parsha bit: Rosh Hashana

[cellio]

On the second day of Rosh Hashana we read the Akeidah, the binding of Yitzchak. Many (myself included) ask how Avraham, who pressed God for justice for S'dom and 'Amorah, could obey a command to sacrifice his son without any objection. There is a midrash that Avraham was not silent. God told him to take his son; Avraham asked "which son?". God said "your favored one", and Avraham replied "I have two sons; Yishmael is favored by his mother, and Yitzchak is favored by his mother". So God said "take the one whom you love", and Avraham said "I love both of my sons". Finally, God told him "Take Yitzchak!". (Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer 31)

There are a few different styles of midrash. One, like this example, seeks to fill in bits between the torah narrative. So the torah has God saying "take your son, your favored one, the one that you love...", and the rabbis (I presume) explored the repetition to see what might be going on there. All midrash is speculation (not necessarily true), but that's ok.

Comments

[cellio]

That's a good point. I would expect him to weasel first and argue second, but he didn't argue (according to this midrash).

I once heard an interpretation (I forget where from) that he learned from S'dom and 'Amorah that God had forseen the outcome and was right -- Avraham argued for the cities, God agreed to the premise, and they couldn't find ten righteous men to prevent their destruction. I don't agree with the lesson "once right, always right", but I can maybe understand how Avraham could decide not to stand up to God a second time after the first failure.

(Aside: the destruction of the cities might not really be a failure; the strong implication is that the only deserving people living there got out. And, err, think about that -- Lot as deserving, after offering his daughters to the mob. But would Avraham have seen this as a successful outcome?)