Rembrandt's 'Sacrifice of Abraham'

Literary Mastery Is in New Blechman Novel, 'Stations'

Burt Blechman. the Phi Beta
Kappa novelist who has been a

success with "How Much," which
was prepared for a Broadway play
by Lillian Hellman: who is now
working on a two-act play, whose
novel The War of Camp Omongo"

brought him good reviews, has a
new novel to his credit. It is called
"Stations" and has been published
by Random House.
The title refers to New York
subway statins around which there

is the action.
More than action. there is the
literary style that will be admired
by those who are treated in this
novel to the agonies of life, to
violence of spirit.
A typical example is the chapter
titled - apocrypha - in which we are
treated to the following:
•
--
- -

"Consider what could have been.
"You could have been a doctor.
a surgeon . . . You could have
ministered to the poor. the suf-
fering. assuaged their agony.
quieted their despair.
"Or a lawyer, fighting for jus-
tice. breaking through the bars
of your own imprisonment. beg-
ging for love and compassion from
an unwilling jury of housewives.
"Or .a .poet. You could have
shaken the world. moved it to
tears, tears that have been yours
alone. Poems about mountains still

with the soft footsteps of doom.
with the quiet efficiency of a well-
oiled engine. with the inexorable
momentum of hate, stalks the sky.
And for you. as for them, there is
nothing but interment. •
"Nothing. Nothing."'
Here 'is a quotation sufficiently
powerful to draw - the attention

unclimbed. about willows, the pas-
earth. the verdant
the
tures.

Many people have tuberculosis
without. knowing it. Unless found

beauty that crowns us like a splen-
did Olympian wreath.

"Consider. you could have done.
as could man. • all of these. But
swords will be swords and death.

of even the most discriminating
reader towards excellent na•ra-
tive. splendid style. That's what
elevates Burt Blechman to high
literary rank.

and treated they can go about in-
fecting others. Helping to find and
treat TB sufferers is one of the

many activities suported by

TB and Health Society.

the

c
f

Portrait showing "Sacrifice of Abraham."
Oil painting by Rembrandt in 16313.

By RUTH MORRIS

(Standard Feature Syndicate)

•

membering). the following prayer
is found: "Remember unto us. 0
Lord Our God. the covenant and
the oath which Thou didst swear
unto Abraham our father on Mt.
Moriah: consider his binding of
his son Isaac upon the altar sup-
pressing his compassion to do Thy
will with a perfect heart."
The story of Abraham's Sacri-
fice has been frequently used in
Jewish art. It is found on the walls
of the synagogue of Dura-Europos
and in the mosaic floor of the syn-
agogue of Beth-Alpha.
Rembrandt's master portrayal
of the dramatic scene has given
careful attention to the traditional
ritual. The knife in Abraham's
hand is not a pointed blade. but
is round at the tip because in
Jewish traditional rite. the victim
was not dispatched with a stab.
but with a cut across the throat
the while the sacrificer shall "lay
his hand upon the head of the
burnt-offering." as directed in Le-
viticus 1:4. The placing of the
father's hand upon the boy's face
gives us the impression that Abra-
ham does not wish to look upon
the trusting eyes of his son. In
the culminating moment of this
episbde. as the knife is raised for
the sacrifice. God intervenes "And
the angel of the Lord called unto
him out of heaven and said:
'Abraham. Abraham!' And he said:
'Here am And that angel said:
'Lay not thy hand upon the lad;
neither do thou anything unto
him.'"
In the Bible, the angel is repre-
sented only as speaking. but Rem-
brandt shows him as a figure in
action. He accompanies his spoken
word with his left arm uplifted
while with his right hand he
grasps Abraham's wris.t with such
violence that the knife falls from
the' old man's hand.

Early in the Jewish New Year.
the Binding of Isaac (Akedah)
is recalled and the Jewish ideal
of martyrdom is exemplified in the
Haftorah. with the Divine promise
of Israel's redemption.
We read in Genesis 22 the
touching story that the aged Patri-
arch Abraham. who had longed for
a rightful heir. and who had had
his longing fulfilled 'in the birth
of Isaac, is bidden to offer up this
child as a burnt-offering unto the
Lord. The purpose of this coin-
mand was to apply a supreme test
of Abraham's faith. thus strength-
ening his hand. capable of inter-
vening as He (lid intervene.
In Abraham's age, it was as-
tounding that God should have in-
terposed to prevent the sacrifice.
not that He should have asked for
it. A primary purpose of this com-
mand, therefore. was to demon-
strate to Abraham and his de-
scendants after him that God ab-
horred human sacrifice. Unlike
the cruel heathen deities. it was
the spiritual sacrifice alone that
God required. Moses warns his
people not to serve God in the way
of the surrounding nations. "For
every abomination to the Lord
which he hateth have they done to
their gods; for even their sons and
their daughters they have burnt in
fire to their gods" (Deut. 12:31).
The binding of Isaac opens the
long warfare of Israel against the
abomination of child sacrifice
which was rife among The Semitic
people as well as their Egyptian
and Aryan neighbors.
The willingness of Abraham to
make this sacrifice and the readi-
ness of Isaac to offer his life at
God's command was regarded as a
claim for forgiveness of sin which
God would always remember to
the credit of the Jewish people.
This thought appears in the Mish- Supreme Court Upholds
nah (Taan 2:4-5) in the liturgy for Zech-Nenntwich Verdict
public fast days: "May He Who
BONN (JTA) — The West Ger-
answered Abraham on Mt. Moriah
upheld the
a crupre
Sme o
mn
hear our supplications." The sound
nviction of H ans
imes coCurt
1A,ar
of the shofar on New Year is ex- Walter Zech-Nenntwich, who fled
plained in the Talmud as a re-
minder of the ram which. Abraham to Egypt after escaping from a
offered in place of his willing son. German jail last April.
The former SS officer was sen-
and God considers it "as if ye had
tenced to four years for his role
bound yourselves before me"
in wartime mass murder of Polish
(Rosh Hashanah 16a).
In the Musaf on the New Year, Jews. He returned to Germany
from Egypt in August, and sur-
in the Zichronoth Division (Re- rendered. He said that he came
back
because he was confident of
I
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, November 20, 1964-17 acquittal.

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