Musar zu Bereschit 22:1

The midrash tells us, for example, that this is what happened to Avraham because he did not invite any poor people to the feast that he made upon Yitzchok’s weaning. Commenting on the verse, “And after these matters” (Bereishis 22:1), the midrash explains that it was in response to the Satan’s indictment that the Holy One Blessed is He subsequently commanded Avraham, “Take, now, your son, your only one, Yitzchok … and offer him there for a burnt offering” (Bereishis 22:2).

Concerning the fourth expression of endearment listed, the use of the word אליו, this too had been used in connection with Abraham (Genesis 22,11), and one cannot answer that it did not represent an expression of fondness since it was not coupled with וידבר לאמור. The absence of the extra word לאמור in Genesis 22,1, is more than compensated for by the repeated use of Abraham's very name! The answer is that Abraham had to personally prepare himself spiritually in order to receive a communication from G–d. Moses did not need such spiritual preparation. He was ready at all times to perform his task as a prophet. We know this from Numbers 9,8 where some of the people asked Moses why people who had been ritually impure through no fault of their own could not perform the Passover sacrifice at the appointed time. Moses told the people: "Stand by and let me hear what G–d will command concerning situations such as yours!" There was no need for Moses to prepare himself to speak to G–d. We now understand the abbreviated form of the קריאה reported at the opening of the book of Leviticus, i.e. why the Torah did not even bother to identify the caller, and immediately wrote: "He called." Had the introduction "G–d called" been used by the Torah, there would not have been room for error, no one could have argued that it was the angel Mattatron who had addressed Moses and invited him to ready himself spiritually, that it was not G–d Who had addressed him directly. Why then did the Torah take a chance and omit defining who called Moses? We are forced to conclude that the Torah used this form of introduction to demonstrate how fond G–d was of Moses, that G–d was both the caller and the speaker, as distinct from Abraham where the fourth endearing term אליו is used in G–d's address (Genesis 22,11). This is the plain meaning of the paragraph in the Midrash.

G–d answered Satan at that time, that Abraham already had offered such a sacrifice at the time he circumcised himself and again when he circumcised Isaac, seeing that circumcision rates as a major sacrifice. When he did this he fulfilled the commandment of Leviticus 1,2: אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן, "when someone offers a sacrifice it should be part of you," i.e. part of your very self. We have an allusion to this in Genesis 12,11 ויהי כאשר הקריב לבא מצרימה, when the use of the word הקריב instead of קרב, indicates that he brought himself closer to G–d (see our commentary page 80). G–d compensated the Jewish people for Abraham's devotion at the appropriate time. We know that circumcision itself rates as a major sacrifice from the boast of Ishmael to Isaac that whereas he, Ishmael, had submitted voluntarily to that painful procedure at the age of thirteen, Isaac as an eight day old baby had not suffered, nor had he accumulated a merit for consenting to that act. Isaac responded that if G–d were to ask him to sacrifice his entire body he would be prepared to do so (compare Sanhedrin 89). According to this last version the words אחר הדברים האלה in 22,1 refer to this conversation between Ishmael and Isaac. We will demonstrate that both approaches are true and reflect valid Torah viewpoints.

The truth is that this test was due to Ishmael's and Isaac's dialogue, a competition who could serve the Lord better. Such a dialogue certainly reflected the "right" side of the emanations. Rabbi Yossi the Galilean describes the matter in Bereshit Rabbah 55,5 when he says that the words והאלוקים נסה את אברהם must be understood as "G–d placed Abraham on a high mast, like that on a ship." His meaning is that G–d simply wanted to demonstrate to the whole world the devotion of an Abraham to the most difficult demand G–d could make upon him. Nonetheless, there is no denying that Abraham had found a detractor in Satan, and we have it on the authority of the Zohar that any accusation leaves some impression that G–d has to address Himself to, even if He does not do so immediately. In such a situation G–d hands someone else to Satan as a ransom, as alluded to in Isaiah 43,4: ואתן אדם תחתיך, "I give men in exchange for you." Abraham was afraid that the effect of Satan's accusation against him might have negative effects on Isaac's descendants. This is why G–d told him immediately after the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22,21) that the ransom had already been assigned to Satan: עוץ בכורו, "Utz the first born of Nachor," otherwise known as job, as we know from Job 1,1 "there lived a man in the land of Utz, Job was his name." We know that G–d delivered the fate of this man into the hands of Satan (ibid.). The mechanics of how this ransom works are discussed at length in the Zohar.