because he does not let concern for
his child stop him from carrying
out the will of God.
And Isaac is praised by them, too,
for going to be sacrificed without
protest and without hesitation. It is
for this total and almost inhuman
devotion to God that Abraham is
rewarded.
It is this that we are to remember
when we hear the shofar on Rosh
Hashanah. It is this that we mean
when we speak of zechut avot —
the merit of the patriarchs — that
accrues to the benefit of their
descendants.
But then, just when you think
that the readiness to sacrifice what
is most precious to you for the sake
of God is the lesson of the story,
there is a line in a midrash in which
Isaac says, "I am ready to die, but I
grieve for my mother."
Then one can find another
midrash in which Isaac tells his
father, "Please do not tell mother
A depiction of the Binding of Isaac.
while she is standing over a pit or
on a rooftop, lest she throw herself
down and kill herself:'
bury her, because she is an instru-
ment of the nation and not a daugh-
In yet another midrash, Isaac says,
ter.
"Father, who will take care of you in
By saying this, she turns her
your old age without me?" Most sur-
father's whole argument upside
prising of all, Isaac says, "If God has
down.
chosen, then ..."
She says: You want me to be an
How can Isaac say "if" when
Abraham has already told him
instrument of the state and not a
daughter? I'll show
what God has said?
you what it means to
Here, Hartman and
be an instrument and
Buckholtz present
not a daughter. I'll
a counter-version
show you what hap-
of the story, one in
which concern for
pens when you make
the covenant of love
family outweighs
less sacred than the
even the word of
covenant with society.
God.
In this version,
It is never quite
said in words, but the
Isaac is not docile
point of the play may
and not passive
Are You N of a Man of God?
Devotion, B etrayal, and Social
be to undermine the
but raises the same
Criticism i n Jewish Tradition
values of the society
questions that we
for the sake of the
raise when we think
values of the family.
about this story.
The same hidden
The book's chap-
In Are You Not a Man of
agenda can be found
ters about other bibli-
God?, the authors assert
if you carefully read
cal figures — such
that the covenant of love is
the story of the
as the prophetess
as sacred as the covenant
Hannah, the female
Binding of Isaac.
with the Supreme Authority.
On the surface,
sage Beruriah and the
Isaac obeys his
Stove of Achnai — are
father without ques-
just as full of sur-
tion. There are a host of midrashim
prises as the sections on Isaac and
Iphigenia.
that describe Isaac as taking such
steps as asking his father to tie him
This book is not easy reading, but
up in order to make sure that he
it is well worth the effort. Hartman
does not spoil the sacrifice by mov-
and Buckholtz reveal how many dif-
ing.
ferent ways there are of reading the
The Talmud, the Danish philoso-
same stories, and how each reader
pher Soren Kierkegaard and Rabbi
can find new understanding by read-
Joseph B. Soloveitchik all agree
ing the old from the perspective of
in calling Abraham a great hero
today.

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