a torah snippet

[cellio]

This Shabbat's parsha was Vayeira, which is just packed. It starts with the angels visiting Avraham and Sarah and telling them they'll have a son, continues through the visit to S'dom and destruction of S'dom and G'morah, and ends with the Akeidah, the binding of Yitzchak.

This morning's torah reader had an interesting insight. He, like I, is bothered by the fact that Avraham argues with God to spare two wicked cities that might contain some righteous people (final verdict: fewer than ten), yet he is ready to offer his son, who he presumably knows to be righteous, with nary a complaint or question. What's wrong with this picture?

Bruce pointed out that during the argument/haggling over the cities, Avraham at one point challenges God's justice. God agrees to a condition that will spare the cities, but the condition isn't met and the cities get zotted. Perhaps, Bruce said, this is where Avraham learns that God is just -- that he already knew there weren't enough righteous people in those cities and that there was no need to argue over it. So when God later gave him a command to do something objectionable, maybe Avraham learned from the previous experience and concluded that, beyond his comprehension, this was somehow just.

Now (say I), we clearly can't take the more general lesson from this, because a critical part of Judaism is that we do wrestle with and challenge God. That's what "Yisrael" means. So I don't think we're supposed to emulate Avraham at the Akeidah, but maybe this gives us some insight into Avraham specifically.

Comments

[sethg]

Another possibility: for Sodom and Gomorrah, God told Abraham his reason for torching the cities, which provided an opening for discussion. For the Akeidah, God just said, "Do this".