrupt and
immoral Sodom. '
It is on the road to Sodom
that many things happen. First
Abram smashes the idols in his
father's shop and gets his father's
consent to abandon the trade of
idol-manufacturing, but his broth-
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