78 | SEPTEMBER 14 • 2023 

SPIRIT

No Man Is an Island
T

he reading for Rosh 
Hashanah is puzzling. 
We could logically read 
the opening chapter of the 
Torah, the Creation Story, since 
Rosh Hashanah celebrates the 
birthday of the world; 
and the letters of the 
Torah’s first Hebrew 
word, Bereshit, can be 
rearranged to read aleph 
b’tishre, or “the first of 
Tishre,
” which is indeed 
the date of our Jewish 
new year.
So, why do we 
read about Abraham, 
specifically his attempt 
to carry out God’s 
command to kill his son 
Isaac?
Maybe because this is 
a story of God testing Abraham’s 
faith. Perhaps we are to think 
about the ways that God tests 
us and work toward being as 
courageous and faithful as the 
Father of the Jewish people.
Others like reading about 
Abraham on Rosh Hashanah 
because he is the ultimate Jewish 
individualist; religion was a 
matter of personal choice and 
expression.
However, rabbinic tradition 
and a close reading of the 
Torah reflect that every choice 
Abraham makes as an individual 
has immediate effects on others.
Take Isaac, for example. 
Though the Torah doesn’t shed 
much light on his character, 
Midrash Tanchuma (9th century 
C.E.) invites us inside Isaac’s 
mind with the following story:
On his way to be sacrificed, 
when told by others that this 
journey might end in his death, 
Isaac replies: “I will not disregard 
the will of my Creator.
” In other 
words, Isaac appears to be his 

father’s son.
A close reading reveals that 
Isaac’s relationship with his 
father is not so simple. When the 
story concludes, and God stops 
Abraham from actually killing 
Isaac, we read: “
Abraham 
then returned to his 
servants.
” As we wonder 
where Isaac is, we can well 
imagine that Abraham’s act 
of faith has consequences 
in his household.
Then there is Sarah, 
Abraham’s wife and 
Isaac’s mother. Though 
Sarah doesn’t appear in 
the words of Genesis 22, 
her presence is felt by 
further words of Midrash 
Tanchuma Vayera 22:
As Abraham is 
deciding how to carry out God’s 
commandment to sacrifice Isaac, 
he asks himself: What shall I 
do? If I tell Sarah about it, what 
may happen? … How disturbed 
would she become if she heard 
something so shocking ? If I 
tell her nothing and simply 
steal him away when she is not 
looking, she will kill herself. 
Abraham’s concern about 
Sarah’s emotional strength turns 
out to be well-founded. As the 
Akedah story closes, we learn 
that Sarah has died.
Abraham, a man of the 
highest order of faith in God, 
cannot act alone without 
impacting those around him.
Appropriately, on Rosh 
Hashanah, in the spirit of 
Abraham, each of us is judged, 
both as an individual and as a 
member of the community. May 
we be successful in both roles. 

Rabbi Elliot Pachter is the rabbinic 

adviser at the Frankel Jewish Academy, 

and rabbi emeritus at Congregation 

B’nai Moshe, both in West Bloomfield.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi Elliot 
Pachter

Parshat Rosh 

Hashanah: 

Genesis 21:1-

34; Numbers 

29:1-6; 

I Samuel 

1:1-2:10.

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