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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