Commentaire sur La Genèse 22:25

אחר הדברים האלה AFTER THESE THINGS [or, WORDS] —Some of our Rabbis say (Sanhedrin 89b) that it means after the words of Satan who denounced Abraham saying, “Of all the banquets which Abraham prepared not a single bullock nor a single ram did he bring as a sacrifice to You ’. God replied to him, “Does he do anything at all except for his son’s sake? Yet if I were to bid him, “Sacrifice him to Me’’, he would not refuse’’. Others say that it means “after the words of Ishmael” who boasted to Isaac that he had been circumcised when he was thirteen years old without resisting. Isaac replied to him, “You think to intimidate me by mentioning the loss of one part of the body! If the Holy One, blessed be He, were to tell me, “Sacrifice yourself to Me” I would not refuse” (Sanhedrin 89b).

ויהי אחר הדברים האלה, whenever we find the construction אחר הדברים האלה what follows is conceptually immediately following what has been reported immediately before. Examples are found in 15,1 after Avraham had killed the four kings who had taken Lot captive. At that time G’d had told him not to be afraid of any repercussions. We also find such a construction in verse 20 of our chapter where the Avraham was informed of the birth of Rivkah after we heard that Yitzchok had been born. We find a similar construction also in Esther 3,1 where Mordechai told Esther and she told the king about the assassination plot by Bigtan and Teresh. The event occurred around the time when Haman was promoted and wanted to kill Mordechai and the Jewish people. The fact that he had saved the king’s life became the immediate cause of Mordechai’s rise in the king’s esteem. [if I understand the author correctly, he wants to tell us that although sequentially the matters related are not immediate chronologically, the Torah or Scriptures use the formulation to trace them to events which occurred some time back. Yitzchok was at least 37 years old before Avraham heard about the birth of Rivkah. Similarly, if the king had rewarded Mordechai for his part in discovering the plot immediately, history might have taken a different course. Ed.] Here too, the words mean that what follows occurred after Avraham and Avimelech had concluded their covenant according to which until the fourth generation Avraham’s descendants would not register a claim against lands owned by the Philistines at this time. G’d became very angry at this high-handed action by Avraham, seeing that he had given away lands which were part of what G’d had promised to Avraham and his descendants at the “covenant of the pieces” in chapter 15. We know that a condition of that covenant had been not to allow a single soul of the Canaanites to survive in that land, according to both Deuteronomy 20,16 as well as according to Joshua 13,3 and 15,45-47. Clearly lots had been cast concerning the lands owned by the 5 Philistine rulers, and who was to settle in those lands after the conquest. As a result of Avraham’s high-handed action,

AND G-D TRIED ABRAHAM. The matter of “trial,”³⁶⁴See Rambam’s discussion of this problem, ibid., III, 24. in my opinion, is as follows: Since a man’s deeds are at his absolute free command, to perform them or not to perform them at his will, on the part of one who is tried it is called “a trial.” But on the part of the One, blessed be He, who tries the person, it is a command that the one being tested should bring forth the matter from the potential into actuality so that he may be rewarded for a good deed, not for a good thought alone.
Know further that G-d trieth the righteous,³⁶⁵Psalms 11:5. See also Bereshith Rabbah 34:2. “The Holy One, blessed be He, trieth only the righteous.” for knowing that the righteous will do His will, He desires to make him even more upright, and so He commands him to undertake a test, but He does not try the wicked, who would not obey. Thus all trials in the Torah are for the good of the one who is being tried.

נסה את אברהם, to demonstrate that Avraham’s love for G’d as well as his fear of G’d was not merely potential but actual, much as G’d's goodness is not merely potential but actual. The purpose of man’s existence is to emulate the virtues of G’d, and by means of this “test” Avraham had an opportunity to demonstrate this. When G’d created man He had set Himself the objective of “let us make man in Our image etc.,” i.e. as much like Divine beings as is it possible for a creature to be . (Genesis 1,26)

ויהי אחר הדברים האלה. It was after these events. The events referred to are Abraham's various adventures, the tortuous route to becoming Isaac's father at an advanced age. In the meantime Isaac had grown up since we find Abraham described as "living in the land of the Philistines for many years," and Isaac was born during the first year of Abraham's stay there. The test assumed much greater impact in view of the repeated promises G'd had made to Abraham concerning Isaac and his future. To be told at this stage to offer Isaac as a sacrifice and not to hesitate or challenge G'd's command or even ask for an explanation, was a tremendous act of obedience. Isaac too deserves great credit for submitting. Another reason that the Torah wrote "after these events" is, that only now could G'd refer to Isaac as Abraham's only son. As long as Ishmael had not yet been expelled by Abraham the description "your only son" would not have been appropriate.

ויהי אחר הדברים האלה, after what happened to Avraham with Avimelech and as a result of his pact he had resided among the Philistines for many years, so that he had decided to migrate to Beer Sheva. At that point he received the instruction from G’d concerning his only son (by Sarah). It is very difficult to explain the matter of G’d’ “testing” someone, seeing that G’d knows in advance what the result of such a test is going to be. What then is the point of such a test? If the point was to demonstrate to the world at large that Avraham successfully passed such a test, how could this be accomplished in a setting where only Avraham and Yitzchok were present? He had even left the lads who had accompanied him behind so that there were no witnesses whatsoever to his carrying out a command which he had not even told Yitzchok about until the last possible moment! Even if Avraham had told someone what had transpired on the mountain, who would have believed him? The truth is that the purpose of the trial was to demonstrate to the world Avraham’s love for G’d. It was not meant to demonstrate anything to the generation during which Avraham lived, but to prove this to subsequent generations of people who believed in the Torah which was handed down to us by Moses at the command of G’d Himself. All that is written in the Torah [including such stories as that of Bileam and Balak, none of which had been witnessed by any Jew alive at that time, Ed.] is meant to teach the extent to which we are expected to demonstrate our love for G’d if and when the occasion arises. We know that Avraham loved Yitzchok more than he loved himself, seeing that he was already old and did not expect anymore out of life. If Yitzchok were to die at that time before he had married and raised a family, he would not have enjoyed any true satisfaction in his life on earth. This thought must have been very upsetting for his father Avraham. If he was nonetheless prepared to carry out G’d’s command without hesitation this was indeed a feat that all his descendants would marvel at. The fact that Avraham, who had prayed to G’d for sinners to be given a reprieve, did not even pray to G’d to spare the life of Yitzchok until he had at least married and started to raise a family, is meant to be an inspiration to all of us. Moreover, G’d Himself had provided Avraham with arguments which would have entitled him to at least defer sacrificing Yitzchok since he had told him that he, Avraham, would be known in history through Yitzchok. How could such a promise be fulfilled if Yitzchok were to die now? This story became the powerful message which Yitzchok transmitted to his son Yaakov, and which Yaakov transmitted to his sons. After the Torah was committed to writing the story became famous throughout the world, some people believing it, others not. Nowadays, after primitive paganism has ceased to exist in most of civilised society, most of mankind believes the story recorded in the Bible without hesitation. If large sections of mankind express some doubts about what is written in the Torah this concerns only whether everything written in the Torah as fact needs to be understood as historical, literal truth, or if many stories are to be understood as allegorical, but conveying the same ethical and moral messages. Similarly, these doubters believe that many of the practical commandments in the Torah were not meant to be fulfilled literally, but were examples demonstrating G’d’s attitude to certain problems confronting man. The very fact that the majority of mankind does believe that Avraham did what the Torah writes he did, is proof that Avraham had lived the kind of life which inspired man to believe that one can love G’d more than anything else in the universe.

And after these events: It is clear that this section has a relationship to the section before it. As otherwise, the expression, "after these events," is not fitting. Though the manner of the relationship is explained in Rashi's commentary according to the aggadah in Sanhedrin (89) - if it is so, they are distant in time from one another, according to the tradition that Yitzchak was thirty-seven at the time of the binding. And there are some that explain that it is a punishment for the covenant he made with Avimelekh. But this is also not proximate in time - for behold that the matter of the covenant was at that [same] time, of Yitzchak and the expulsion of Yishmael. In truth, there is an argument in the Midrash if, "after (achar)" is proximate, and "following (achrei)" is remote, or the opposite. However it appears that the explanation of, "after these events" [here], is after all the utterances and statements that there were between the Holy One, blessed be He, and Avraham. And He had raised him - little by little - higher and higher: From the beginning of His blessing him with the Land of Israel and with seed like the dust of the earth; and afterwards with the increase of children like the stars of the sky - meaning people of great worth - and afterwards, He blessed him at the time of the circumcision that the would be a father to many nations. That is that he would have the ability to have even the nations of the world - who would be called by the name, nations, and would not completely convert - recognize the God of the world. However there was still a particular that was missing, as will be explained. And the matter of the binding was after all of these things. For with this, the greatness of Avraham, our father, and his seed was completed, such that nothing more was needed. So from then on, the Holy One, blessed be He, did not speak with him; and there was no more content and addition to the goal that had been desired. And because of that. it is written, "and God tested (nissa) Avraham." As even though the text does not depart from its straightforward understanding, which is the matter of a test - according to its straightforward understanding alone, it is superfluous. As we surely see that it is a test. And this is even though we should not ask why God, who knows everything from the beginning, needs a test - as it is a question of [divine] knowledge and [human] choice, which is loftier than human knowledge. So we should [just] know that the ways of God are above our ways, as are His thoughts [above] our thoughts. However there is another meaning to this, as it is found in Rabbah (Bereishit Rabbah 55:1) on this: Nissa is from the usage, "You have given a banner (nes) to those who fear You, that it may be displayed (lehitnosess)" (Psalms 60:6) - meaning He raised him upon a banner. The Sages, may their memory be blessed, explained that with this test, He extended the power of Avraham, our father, and raised him to the purpose of the Israelite nation, as will be explained. And the Sages, may their memory be blessed, in Rabbah there, have already drawn a metaphor about the content of the test with three analogies: 1) To a good jug that a buyer knocks, as opposed to a bad one. 2) To good flax that he hits much; so that the more he hits it, the more it improves, as opposed to bad flax. 3) He adds much to the load of a good donkey, and examines it [to determine whether] it can carry more. And the matter of the three analogies is to teach us that a test comes for three aspects. On one occasion, it comes like the analogy of the good jug, about which the knocking is not in order to improve it, but rather to know how strong the jug is. And on [another] occasion, it comes like the analogy of the flax, about which the knocking does not come in order to know [its] strength, but rather to improve [it]. And on [a third] occasion, it comes like the analogy of a donkey, about which it does not come in order to know [it] or in order to improve [it]; rather when its owner has a large load, he is testing his donkey [whether] it can carry more, which will be good for him. And the owner will add to its nourishment afterwards according to the additional load that his donkey carries. Likewise on one occasion, a test comes to know the power of a person's righteousness, and that is considered an examination. On [another] occasion, a test comes in order to add to his righteousness. As even though this action rests in a person's potential, so long as the action has not come to him and he has not actualized the potential, this potential has nevertheless not become rooted within him. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, brings him to this test; and he [then] strengthens himself to actualize his potential and roots this potential inside himself. And on [a third] occasion, a test will come for the iniquity of the generation. So He will place them - a load of afflictions - upon the righteous one, and he will receive his full reward afterwards. From here, the midrash on this section teaches us that we should not think that this test came about only like the first analogy of the jug, as an examination. For if so, Avraham, our father, did not become elevated with this. It is not so. Rather the Holy One, blessed be He, raised the power of our father Avraham's holy being with this action. And that is the meaning of, "[God] nisa Avraham, from the usage, "You have given a banner (nes) to those who fear You, that it may be displayed (lehitnosess)." And with that which this potential was rooted into Avraham's being, this action remained rooted in the Israelite nation for [all] generations - as will be further explained on verse 17 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 22:17). And see Exodus 16:4 and Deuteronomy 8:2 and 9:7. Furthermore, it should be explained that which, "test," is not also written about Yitzchak - as behold, he was already thirty-seven years old! However it shall be explained below that the purpose of this act upon Yitzchak was on account of the settlement of Israel upon their land, [such that] their bread was fixed by way of the daily sacrifices. So it was particularly fit that it would be so through Yitzchak, since this principle came out to the world with his birth, as I wrote earlier [on] 21:3 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 21:3). So it was not for the purpose of a test; and it was then like the other tests through which Avraham was tested, and about which it was [also] not written that it was a test. However, that which the Holy One, blessed be He, hid the intent from Avraham, our father - that was only in order to be a test.

והאלוקים נסה, “and G’d tested.” Nachmanides describes the function of such “tests” as a device to ensure that the action undertaken by man under such conditions be perceived by him as absolutely free from external pressure, whereas from G’d’s perspective, of course, it is a commandment. (it is difficult to assume that G’d did not know beforehand how man would react to such a commandment.) G’d only wants to translate something He knew potentially into the domain of reality, a demonstration that what He knew man is capable of, man would actually carry out. Man cannot expect to be rewarded for potential acts of goodness, obedience, etc. In order to qualify for reward man must demonstrate that his goodness is more than just “potential.” Seeing that G’d’s objective is to reward man, there is no point in His subjecting the wicked to similar tests, as they will not only not garner the reward but incriminate themselves further by failing to carry out the command which constitutes the “test.” G’d subjects only the righteous to such tests, as He knows they will pass them with flying colours. Rash’bam explains the word נסה, as introducing a painful experience for the subject of such a test. An example of the use of the root נסה in such a context would be Exodus 17,7 where the Israelites had been tested in a painful manner in having gone without water before G’d provided same, miraculously. Other examples can be found in Job 4,2 or Psalms The reason Avraham was subjected to such a painful test was that although G’d had given him a son at the age of 100 years, he had seen fit to make a covenant with Avimelech covering hundreds of years in the future, when he did not even know yet if this son would not die before ever having sired any offspring himself. Avraham did not realize that G’d did not actually want him to slaughter Yitzchok, but only wanted him to “offer” him on the altar, as the words העלהו לעולה indicate. Some commentators understand the word נסה to mean “elevate to a higher stature” in a spiritual sense, such as Kings II The meaning would be parallel to נשאו with the letter ש instead of ס.

...And the content of this test, in my opinion, was in the coming of the prophecy to him in unclear wording; and that is that the Lord, may He be blessed, said to him, about Issac, "and bring him up him there for a burnt-sacrifice." And this statement can be logically understood to mean that he should slaughter him and offer him as a burnt-offering, and it can [also] be logically understood that he should bring him up there to offer a burnt-offering, in order that Issac be trained in the service of God, may He be blessed. And the Lord tested him, whether it would be difficult in his eyes to do anything that the Lord would command him about [Issac], to the point that it would become the cause for him to understand this statement other than what is understood from it upon immediate consideration - meaning to say that that which is understood from it is that he should offer up another burnt-offering, not that he should slaughter his son...

אחר הדברים. Wie oben Kap.15, 1 (siehe daselbst) leiten diese Worte einen Wendepunkt, eine Kehrseite zu dem Bisherigen ein. Abraham hatte Gott schon als א׳ עולם verkündet, Jizchak war ihm geboren, der älteste Sohn um seinetwillen entfernt, ביצחק in Jizchak sollte der Samen der Zukunft fortgetragen werden, und diese Zukunft ward bereits in der Gegenwart erkannt, es hatte bereits der Landesfürst nicht nur mit dem Knaben, hatte schon mit dessen fernen Nachkommen ein Bündnis geschlossen, so hatte die in Jizchak verheißene Zukunft bereits in die damalige Gegenwart Wurzel geschlagen — da kommt die Aufgabe, alles, was bisher geschehen, abzubrechen, den אשל, den Abraham gepflanzt, mit eigenen Händen wieder umzuhauen. הָאלקי׳, derselbe Gott, der bis dahin sich dem Abraham offenbart, und Abrahams ganzes Lebensziel in Jizchak hatte gipfeln lassen. — נִסָה, verwandt mit נשא ,נסח ,נסע, fortrücken, ganz fortschleudern, in die Höhe heben, alle drei somit: etwas auf einen weiteren oder höheren Standpunkt bringen. Ebenso נסה hinsichtlich physischer oder sittlicher Kräfte: versuchen, d. h. ja eben nichts anderes als: ihnen solche Auf- gaben zur Lösung geben, in deren Lösung sie sich bis jetzt noch nicht be- währt. Jeder Versuch ist daher ein Fortschritt, ist eine Kräftigung und Stärkung der bereits vorhandenen, aber in dieser weiteren oder höheren Aufgabe noch nicht erprobten Kräfte. Ein Seil, das bereits fünfzig Pfund getragen, wird versucht, sobald ihm das einundfünfzigste Pfund zu tragen gegeben wird, sittliche und geistige Kräfte werden aber also gestärkt und gehoben.

After these events: In which Avraham was made a minister and leader, and the kings made a pact with him.

ויהי אחר הדברים האלה, “it was after these events;” according to Rashi, the “events” refer to the banquet arranged on the occasion of Yitzchok’s being weaned; Satan accused Avraham of not having offered a single sacrifice to G-d on that occasion. G-d replied that he would have been willing to offer even his own son as such an offering if asked. and that year [when Avraham came back from the land of Plishtim and sat in Chevron] was 12 years before the Akeda of Yitzchok. A different interpretation of the words: הדברים האלה, “these words;” Yishmael had boasted to Yitzchok that he had voluntarily undergone circumcision at an age when it was most painful, to which Yitzchok had replied that he, Yishmael, had endured pain only on one organ, whereas he, Yitzchok, would be prepared to undergo such pain on his whole body, i.e. he would even give his life for G-d. The reason why Rashi chose the first interpretation is that the word אחר normally refers to an event that had immediately preceded the subject raised, whereas here the call for the binding of Yitzchok would then have occurred many years earlier. According to a statement by Rav Hunna in B’reshit Rabbah 44,6, the word for “after” that the Torah should have used should then have been “אחרי.”A third interpretation of the words: ויהי אחר הדברים האלה is that they refer to the treaty concluded between Avraham and Avimelech, when Avraham had voluntarily postponed the fulfillment of G-d’s promise to him without having first obtained G-d’s permission to do so. [It is a historical fact that sovereignty over the land of the Philistines was achieved by the Israelites only about 100 years prior to the destruction of the first Temple, (under King Yoshiyahu), over 800 years after Joshua conquered the rest of the Holy Land. This was part of the punishment for the Israelites not having carried out G-d’s command not to allow a single soul of the then residents to remain alive (if they did not emigrate). (Deuteronomy 20,16). [In other words, although Avraham was the first to cause of the fulfillment of G-d’s promise to be delayed, he was not the last Israelite to do so. Ed.] Another interpretation, one which places the emphasis on the words נסה את אברהם, “He tested Avraham.”Avraham was not tested in order for G-d to convince Himself of his willingness to offer up his beloved son, seeing that such matters are known to Him, Who is omniscient; he was tested by the attribute of Justice which had dared question the degree of loyalty he could summon when so tested. Passing this test successfully would convince the people around him of the absolute obedience to any command G-d would issue to him. There was no way the nations of the world could challenge his faith thereafter.

הנני HERE AM I — Such is the answer of the pious: it is an expression of meekness and readiness (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22).

Avraham; and he said, "Here I am": The Holy One, blessed be He, did not say at once, "Avraham, please take [etc.]." Rather He waited for him, until Avraham's mind became settled and he understood that the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to speak to him [about] a great thing; and he answered, "Here I am." And this was so that he would not be [too] confused to hear, and [then] answer something improper, God forbid. Hence the Holy One, blessed be He, waited until his mind became settled.

והאלוקים נסה את אברהם, G’d now subjected Avraham to a painful test, something which was bound to cause him grief. Whenever the root נסה occurs, such as in Job 4,2 or Exodus 17,7 or Psalms 26,2 the connotation is an unpleasant one for the one being subjected to it. In this instance, G’d, so to speak, indicated to Avraham that he had been foolish to think that he could guarantee’s Yitzchok’s and his descendants well being into the future, as he might have to terminate his life before he even had produced any offspring who would be called upon to honour his father’s deal with Avimelech. We find that the ark of the covenant spent seven months in Philistine captivity as a result of Avraham having made such an unauthorised pact with Avimelech (Samuel I 6,1). The seven months corresponded to the seven sheep Avraham had gratuitously given to Avimelech. G’d swore that as a result the Philistines would fight seven wars against the Israelites in which they would be victorious. These wars occurred during the time of Shimshon, Chofni, Pinchos, Sha-ul, and the three sons of Sha-ul who were killed. Another approach: as a result of Avraham’s high-handed act seven altars (public altars equivalent of temples) were destroyed by the enemies of the Jewish people after they entered the Holy Land Land, They were: Moses’ Tabernacle, Gilgal, Nov, Shiloh, Givon and the two Temples in Jesrusalem. (copied from Midrash Shemuel by the editor of Rash’bam) According to still another version G’d’s ark would repose in the land of the Philistines for 7 months.

ויאמר אליו אברהם, the vision took place at night, seeing that immediately afterwards the Torah reports Avraham as rising early in the morning.

והאלוקים נסה את אברהם. G'd tested Abraham. The Torah adds the conjunctive letter ו before the word אלוקים to remind us that this was not Abraham's only test, only the most recent and most difficult one.

Höchst bezeichnend steht hier auf אברהם eine טפחא und zeichnet die augenblickliche Bereitwilligkeit Abrahams: indem Gott ihn ruft, spricht er הנני.

God tested Avraham: He brought him to a test, such that the Accuser (Satan), the prosecutor and the litigator could not say about him, "Does Avraham fear for nothing; did He not protect him and protect everything he has; and even the kings make a pact with him" - in the way that he said [it] about Iyov (Job 1:9-10). So He requested something from him that was more beloved to him than his body and his money. And [it could not be challenged] because he did not prevent it and he did not [even] argue, saying, "Did You not say to me, 'For it is through Yitzchak that your seed will be called,' and now You say to slaughter him and to burn him; and would it not be enough if he would be slaughtered by others, such that I could grind my teeth at him, that You rather tell me to kill him with my hands?" And it is since he did not think any of this at all, but rather had confidence in the commandment of the Holy One.

ה' נסה, the words mean קונטריה, “G’d rebuked Avraham.”

ויאמר אליו אברהם. He said to him: "Abraham." This introductory call by G'd was to prepare Abraham that G'd would ask him to do something difficult. Abraham understood this; this is why he said "I am ready (for whatever You are going to tell me to do)."

קח נא TAKE NOW — The word נא is used as a request: God said to him, “I beg of you, stand firm for me in this trial, so that people may not say that the previous trials were no real tests” (Sanhedrin 89b).

TAKE NOW THY SON, THINE ONLY SON. Since Isaac was the son of the mistress and he alone was to be the one to carry his name, He called him Abraham’s only son. The description was for the purpose of magnifying the command, thus saying: “Take now thy only son, the beloved one, Isaac, and bring him up before Me as a burnt-offering.”

המוריה, same as האמוריה, “the land of the Emorite.” It happens frequently that the letter א is missing, just as in our verse. One such example is found in Exodus 10,21 וימש חשך, where the word וימש should really have been ויאמש חשך, “causing darkness.” Another example of the letter א being missing is found in Isaiah 13,20, where instead of לא יהל we would have expected לא יאהל, “he will pitch his tent.”

And lekh lekha (literally, go to you) to the land of Moriyah: It mentioned, "go to you" - meaning to your essence. For the origin of the physical is from there. As it was taken from the place about which it was stated, "An altar of earth you shall make for Me" (Exodus 20:21), as was explained in Parashat Lech Lecha (Kli Yakar on Genesis 12:1). And in the word, Moriyah, "Yah (God)," appears superfluous. For behold, it is stated, "I will go to the mountain of myrrh (Mount Mor)" (Song of Songs 4:6). Rather it is because the place of the foundation stone - from which were established two worlds, which were created with the name, Yah - is there. As the gate of heaven is there; and the union between the Holy One, blessed be He, and Israel is made complete there - like the cleaving of a man to his wife, between whom the name Yah mediates. And His companion (David) would say fifteen (the numerical value of Yah) [songs of] ascent, [which were parallel to the fifteen steps] which came up from the Women's Courtyard - like the number of the name, Yah. It was also a sign that the Temple would be built there after the fifteen generations from Avraham to Shlomo.

קח נא את בנך. "Please take your son, etc." G'd meant for Abraham to proceed immediately and not to ask for time before carrying out the command, such as happened with the daughter of Yiftach (Judges 11,37) who had asked to be given two months before becoming her father's sacrifice to G'd.

And you, go (lekh lekha): We have already explained at the beginning of Parashat Lekh [Lekha] (Haamek Davar on Genesis 12:1) that the expression, "lekh lekha" here, is that no person should know about this except for you. [This was] so that hindrances to this wonderous thing not increase. And so did Avraham, our father, do. For he did not inform anyone [about it] - even to his lads with whom he walked, [he said nothing] until he said to them, "we will prostrate ourselves and we will return" (Genesis 22:5).

ויאמר...את יחידך, even though he is your only one and you love him very much as he has been born to you by your beloved wife when both of you were already well into your old age, and although My request is a very difficult one, I am asking you to do this.

אל ארץ המוריה, “to the land around Moriah.” Nachmanides understands the term מוריה as describing the region on earth whence reverence for the Lord originates. Other commentators connect it to the incense and frankincense offered on that site. Onkelos translates the term asארעא פולחנא , i.e. a land in which G’d is being worshipped. The word מוריה, means fear and reverence, as at that site G’d is being revered and people are in awe of Him. This is also what Midrash Rabbah had in mind when focusing on the line (verse 9) ויבן שם אברהם את המזבח, “Avraham erected there the altar.” Avraham did not build a new altar, but used an altar on which religious people in former years had offered their sacrifices to the G’d in heaven. Regarding the plain meaning of the text, the words אל ארץ המוריה mean that this was a region where a variety of spices could be found, including first and foremost מור, myrrh. Whereas the Torah here refers to the whole region as ארץ המוריה, Ezra, in a parallel reference in Chronicles calls only the mountain הר המוריה. (Chronicles II 3,1) Avraham had been familiar with the region but not with the specific mountain G’d had in mind. This is why G’d instructed him to go to the general region, and once there, He would point out the specific mountain He had in mind. This mountain had already become a point on earth which G’d was especially fond of, and on which He had selected to make His terrestrial residence when the time was ripe. The merit Avraham would acquire by offering his beloved son there to G’d as a sacrifice would further endow this site so that prayers addressed to G’d from there in the Temple would be especially effective.

קח נא את בנך את יחידך אשר אהבת את יצחק, “please take your son, your only one, the one whom you love, etc.” The Torah describes G’d’s command as particularly long-winded in order to lend extra importance to the fulfillment of this commandment. Our sages in Tanchuma Vayera 22 phrase it thus: “When G’d said: ‘take your son,’ Avraham asked: ‘which son?’ When G’d continued: ‘the one whom you ‘love,’ Avraham countered: ‘I love them both.’ Finally, G’d said: ‘Yitzchak.’”

is an expression of a request... I.e., נא mentioned here means “request” although in many places it does not mean “request.” (Re’m)

נא, doch, ich weiß sehr wohl, was ich fordere, weiß, wie dein ganzes Innere sich dagegen sträuben muss; את בנך וגוי, es ist dein Sohn, den ich fordere, dein einziger, und ein solcher, an dem deine ganze Seele hängt, es ist Jizchak, an dessen Leben der Inhalt deines Lebens geknüpft ist. —

And bring him up as a burnt-offering: The Holy One muted His words. So Avraham thought that He commanded him to slaughter him and to completely incinerate him. Hence he brought wood, fire and a knife with him, whereas He only commanded to bring him up on top of the altar. And from when he brought him up, he had finished and fulfilled the commandment of the Holy One. [And there is someone who explains, nisa, is that He raised him and lifted him and made him known to the world, how important he is. It is like, "raise up (nesa) over us the light of Your countenance"; and like, "And He will raise a banner (nasa nes)." For a banner is a big thing. This is the (correct) version.]

אל ארץ המוריה, “to the land of Moriah;” the proper spelling should have been האמוריה; it is not unusual for the Torah to omit the consonant aleph, when it would have been silent anyways, one example being Exodus 10,21 וימש חושך instead of .ויאמש חושך [This missing letter א is not unusual, for instance it occurs in Isaiah 13.20] לא יהל ערבי instead of לא יאהל ערבי, “no Arab shall pitch his tent.”

את בנך THY SON — Abraham said to God, “I have two sons”. “He answered him, “Thine only son”. Abraham said, “This one is the only son of his mother and the other is the only son of his mother”. God then said, “the one whom thou lovest”. Abraham replied, “I love both of them”. Whereupon God said “even Isaac”. Why did He not disclose this to him at the very first? So as not to confuse him suddenly lest his mind become distracted and bewildered and in his confused state he would involuntarily consent, when there would have been no merit in his sacrifice, and so that he might more highly value God’s command and that God might reward him for the increasing sacrifice demanded by obedience to each and every expression used here (Genesis Rabbah 55:7).

And that which He said, upon one of the mountains which I will tell you: It was because the Holy One, blessed be He, had not revealed the place where the Temple was to be built to any creature, as will be explained below in Parashat Reeh (Kli Yakar on Deuteronomy 12:4). Except that Avraham knew this secret, and that is why he called the place, "the Lord will see," as I will explain its reason later, with God's help, on the verse of "the Lord will see." Another explanation: "Which I will tell you," because in the future, the word of God would come to the prophets from there, as it is written (Exodus, 25:22), "and I will speak with you from atop the ark cover." And there are those who say that, "which I will tell you," is referring to, "and bring him up for a burnt-offering." He did not say, "bring him up a burnt-offering," but rather, "for a burnt-offering." That is to say, in order to offer a different offering which I will tell you - who will be the offering? Either your son or some other thing.

Sacrifice him as a burnt-offering: See what I wrote later on verse 9 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 22:9) in explanation of the word, "there," as it appears to be superfluous.

ולך לך, this phraseology is quite common. We have encountered it in 12,1, in Jeremiah 5,5, in Exodus 18,27 as well as in Numbers 22,34 and again in Genesis 45,19. There are more such examples.

ולך לך, “and go for yourself, etc.” Avraham underwent ten trials of his faith. The first one commenced with the words לך לך, “go for yourself,” and the last one concluded with the introduction לך לך, “go for yourself.” Avraham scored perfect marks each time (Avot 5,3). The first trial was “leave your country;” the last one was the binding of Yitzchak.

So that He not confuse him suddenly, and become bewildered... I.e., so people will not say that Hashem confused him and that is why he did it, but otherwise he would have refrained. It seems that [Rashi added the second explanation, “To endear the mitzvah to him,”] because the first explanation is insufficient on its own, as then it should sayאת בנך יחידך אשר אהבת. The fact that את is repeated, implies a division [of the verse into separate parts]: each time, Hashem was answering another question of Avraham’s. And the second explanation is insufficient on its own, as then the verse should be reversed [and follow its logical order]: קח את יצחק את בנך את יחידך אשר אהבת. For also [in this order, the use of many expressions would] endear the mitzvah. (Nachalas Yaakov)

Tanchuma 22 on our verse describes Abraham as spending the whole night asking Sarah to permit him to take Isaac with him to teach him Torah.

MORIAH. Rashi comments: “This is Jerusalem, and we find it in the book of Chronicles: To build the house of the Eternal at Jerusalem on mount Moriah.³⁶⁶II Chronicles 3:1. Our Rabbis have explained that it is called Moriah (instruction) because from the Temple built there on that mountain, instruction came forth to Israel.³⁶⁷The Chamber of Hewn Stone (Lishchat hagazith), the seat of the Great Sanhedrin, which was the highest court in Israel, was located in the Court of the Temple. See Deuteronomy 17:8-11. Onkelos translated it as “the land of Worship.” This he derived on the basis of reference to the burning of incense, which contained mor³⁶⁸Hence the name Moriah: the mountain on which mor (myrrh), as part of the incense, was to be burnt. Thus according to Rashi’s understanding of Onkelos. Ramban will later differ with this interpretation in the meaning of Onkelos. (myrrh) and other spices, [as part of the Divine Service].”
Now if so, [i.e., if this be the explanation of the name Moriah], the meaning of the verse will then be, “Go into the land which will be called Moriah.” Or it may be that it was always called so on account of the future. In Bereshith Rabbah,³⁶⁹55:9. the Sages have said thus: “The Rabbis say, Go into the land of Moriah means into the land where incense will be offered on the altar of G-d, even as it is said, I will get me to the mountain ‘hamor’ (of myrrh).”³⁷⁰Song of Songs 4:6. But the opinion of Onkelos, who said “the land of worship,” does not appear to be based on the myrrh in the incense, as Rashi said, for the word “service” does not refer to one of the species used in one of the Divine Services. Besides, why did not Onkelos say, “to the land of the incense of spices?” Instead, Onkelos’ intent is to say, “in the land in which they will worhip G-d.”
Onkelos thus matched that which the Sages interpreted in Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, where they said,³⁷¹Chapter 31. “The Holy One, blessed be He, showed Abraham the altar with a finger. He said to him, ‘This is the altar on which the first man sacrificed. This is the altar on which Cain and Abel sacrificed. This is the altar on which Noah and his sons sacrificed.’ For it is said, And Abraham built ‘hamizbei’ach’ (the altar) there,³⁷²Verse 9 here. mizbei’ach (an altar) is not written here, rather, hamizbei’ach (the altar). This is the altar on which the predecessors have sacrificed.” Thus far [is the interpretation of Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer]. And the name Moriah the Rabbis derived from the word mora (fear), for there the people feared G-d and worshipped Him.
The correct interpretation, in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, is that the name Moriah is like the expression, To the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense,³⁷⁰Song of Songs 4:6. for on that mountain [Moriah] are found myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon,³⁷³Proverbs 7:17. even as the Rabbis have said:³⁷⁴Yerushalmi Peah 7:3. “Cinnamon grew in the Land of Israel, and goats and deers ate of it.” Or it may be that it was so called in praise of the Land of Israel.³⁷⁵But myrrh, aloes and cinnamon actually do not grow on mount Moriah itself. It was, however, called by that name, in order to give praise to the land where these things grow.
Now here Scripture calls the name of the land, the land of Moriah, and there [in the book of Chronicles, mentioned above],³⁶⁶II Chronicles 3:1. it appears that only the Temple mount was called mount Moriah. Perhaps, the city³⁷⁶“The City.” The Tur, quoting Ramban, has “the land.” was called by the name of that mountain which it contains, [and the name “land of Moriah” means] the land which contains the Moriah, but it was the mountain alone that was called Moriah. Now Abraham knew the land but did not know the mountain. Hence G-d told him to go to the land of Moriah, and He will there show him one of the mountains which is called by that name. He commanded him to offer up his son in that place for that is the mountain which G-d hath desired for His abode,³⁷⁷Psalms 68:17. and He wanted the merit of the Akeidah (the Binding of Isaac) to be in the sacrifices forever, as Abraham said, The Eternal seeth.³⁷⁸Verse 14 here. Moreover, for His righteousness’ sake,³⁷⁹Isaiah 42:21. He increased the scope of the trial and wanted Abraham to do it after walking three days. Had Abraham been commanded to do so suddenly at his place, his deed would have been performed in haste and confusion, but since it was done after walking for days it was thus performed with reflection of mind and counsel. And so did the Rabbis say in Bereshith Rabbah:³⁸⁰55:5. “Rabbi Akiba said, ‘G-d surely tried [Abraham with a clear-cut situation] so that people should not say that He confounded him and confused him and he did not know what to do.’”

הב ,אהב mit vorgesetztem, auf die tätige Persönlichkeit beziehendem א, also: sowohl sich dem andern hingeben, als den andern in die nächste Nähe zu sich zu bringen suchen, also: nach der innigsten Verbindung mit dem andern streben. Gegensatz von שנא, verwandt mit סנה, eigentlich: Dorn sein, den andern von sich abwehren, soweit als möglich fern von sich wünschen. Der בהaא ist das Dasein des andern notwendig, der שנאה die Entfernung desselben bis zur Vernichtung.

Which I will tell you: And afterwards, He explained to him where it was; as it explains (Genesis 22:3), "which God had told him." Hence, He told him where it was. And because of that, he recognized the place from afar (Genesis 22:4), since He already explained [it] to him.

והעלהו שם לעולה, “and offer him up there as burnt offering.” When Avraham is supposed to have asked G-d: “how can I offer a burnt offering in the absence of the priest whose duty it is to perform such rites? G-d answered that Avraham had been appointed as a priest by Him already. (B’reshit Rabbah 55,7) This is how the sages explained Psalms 110,4: נשבע ה' ולא ינחם אתה כהן לעולם על דברתי מלכי צדק, “The Lord has sworn and will not retract that you are a priest forever as per My word to Malki Tzedek.” (compare Genesis 14,20 where the latter was deprived of that priesthood as he had blessed mortal Avraham before blessing the immortal Lord)

ארץ המוריה THE LAND OF MORIAH — This is Jerusalem, and so we find in Chronicles (2 Chronicles 3:1) “To build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah”. Our Rabbis have explained that it is called Moriah — Instruction — because from it (i.e. from the Temple built on that mountain) instruction הוראה came forth to Israel (Genesis Rabbah 55:7). Onkelos translates it by “the land of the Divine Service”. He takes it as having reference to the offering of incense brought in the Temple on Moriah in which there were myrrh (מור) nard and other spices.

Which I will tell you: He [never] told [him] explicitly. Rather that which he saw and understood to be the mountain, by way of the sighting of a cloud and the glory of God, that was an utterance of God. And so will it be explained later, 24:51 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 24:51), and in many places.

אל ארץ המריה, Jerusalem and district are referred to as ארץ המריה, and this is why the mountain on which Yitzchok was bound is also known by that name. Compare Chronicles II 3,1 לבנות בית ה' בירושלים בהר המריה, “to build the House of G’d in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah.” Our sages, as quoted by Rashi, say that the name reflects the fact that G’d’s instructions to man are issued from that mountain. [the seat of the Jewish Supreme Court which decides when there is any doubt about the authenticity of Torah legislation. Ed.] Onkelos translates the term as לארעא פלחנא, “the land where the priests perform service.”

Our verse also contains a hint that seeing that Isaac had not previously been tested, Abraham should broach the matter to him in a manner that would secure Isaac's willingness. Abraham should convince Isaac that by agreeing to serve as an offering to G'd he would achieve great moral stature.

לך לך mit einer solchen isolierenden, Abraham nur in Verbindung mit Gott hinrufenden Aufgabe beginnt sein Leben, mit derselben, aber höchst potenzierten, gipfelt sein Ende.

והעלהו AND OFFER HIM (literally, bring him up) — He did not say, “Slay him”, because the Holy One, blessed be He, did not desire that he should slay him, but he told him to bring him up to the mountain to prepare him as a burnt offering. So when he had taken him up, God said to him, “Bring him down” (Genesis Rabbah 56:8).

על אחד ההרים, even now G’d did not tell Avraham precisely on which mountain he was to offer up Yitzchok as a burnt offering. Instead, G’d only said: אשר אמר אליך, just as at the time when Avraham had been told to leave Charan and move to the Land of Canaan in 12,1 he had been told only to move to a country which G’d would specify later on. At that time Avraham had correctly assumed that he was to set out in the direction of the Land of Canaan. The absence of this detail in both instances was to show us the readers that instead of questioning G’d on details, Avraham set out to undertake difficult tasks without looking for any excuse to delay carrying out G’d’s instructions. It would have been so easy to ask G’d why, if he was to offer Yitzchok as a sacrifice, he first had to travel a long distance to the site where this was to take place. After all, we are speaking about a man of 137 years of age. Actually, if we do not err, G’d had two good reasons why He told Avraham what to do in such an ambivalent fashion. Firstly, to give Avraham additional credit for complying with a command which was wrapped in a riddle, without questioning G’d about it. If G’d had asked him to do this at once near his home, Avraham would not have had time to recover from the initial shock after hearing G’d’s instructions. If, after having had time to digest the implications of what had been asked of him, Avraham proceeded without hesitating, this is even more to his credit. The second reason why G’d worded the instructions in the manner in which the Torah records them, is to teach us that the site where this binding eventually took place is such a holy site; moreover after Avraham named the site, we know that it is one where the attribute of Justice may be changed to the attribute of Mercy due to the manner in which man relates to G’d’s commands. Not only that, but man learned that sometimes the intention behind an action is worth more to G’d than the action itself, so that the binding of Yitzchok rated in G’d’s eyes as if his father had actually sacrificed him.

את בנך את יחידך, "your son, your only one, the one you love, Isaac." Here the Torah alludes to three levels of love that G'd demands of each Jew, i.e. to love G'd with all his heart, all his soul, and all his financial resources (Deut. 6,5). The word בנך alludes to the heart; nothing is closer to a man's heart than the love for his children. Concerning love with one's soul, the Torah mentions יחידך; when a person has no children he is alone and considered as dead. Love with one's soul is therefore love with the only thing one has left to love with. The words אשר אהבת refer to one's possessions; G'd meant that Abraham loved Isaac more than all his other possessions. G'd's test consisted of Abraham demonstrating that though he loved Isaac from all these perspectives he was yet willing to give him up to G'd in the form of a total offering.

המוריה. Wenn es wahr ist, wie die Weisen uns lehren, dass dieser Name die Örtlichkeit bezeichnet, von welcher die תורה ausgeht — (Lehre gibt ungenügend den Begriff תורה wieder, es ist von הרה, Lebenskeim empfangen, im Hiphil somit ein geistiges Zeugen) — von wo aus die Keime ausgestreut werden sollen, um die Menschen geistig wieder zu gebären; wenn ferner an dieser Stelle bereits die ersten Opfer, das verworfene und das entsprechend befundene Opfer Kains und Hebels, warnend und lehrend in die Welt hinleuchteten; wenn an diesem Orte Noa im Vorgefühl jenes ניחוח der einstigen gänzlichen Hingebung der Menschheit auf der wiedergeschenkten Erde sein Opfer gebracht: wenn alles dieses wahr ist, so war Abraham schon mit der Angabe des Ortes gesagt, dass diese Handlung nicht nur für ihn Bedeutung haben, sondern dass sie die fernste Zukunft mit dem lehrendsten Beispiel darüber erleuchten sollte, was die Erfüllung eines zu Gott gesprochenen "הנני" bedeute, was denn "Gottesgesetz", "Gottesdienst", "Tempel", "Opfer" in Wahrheit heiße, wie dies alles nicht "Zeremonie"; wie es den ernstesten Ernst in sich fasse, wie mit dem Worte: הנני! mit dem Worte "wir wollen Gott dienen!" man sich der eigenen Einsicht und des eigenen Willens völlig begebe und alle seine Kräfte der Einsicht und dem Willen Gottes ohne weiteres bereit stelle. Der Name מוריה durfte Abraham sagen, dass das von ihm Geforderte zur הוראה für sein Volk, für die Menschheit gehören solle, und — wenn sein gottdurchdrungener Sinn noch eines Beistandes bedurft hätte — dieses Bewusstsein dürfte ihm beistehen, zu vollbringen, was von ihm gefordert. —

אחד ההרים ONE OF THE MOUNTAINS — The Holy One, blessed be He, first makes the righteous expectant and only afterwards discloses fully to them his intention — and all this in order to augment their reward. Similarly we have (Genesis 12:1) “[Go to] the land which I will show thee”, and similarly in the case of Jonah 3:2 “Make unto it the proclamation which I shall bid thee” (Genesis Rabbah 55:7).

והעלהו שם לעולה. In dem Begriffe עלה wird im jüdischen Gedankenkreise ein Zwiefaches gefasst. Der menschlichen Betrachtungsweise stellt sich das Materielle, Irdische, als "unten", "niedrig" vor. Das, was sich vom Boden entfernen soll. das vom Materiellen sich Loslösende wird in allen Sprachen als "Erhebung" bezeichnet. Wenn die Materie Leben bekommt, so erhebt sie sich, steigt sie empor, und עָלֶה wird Blatt. עָלָה: das Leben spendende und nährende Muttertier, die gehemmte Entwicklung wird חעלה: Krankheit (die נוח von נוע) und die wieder gelöste Hemmung תעלה: Heilung. Davon עלה לדי: ein gänzliches Sublimieren, eine gänzliche Loslösung von allem materiell Gebundenen zu Gott hin, die gänzliche Erhebung, eigentlich: Hinangebung zu Gott und das ist: das Opfer, das עולה.

Absolut genommen ist aber עלה auch ein bloßes Hinwegheben aus den irdischen Existenzen, so אל תעלני בחצי ימי (Ps. 102, 25), ohne Hingebung an eine höhere Bestimmung, und wenn hier, wo die Bezeichnung dieser höheren Bestimmung gewiss nicht fehlen durfte, gleichwohl dieselbe fehlt, und es nicht heißt: והעלהו לי שם לעולה — was ja auch, wo das Opfern nicht eine symbolische, sondern eine konkrete Menschentötung hätte gewesen sein sollen, nur ein blasphemierender Unsinn wäre, da Menschen- Vernichtung das diametrale Gegenteil vom Opfer ist — sondern absolut והעלהו שם לעולה heißt, so wird damit eben ein Hinwegheben aus den irdischen Existenzen, eine zwecklose Tötung gefordert, zwecklos, insofern der Zweck nicht dabei offenbar ist.

וישכם AND HE ROSE EARLY — He was alert to fulfil the command (Pesachim 4a)

AND HE CLEAVED THE WOOD FOR THE BURNT-OFFERING. This illustrates Abraham’s zeal in performing a commandment for he thought that perhaps there would be no wood in that place, and so he carried it for three days. It may be that Abraham disqualified for use as an offering any wood in which a worm is found, as is the law of the Torah,³⁸¹Midoth 2:5. and so he took from his house sound wood for the burnt-offering. Hence it says, And he cleaved the wood for the burnt-offering.

וילך אל המקום, to the land of Moriah.

וישכם אברהם בבוקר. Abraham arose early in the morning. Abraham acted in line with what we know from Leviticus 7,38, that sacrifices may be brought only by day. Our sages also said (Zevachim 98) that one must not bring an offering at night. Abraham therefore set out at an hour that was suitable for bringing an offering. He did not know how far he had to travel and he wanted to have enough time left to offer the sacrifice once he would be at the right place. In view of G'd having addressed Abraham by day, perhaps he should not have waited until the following day; it is possible that he received the instructions in the late afternoon or that Isaac was not at home at the time. By reporting that Abraham rose early, the Torah explains that the day's delay was not due to any negligence on Abraham's part.

וישכם אברהם, he rose early to carry out G’d’s bidding without telling Sarah anything about it. He was afraid that she might do harm to herself out of her love for Yitzchok.

And [Avraham] awoke early in the morning: That is right after the breaking of the dawn. And see what I wrote on the book of Exodus 34:4 (Haamek Davar on Exodus 34:4).

ויבקע עצי עולה, “He split the kindling for use in the burnt offering.” He had made all these preparations in the event there would be no trees on that mountain. Alternately, he brought the wood from his house after he had examined that it was free from worms. We have a halachah, according to which worm eaten wood must not be used on the altar of the Temple.

ויבקע עצי עולה, “he split the wood for the burnt-offering.” Avraham did this already at this stage as he was concerned that when he would arrive at the site he might not find suitable kindling. This demonstrated that he was so eager to carry out G’d’s command that he carried the wood with him a distance of three days’ journey.
It is also possible that Avraham was aware of the halachic ruling that firewood for the altar which is worm-infested is unfit, and that this is the reason he took wood from his home which he had had a chance to examine for the presence of worms. According to Bereshit Rabbah (55,8) G’d paid Avraham his reward for having troubled himself to split the firewood when He split the sea of reeds for Avraham’s descendants to walk through on their march out of Egypt. This is alluded to in the text when the Torah describes the splitting of the waters in terms of splitting wood, i.e. ויבקעו המים, ”the waters were split” (Exodus 14,21). There is an opinion expressed in the same Midrash that such an interpretation does not do justice to the event, but that both G’d and Avraham respectively each did what they could to bring about a desired result.

Yishmael and EliezerRashi knows this] because otherwise, what does “his two assistants” mean? Did Avraham have only two assistants? Perforce, it means his special assistants Yishmael and Eliezer. See Bamidbar 22:22 where I answered why Rashi explained Bilaam’s [need for] two assistants differently, [saying: “An esteemed person who travels should take along two people to serve him, and for one to serve the other.”] But the Maharshal answered that Rashi explained that Bilaam’s assistants served one another because Bilaam was arrogant and needed service. But Avraham was humble and did not require service; he took care of himself. He took along two assistants only so he would not be alone when one of them needs to relieve himself. Thus Rashi explained here as he did.

— —"nahm seine beiden Leute mit sich und Jizchak seinen Sohn". Die Reihenfolge ist nicht bedeutungslos. Er sagte Jizchak so spät als möglich davon. Ferner ויקח את שני נעריו אתו, dieses ויקח ist noch nicht auf der Reise. Der Aufbruch zur Reise folgt erst: ויקם וילך. Vielmehr bevor er Jizchak weckte, nahm er seine Leute zu sich. Er wollte Jizchak den Kampf so lange als möglich ersparen und wollte es auch vermeiden, mit ihm allein zu sein. Jizchak war kein Kind mehr, er war ein siebenunddreißigjähriger selbständiger Mann. Seine Seelengröße tritt daher in dieser ganzen Handlung derjenigen Abrahams ebenbürtig zur Seite. Jizchak hatte den Auftrag nicht unmittelbar empfangen, kannte ihn nur aus dem Munde seines Vaters als תשב"פ. Wie bei Adam und Chawa, wo Chawa mit bestraft wurde für ein Verbot, das sie nur aus Adams Munde kannte, so opfert sich hier der erste jüdische Sohn für eine Tradition hin, die er nur aus des Vaters Munde erfahren hatte. Hier ward der Keim gelegt für die Hingebung der späteren Geschlechter an die Überlieferung der Väter. So auch die Weisen (Sanhedrin 89.b.): wie hat Jizchak einer solchen הוראת שעה Abrahams glauben mögen, ja glauben dürfen? היכא דמוחזק שאני, lautet die Antwort, nicht auf Grund eines besonderen Beglaubungswunders, sondern auf Grund des ihm bereits feststehenden Charakters des Vaters. Auch unsere Hingebung an die Überlieferung der Väter beruht auf ihrem Charakter. So wenig wie Abraham waren unsere Väter Hierarchen. Aus ihrem Munde ging keine Überlieferung, der sie nicht in erster Linie sich selbst zum Opfer gebracht — keine zarteren Stellen enthält der Midrasch als die, worin alle die Zweifel dem Sohne in den Mund gelegt werden, welche Abraham und Isaak auf ihrem schweren Gange wohl hätten schwankend machen können. In diesen drei Tagen ward wenig gesprochen, aber unendlich viel gefühlt und gedacht. Abraham scheint also dadurch, dass er zuerst seine Leute weckte und sie zu sich nahm, sich sebst gegen die Übermannung seines Gefühles verbarrikadiert und das Alleinsein mit Isaak gemieden zu haben.

Avraham awoke early in the morning: To saddle his donkey, as he was alacritous and driven to do the will of his Maker.

ויקח את שני נעריו, “he took his two attendants;” here Rashi does not interpret what he had explained in connection with a similar expression when Bileam took his two servants (Numbers 22,22). There he had explained that prominent people must always travel in the company of two attendants so that one of them has to follow a call of nature so the prominent person will not have been left alone.

ויחבוש AND HE SADDLED [HIS ASS]—He himself: he did not order one of his servants to do so, for love disregards the rule imposed on one by his exalted position in life. (“Love” here means Love of God as displayed in obedience to His command.) (Genesis Rabbah 55:8)

His two lads with him (ito): Here, it is written, "ito," whereas with Bilaam, it is written, "imo" (another way of saying, with him); and likewise in the book of I Samuel 28:8. The difference between ito and imo is explained (Haamek Davar on Numbers 5:4): That imo implies more equality and friendliness together than the expression, ito. And that is why this difference comes up - as Avraham did not become friendly with his lads then, like Bilaam and [did].

את שני נעריו, the ones who usually accompanied him on any journey.

Onkelos translates it וצלח [he split] as in וצלחו [they split]... It seems that Rashi is not proving from Onkelos [that ויבקע means “splitting”]. Rather, he is explaining that [also Onkelos’s translation of] צלח is “splitting,” as in (Shmuel II 19:18): “They split (וצלחו) the Jordan.”

את שני נעריו HIS TWO LADS — Ishmael and Eliezer. For a man of high standing should not travel without two men as attendants (Leviticus Rabbah 26:7) so that if one needs to ease himself and goes aside for this purpose the other will still remain with him (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 8)

And he split the wood of the burnt-offering: After he took them outside of the city, he then split the wood of the burnt-offering. And he did this so that Sarah would not notice. As it is certain that he told her that he was going and taking Yitzchak for [some] elevated purpose, but he did not reveal the matter. And it is already known that he told her that he was taking him to the study hall of Shem and Ever. And so he did at the end - as will be explained on verse 19 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 22:19). Consequently, he needed to hide the work of splitting the wood.

אל המקום אשר אמר לו, to the land known as Moriah, seeing that G’d had not yet revealed to him on which mountain he was to offer Yitzchok as a burnt offering.

ויבקע AND HE CLEAVED [THE WOOD] — Its rendering in the Targum וצלח has the same meaning as the verb in (2 Samuel 19:18) And they rushed into the Jordan”, which signifies cleaving the waters; old French fendre; English to split.

The wood of the burnt-offering: That which is fit for a burnt-offering. It is as we learned in Middot, Chapter 2 (Middot 2:5), "Any wood that has a worm in it is disqualified from being on the altar." And there are several other laws about this - and it is known that Avraham, our father, studied Torah. And see also what is proximate.

And he rose and went: Up until here, he went from his home slowly, without alacrity. As behold, he still had to choose the wood and to prepare. After this, it is written, "and he rose" - with alacrity.

To the place: If the intent is the Land of Moriah in general, it needs [to write], "to the Land." Rather the intent is the mountain. However this is ostensibly difficult, as he surely did not yet know [which] mountain. Rather the intent of the verse is that, from the Heavens, he chanced to go in the direction that one goes to approach that place. For behold, one who goes from one land to another land has several paths. But the one going [usually] knows which path is close to the specific place in that land to which he is going. However this was not the case with Avraham. He did not know the specific place [to which he was going]. And if so, he did not know upon which path to go; but he chose a path nevertheless. And his steps were guided from the Heavens to the place that [God] told him.

ביום השלישי ON THE THIRD DAY — Why did God delay and not show it to him at once? So that people should not say, “He confused and confounded him suddenly and bewildered his mind. If, however, he had had time for consideration, he would not have obeyed” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22).

AND HE SAW THE PLACE AFAR OFF. He saw a cloud attached to the mountain,³⁸²Bereshith Rabbah 56:2. and through this was fulfilled the Divine assurance, which I will tell thee of.³⁸³Verse 2 here.
It is possible, in line with the simple meaning of Scripture, that the verse, And he saw the place afar off, means that he saw the land of Moriah for he knew that entire land [although he did not know the specific mountain].

And he saw the place from afar: But not from close. As he saw the light of the Presence of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is called the Place of the world. [This was] a sight of the senses that was specifically from afar. It was like staring at the sun, since a person is able to stare at the sun from afar, but not from close. For the sense of vision does not have the ability to stare at the sun when it is close to a person. All the more so and all the more so, the splendor of the light of His Presence, may He be blessed. Likewise did Moshe say (Exodus 3:3), "Allow me to turn aside, and I shall see, etc." "Allow me to turn aside," meaning to say, to move away from the holy place, and not to be close to it. And all of this is in order to see [it]. And likewise did Yirmiyah say (Jeremiah 31:3), "From afar did the Lord appear" - it is implied, but not from close.

וישא אברהם את עיניו וירא את המקום, the place for offering the sacrifice on the mountain of Moriah.

ביום השלישי וישא אברהם, the letter ו is something additional, a phenomenon we encounter frequently, such as in Genesis 36,24 ואלה בני צבעון ואיה וענה. The Torah could also have written ביום השלישי נשא אברהם את עיניו, “on the third day Avraham raised his eyes.” (using the ordinary past tense, instead of the future tense with the vav hahipuch. It is possible to justify the use of the form with the letter ו by understanding this verse as a continuation of the previous verse and reading that one as if it had been written: וילך אל המקום ביום השלישי, “he went (arrived) to the place on the third day.” At that time he raised his eyes in the direction of the site in question, i.e. Jerusalem. In other words, once Avraham had entered the general area known as ארץ המוריה, he raised his eyes to look for the specific site G’d must have had in mind. At any rate, he did not yet know which mountain G’d had chosen for him to erect the altar on which to sacrifice Yitzchok. According to Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 31 and other Midrashim, the words וירא את המקום מרחוק refer to Avraham actually seeing the mountain in question. He identified it as he saw a column of fire on that mountain. He asked his son if he saw anything specific on any of the mountains, to which Yitzchok replied that he saw a column of fire on one of the mountains. When Avraham repeated the same question to Ishmael and Eliezer previously described as נעריו, his lads, they both answered in the negative. Upon hearing that both of these men did not notice anything out of the ordinary, he told them to remain near the donkey which could also not see anything unusual. שבו לכם עם החמור, with those who are like donkeys.

And Avraham raised his eyes: Why [there was a need for] this raising of the eyes is unclear. If it was in order to see the place, is it not that it was not a sensory sight but rather a spiritual sight? So when the will of the Omnipresent, may He be blessed, would arrive at showing him, he would see even without raising the eyes. Rather the explanation is that he lifted his eyes to the Omnipresent (Makom, the word used in this verse to mean, the place he wished to see). For the journey irritated him greatly, and he would have absolutely preferred to finish this deed, and not to endure the test [so] long. And it was also because he needed to conceal the matter from the lads, such that it would not also become difficult in their eyes - 'where is the lamb?' Hence he asked from God that he should see. And so is it in Rabbah (Bereishit Rabbah 56:1), that he was saved from this on the third day, like many righteous people that were saved from their distress on the third day.

וירא את המקום מרחוק, “he saw the place from a distance.” He observed that only this particular mountain was covered by a cloud. According to the plain meaning of the text, the verse means that Avraham could recognize the region already from a distance, as he had been familiar with it.

וירא את המקום מרחוק, “he saw the place from a distance.” According to Tanchuma Vayera 23, at that point Avraham asked Yitzchak: “Do you see what I see?” Yitzchak answered: “I see a beautiful mountain which has a cloud attached to it.” Thereupon Avraham said to the two lads: “Do you see anything unusual?” They said: “we do not see anything unusual at all, only deserts and a bare mountain.” Thereupon Avraham said to them: “you and the donkey stay here,” (seeing they had not noticed anything beyond what also the donkey must have seen). He added that he and Yitzchak would go somewhat further, i.e. ואני והנער נלכה עד כה. Avraham may have unwittingly chosen the expression כה (a Freudian slip) seeing that at the covenant between the pieces in Genesis 15,5 G’d had assured him כה יהיה זרעך, “so will be your descendants.” He must have wondered how this statement could be reconciled with what he was being asked to do at that time. Alternatively, he meant he would go to face the G’d who had assured him of numerous offspring at a time when he had not yet fathered even Ishmael.
It is remarkable that the Torah describes a man of 37 years of age such as Yitzchak as נער, “lad.” When you peruse Scripture you will see that this is not as remarkable as it appears at first glance. Joshua is described as a נער at a time when he was 56 years old (Exodus 33,11).

Nicht ויהי ביום השלישי וישא וגו׳ sondern: am dritten Tage, als da Abraham seine Augen aufhub, sah er den Ort. נשא עין ist immer ein absichtliches Auf- und Umschauen. Er hatte die ganze Zeit immer sich umgesehen, aber nichts geschaut, woraus er hätte erkennen können, dass dies der von Gott bestimmte Ort sei, hatte immer gezittert, ihn zu sehen, bis endlich am dritten Tage er ihn gewahrte.

וישא אברהם את עיניו, “Avraham raised his eyes;” The letter ו in the word וישא is superfluous. [I confess that I have not understood this. Ed.]

וירא את המקום AND HE SAW THE PLACE — He saw a cloud lowering over the mountain (Genesis Rabbah 56:1).

מרחוק, he was granted additional eyesight to espy this place from a greater distance than he would normally have been able to see.

עד כה YONDER — meaning a short distance: to the place in front of us. The Midrashic explanation (based upon the meaning of כה “thus”) is: I will see where will be (i.e. what will happen to) the promise which God made to me, (Genesis 15:5) “Thus (כה) shall thy seed be” (Genesis Rabbah 56:2).

Remain here with the donkey: A people akin to the donkey. For if it were not like this, it should have said, "Let the donkey remain with you." So why did he make them auxiliary to the donkey? Since the donkey acts naturally, but they sin willfully. Hence he made them auxiliary to the donkey.

שבו לכם פה, so that they should not be able to interfere with what he was about to do.

ויאמר...ונשתחוה, from these words the lads understood that Avraham would not only prostrate himself there in prayer but would offer an animal as part of such prayer. They reasoned this way, having observed that Avraham took kindling and a knife when going up the mountain. Normally, a reference to השתחויה includes slaughtering a sacrificial animal, as we know from Samuel I 1.3, describing Elkanah’s habits.

ונשתחוה ונשובה אליכם, “we will prostrate ourselves (before the |Lord) before returning to you.” According to Ibn Ezra Avraham said this in order not to reveal to Yitzchok as yet what he had in mind. Other commentators suggest that the line be understood as a question: “do you really think that all we will do there is say a prayer and immediately return to you?”

ונשובה אליכם “and we will return to you.” At that time Avraham intended to bring back Yitzchak’s bones (for burial) and this is why he said “we will come back.”

Remain here. Avraham was reluctant that they should see him perform the very act that he had railed against and declared irrational when performed by idolaters.

שבו לכם: bleibt für euch hier: das Folgende ist nicht für euch. Sie hätten es ja nicht gelitten, nicht begriffen. Hier, am Fuße des Moria ist die Scheidung zwischen זרע אברהם und בן נח. Nur eine Brust, in welcher die תורה das הנני geweckt, vermag wie Abraham engelgleich sich ganz dem göttlichen Willen mit völliger Ver- zichtung auf eigene Einsicht in denselben hinzugeben, vermag engelgleich בשתים יכסה פניו וגו׳ וגו׳ sich Auge und Fuß zu verhüllen, nicht zu sehen, wohin es führt, nicht zu sehen, wo man geht und nur freudig mutig die Kräfte zur Vollbringung des göttlichen Willens zu schwingen. Diese, selbst die Engel überflügelnde Stufe — גדולים צדיקים יותר ממלאכי השרת — die, was die Engel, von ihrer einheitlichen Natur getrieben, kampflos üben, mit Niederkämpfung alles sich sträubenden sinnlichen Wollens, frei- willig vollbringt, freiwillig sich die Flügel vor Auge und Füße deckt, freiwillig opfernd die Schwingen im Dienste Gottes hebt, die Stufe winkt nur denen, denen Vater Abraham auf diesem Wege vorangeleuchtet. Bis zum Moria können sie zusammengehen, בני נח sind ja auch Kinder Gottes, aber nur bis zum Fuße des Gottesberges, nicht zur Höhe hinan. —

שבו לכם פה, “you remain here, awaiting our return!” A Midrash quotes Avraham as saying to his son Yitzchok after he saw a single mountain covered by a cloud, what he saw. Yitzchok responded that he saw a beautiful mountain above which a cloud was resting. He then returned to the lads who had accompanied him and Yitzchok, and asked them what they had seen. They said that they had not seen anything unusual. Therefore Avraham understood that they were not to accompany him any further. He considered that their powers of perception were no better than those of a donkey which accompanied them. This is why the Talmud taught in tractate Yevamot, folio 62, that the genealogy of any slave is no better than that of a donkey, i.e. cannot be determined with any degree of certainty.

Remain here with the donkey: As he did not want to bring them, so that they would not prevent him from slaughtering his son.

!שבו לכם פה, “you stay here!;” Avraham was afraid that if he did not leave them behind they might attempt to stop him from slaughtering his son.

ונשובה AND WE WILL COME BACK — He prophesied that they would both return (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22).

Und wie wenig Prunk macht Abraham von dem, was er vor hat: wollen nur ein bischen dorthin gehen, uns beugen und wieder kommen!

עם החמור, “with the donkey;” he warned them not to let the donkey graze somewhere. [If he was afraid the servants might interfere with him, this was no reason to leave the donkey behind and carry the firewood themselves. Ed.]

Bedeutsam ist es aber, dass Abraham das, was er zu tun im Begriffe ist, השתחויה nennt; dass er ein Opfer bringen wollte, wussten seine Diener, dazu ja von Haus aus das Holz und das Feuer. Abraham nennt somit das Opfer השתחויה, und schon dieses einzige Wort in dem Munde Abrahams schlüge alles das als jämmerliche Nichtigkeit zusammen — wenn nicht schon ohnehin jedes Blatt des jüdischen Gotteswortes es der Nichtigkeit zeihen würde — was eine den Unkundigen berückende, das jüdische Heiligtum und den jüdischen Gottesgedanken in den Staub hinabziehende Erbärmlichkeit, vom "blutigen Opferkultus" und von der "Beschränktheit unserer Väter, die ihrem Gott eine Freude an dem dampfenden Blute eines verröchelnden Tieres zuschrieben, und ihn damit zu versöhnen trachteten", und von dem Fortschritt fabelt, der uns תוב"ב ,חרבן בית מקדשנו, gebracht, indem er uns für immer von solchen blutigen Opfern und noch blutigeren Vorstellungen frei gemacht — "נשתחוה" spricht Abraham seine Absicht zu opfern aus, nicht das Tier, sich opfert er, sein Leben, seine Kraft, sein Auge, seine Brust, seine Hand, seinen Fuß, sein ganzes lebendiges Wesen legt er im Tiere auf Gottes Altar, ישתחוה, sich wirft er ganz vor Gott hin im Opfer. Nur ein Bileam lässt einen Balak — התיצב על עולתך — iaufrecht stehen neben seinem Opfer"; denn sein Opfer ist keine" sittliche Vollbringung am Menschen, ist ein der Gottheit sie magisch zu bezwingen geschlachtetes Mahl. Der Jude ist סומך שתי ידיו על הקרבן, legt sich mit aller Kraft auf sein Opfer; denn er ist es, seine Persönlichkeit, die er im Opfer dem אש דת übergibt mit dem Entschlusse, fortan sein ganzes Wesen Nahrung des Göttlichen auf Erden sein zu lassen. —

המאכלת — means a knife. It is called מאכלת from אכל to eat, because it devours the meat, — just as you say, (Deuteronomy 32:42 “And my sword shall devour (תאכל) flesh”— or because it makes animal flesh fit for eating (מאכלת) (by killing the animal; because while the animal is living its flesh is unfit for eating). Another explanation: זאת נקראת This knife is called מאכלת (and the term is never used of an ordinary knife) because Israel still eats of the reward given for it (Genesis Rabbah 56:3).

המאכלת , the knife; it is derivative of the expression in Deut. 32,42 וחרבי תאכל בשר, “and My sword will consume flesh.”

ויקח, he did not take the donkey along so that the lads should not think that they were going to a distant location. Also, there would not be anyone guarding the donkey at the time when he would be occupied with binding and slaughtering Yitzchok. Furthermore, he did not want the donkey to enter such sacred precincts.

Because Israel eats of its reward. Rashi brought both explanations because according to the first one [“it consumes”] a question arises: Why not call it אוכלת? Thus Rashi explains, “it prepares.” But according to this [second] explanation, it should be called סכין, which is its simple meaning. Thus Rashi explains further: “Because Israel eats of its reward.” And the last explanation alone is insufficient, although it answers why it is called מאכלת and not אוכלת or סכין, because why does it say המאכלת, connoting something already known? Until this point a knife was not called a מאכלת! Scripture calls it so only now, because of this incident. Therefore, Rashi explains that “it consumes” and “it prepares,” and therefore it is a term that is used for every knife. (R. Meir Stern)

וילכו שניהם יחדיו, dieser Refrain kehrt zweimal wieder — Abraham und Isaak, Vater und Sohn, den als Opferer wie als Opfer gleich schweren Weg in einmütiger, unerschütterlicher Seelengröße hinanpilgernd, das ist das ewige Vorbild, das allen Vätern und Söhnen, jedem älteren und jüngeren Geschlechte vom Hause Abrahams den Weg weisen soll, den sie zusammen zu vollbringen haben.

וילכו שניהם יחדיו AND THEY WENT BOTH OF THEM TOGETHER — Abraham who was aware that he was going to slay his son walked along with the same willingness and joy as Isaac who had no idea of the matter.

And he said, "Father," etc.: But Yitzchak had not yet said anything to him, but rather just called him, "Father," and was quiet. This was because Yitzchak felt that it was his father's will to sacrifice him as a burnt-offering. So he thought, "If so, he does not have mercy upon me like the mercy of a father upon his children, and has become cruel towards me." As he did not yet know that it was the will of his Creator. Hence he called him, "Father," to test him; [to see] whether he would answer him, since it was still affixed in his heart that he was his son; or whether he had already removed him from his heart as if he were not his son. As through this, he wanted to know who would be slaughtered. And when he answered him, "Here I am, my son," and indicated to him that all of his longings towards him were still [there], he said to him, if so, "where is the lamb?" So he said to him, "God will see to the lamb for Him for the burnt-offering, my son"; it was not I who chose you, but God - and you and I both are obligated to honor Him. Then, "the two of them went together" - with one intent. This is excluding until now - they were [then] differing in their minds.

הנני בני, with a dagesh also in the second letter נ.

And he said, "Father": And he did not immediately ask, "Where is the lamb." As he sensed something wonderous, but he did not find the heart to ask until after reflecting upon the answer of his father - whether it would be with a pleasant countenance and love. Therefore when he answered him, "Here I am, my son" - which was a loving answer - he then asked to know.

ויאמר יצחק אל אברהם אביו ויאמר אבי, ויאמר הנני בני, “Yitzchak said to his father ‘my father!’ His father said: ‘I am here my son.’” This verse contains four statements and I do not know why. In Bereshit Rabbah 56,5 the words “Yitzchak said to Avraham” are understood to mean that Samael came to Avraham and challenged him: “what kind of father are you? Are you really going to slaughter a son who has been born to you when you were already one hundred years old?” Avraham answered “nevertheless.” Thereupon Samael addressed Yitzchak saying: “you son of a disappointed mother! He (your father) is going to slaughter you!” Yitzchak answered: “nevertheless.” This is why the Torah wrote twice: “Yitzchak said to his father.” Why do the words “my father” appear twice? In order that his father’s parental mercy be stirred; the exclamation was like that of a man who is in difficulties and, referring to himself, says: “woe to me, woe to me.”

Bis dahin hatten Vater und Sohn nicht zusammen gesprochen, darum hier auch zweimal ויאמר, und aus dem schweigsamen Ernst der drei Tage mochte Isaak wohl die Wirklichkeit ahnen. Darum auch vielleicht אל אברהם אביו, er ist ihm bis jetzt nur als "Abraham", nicht in der gewohnten Weise "seines Vaters" erschienen.

יראה לו השה — this means as much as: He will look out for and choose a lamb for Himself, and if there will be no lamb for a burnt offering, then, בני MY SON will be the offering. Although Isaac then understood that he was travelling on to be slain, yet.

ויאמר...אלוקים יראה לו השה לעולה בני, Avraham’s reply to his son is capable of two interpretations. One interpretation would be that the word בני is a response to Yitzchok’s cry or question, meaning “I am here my son; G’d will select the lamb for the burnt offering.” In other words: “don’t worry G’d already knows who is going to be the lamb for the offering. He will put it at our disposal.” The second interpretation of Avraham’s answer would arrange the words as follows: “G’d will select the lamb for the offering; who is the lamb? It is my son.” Yitzchok understood from this that he had been chosen to be the offering. This is why the Torah continues, significantly:

God will see to the lamb for Him (lo): This, "for Him," is superfluous. However no sacrifice can be given in the name of God (Elohim), but rather only in the name of the Lord, as it is found at the end of Menachot. And [the reason] that it is written with the name of God in this section is because the daily burnt-offerings were fixed through this deed, as I wrote on the proximate verse (Haamek Davar on Genesis 22:9). And this is the nature of sustenance in the Land of Israel from when nature was created, as I wrote above 15:7 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 15:7). For this reason the statement was with the name, God (which relates to nature) - as I have written several times. But the essence of the deed is for the name, Lord. And this is the understanding of, "God will see to the lamb for Him" - for the Lord.

Wir haben nichts anderes zu tun, als das Holz, das Feuer und das Messer zu bringen, wir haben uns nur bereit zu stellen zu jeglichem Opfer; was Er sich ersehen wird, was geschehen wird, wird nur geschehen, weil es Gottes Wille ist: wir wollen das Gott überlassen. Und damit hatte ihm Abraham alles gesagt, was er zu wissen hatte, was er zu wissen brauchte. "Wir haben den Altar zu bauen und Gott die Einsicht zu überlassen, sich das Opfer zu wählen, das nach Seiner Einsicht das rechte ist" — und sie gingen beide zusammen. —

God will see to the lamb for Him, my son: Meaning, my son [will be the lamb for the burnt-offering]. He said to him a matter with two meanings. For he said to him, the [other] one according to his understanding - [its] meaning was like one saying, "My son, the Holy One will see to the lamb for Him." But our Rabbis say (Bereishit Rabbah 56:4) that Yitzchak understood, and nevertheless, "the two of them went together" - with the same mind to fulfil the will of the Creator.

יראה לו השה לעולה, “He will select the lamb that should be the one to serve as the burnt offering.” Even though G-d had told him that his descendants would become known through his son Yitzchok (21,12), he was afraid that Ytzchok would be slaughtered. He had said to himself: “perhaps Yitzchok has already been intimate with a woman without my having been aware, and that woman had already given birth to a son or a daughter for him, so that G-d’s promise will be fulfilled even if he dies here.” After all Yitzchok was already 37 years old.

וילכו שניהם יחדיו THEY WENT BOTH OF THEM TOGETHER — with the same ready heart (Genesis Rabbah 56:4).

וילכו שניהם יחד, “they continued walking together,” i.e. of one mind and of one spirit.

ויעקד AND HE BOUND his hands and feet behind him. Hands and feet tied together is what is meant by עקידה “binding”. It is associated in meaning with עקודים in (Genesis 30:35) “[she-goats] that were streaked” — whose ankles were streaked white so that the place where they are bound could be plainly seen.

AND THEY CAME TO THE PLACE WHICH G-D TOLD HIM OF — now,³⁸⁴As explained above, Abraham recognized the land of Moriah from a distance as he was acquainted with that whole land, and when he came near the mountain, G-d told him, “This is the place which I had designated to you.” All this is in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, as Ramban mentioned above. “This is mount Moriah,” for He told him, “Behold, this is the mountain of which I told you.”

ויבאו אל המקום, this refers to Mount Moriah.

And he arranged the wood, and he bound, etc.: All of this story is coming to teach us that Avraham, our father, understood from the words of God that he should proceed with this according to the law of a set sacrifice on the Temple altar. For behold Avraham, our father, learned all of the entire Torah, as it is taught at the end of Kiddushin (62a). So he knew the difference between a communal sacrifice in the Temple and a sacrifice on a private altar. And all of the laws of a daily offering, and the commandment of arrangement of the wood, are only with the daily offering - the essence of which is upon the altar in the Temple. So Avraham, our father, understood [this] from God saying to him, "on one of the mountains, etc." (Genesis 22:2). [As] if it were for a private sacrifice, what is this place to me [more than] another place? Rather it is the mountain designated for the building of the Choice House. For that reason, he fulfilled the laws of the daily offerings with this [sacrifice of Yitzchak]. And see verse 18 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 22:18). And even though we do not place [them] up on the altar alive - that is because the skin of an animal is not sacrificed, which is not the case with human skin, as it is true flesh. For that reason it is better to place him up alive.

ויבאו אל המקום אשר אמר לו האלוקים, “they arrived at the place that G’d had spoken to him about.” This was Mount Moriah, which G’d had said He would point out to him.

Es ist nicht die gewöhnliche Weise, dass das Opfer auf dem Altar geschlachtet wird. Es scheint, Abraham wollte seinen Sohn so opfern, dass, nachdem das Große von ihm vollbracht, er nichts mehr zu tun haben sollte, wollte daher seinen Sohn auf dem Holzstoße opfern, damit dann die Flammen den Leib seines Kindes verzehren möchten. — עקד: das verstärkte אגד, zusammenbinden.

ויבן אברהם מזבח Avraham built an altar;” Yitzchok did not participate in that activity; the reason that he did not do so was not that he would not have been willing to do so, but his father had hidden him so that Satan would not be able to tempt him, as he had tried to tempt Avraham not to carry out G-d’s request by hurting him so that he would be unfit to serve as an offering.

From above (mimeaal) the wood: It needs [to write], "on the wood (meaal)," like in the book of Leviticus 1. However the understanding of on the wood would have been literally on [it], and not above that which is above, as I wrote earlier 1:7 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 1:7). But the meaning of, from above, is certainly above that which is above. For that reason, it is written, "from above (mimeaal)" - to teach us that he brought him up as a burnt-offering from above. Meaning that the soul of Yitzchak flew up and Michael (the angel) sacrificed it on the supernal altar, as Tosafot wrote at the end of Menachot (110a). And through this, the word of God was fulfilled literally, and nothing was lacking except for the slaughter of Yitzchak's body. And the ram came for this in his place, so his soul was returned to its place. It comes out that the matter is explicitly hinted to in Scripture for those who carefully observe the specifics of the language. And that which God said (Genesis 22:2), "sacrifice him there as a burnt-offering," is also exact: As what was Scripture missing [had it just stated], "sacrifice him as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains, etc.?" Rather it was hinting to him that this raising up would be there, at the place that was known to the Holy One, blessed be He. And that would be "on one of the mountains, etc." - since the altar above is precisely corresponding to the altar that is on the mountain.

אשר אמר לו האלוקים, when Avraham and Yitzchok had been walking together (after leaving the lads behind) G’d told Avraham the exact location, showing it to him in a prophetic vision. According to Bereshit Rabbah 56,2 He showed him either a column of fire over that mountain or a localised pillar of cloud, as we mentioned earlier. According to this aggadic interpretation the words אשר אמר לו refer to the moment when he became aware of this phenomenon and his awareness was the equivalent of what is described in our verses as an אמירה, a verbal communication.

את המזבח, the altar. The Torah did not write: “altar” without the prefix letter ה which meant that it was an altar that had previously served for such a purpose. According to our tradition, Adam, Hevel, Noach and his sons, had all offered offerings to G-d on that same altar.

ויערוך את העצים, he arranged them above the fire to kindle them.

A kabbalistic approach: The meaning of the Midrash we quoted is that the original “recipient” is the final product of the “structure.” In other words, there is a causal relationship between the words ויבן, “he built,” and the word מזבח, “altar.” [I believe a good way of phrasing this may be this. As soon as G’d had completed “building” the universe with the creation of man, the time had come for man to reciprocate in some form by offering gifts to the Creator by means of the altar. Ed.] Kabbalists view this altar as one on which both terrestrial beings and celestial beings offered sacrifices. I will have more to say on the subject in my commentary on Parshat Vayikra 1,9. [The altar is viewed as a place where benevolent celestial input to the terrestrial world evokes input by terrestrial man addressed to the celestial spheres. Ed.]

ויעקד את יצחק, he bound both his hands and his feet so he should not involuntarily kick when the knife would strike him. This was in spite of the fact that Yitzchok was perfectly willing to be the offering. He was afraid that at the last moment he would rebel; this was why he asked his father to tie him securely. (Bereshit Rabbah 56,8)

ויערך את העצים, “and he arranged the fire-wood.” The letter ה at the beginning of the word העצים is a reference to the wood which Avraham had taken with him from home with which we are already familiar. On the other hand, the letter ה may simply teach that not all kinds of wood are acceptable as the kindling for an offering on the altar.

ויעקד את יצחק בנו וישם אותו על המזבח, “he bound his son Yitzchak and placed him on top of the altar.” We are told in Tanchuma Vayera 23 that when Avraham was about to slaughter his son, that Yitzchak asked to be bound hand and foot in order that he should not invalidate the offering if he were to move at the moment his father would cut his throat.

ממעל לעצים, “above the wood.” Rabbi Chanina is reported to have said that Avraham built the altar facing the throne of G’d’s glory in the heavens. He derived this from the wording here i.e. ממעל לעצים, and Isaiah 6,2 שרפים עומדים ממעל לו.

וישלח...לשחוט את בנו, to first slaughter him before the fire would burn up the body. This is the usual procedure when meat offerings are brought on the altar.

ויקח את המאכלת, “he took the knife.” According to the Tanchuma quoted above, Yitzchak told his father: “when you tell my mother about what happened, do not tell her while she is standing on the roof or near a well so that she will not fall into the well or to the ground from shock.” When Avraham was about to slaughter Yitzchak, an angel called to him from the heaven calling out his name twice. The reason the angel had to repeat Avraham’s name was to stop him in time as Avraham was in such a hurry to complete his task and to slaughter Yitzchak. (compare Tanchuma Vayera 23). He said: “do not stretch out your hand, etc.” Avraham replied: “who are you?” The angel responded: “I am an angel of G’d.” Avraham retorted: “when I was instructed to offer Yitzchak as a sacrifice G’d told me personally. Now that He apparently wants me to desist, He would have to tell me personally.” Thereupon the Torah (verse 16) writes: “An angel called out to Avraham a second time from the heaven saying to Avraham: “I have sworn an oath by Myself says the Lord, etc.” When Avraham heard this he said “You have sworn;” “I have also sworn an oath that I will not descend from this altar until I have said to You what is on my mind. Did You not first say to me כה יהיה זרעך, ‘this is how numerous your descendants will be?’ Who did You have in mind would be the one from whom these descendants would come forth?” G’d answered “from Yitzchak.” Thereupon Avraham said This is the sort of thing I meant to answer you: ‘Yesterday You told me that my descendants will be known though Yitzchak and now You told me to offer him as a burnt-offering! I suppressed my impulse to ask You all these questions. Now, if and when my descendants will sin and they will experience difficulties, I want You to suppress Your feelings when You punish them remembering that I suppressed my inclination to ask You some embarrassing questions. I want You to consider as if Yitzchak’s ashes had already been piled up on this altar, as if his blood had been sprinkled on it and as a result You will forgive the transgressions of my offspring.”

ויקח את המאכלת, “he took hold of the knife.” This was the knife that would be used in cutting up the flesh of an offering after the animal‘s throat had been cut. A different view. The word is used metaphorically, (based on the meaning if אכל “eating,” as the root of the word) it is the instrument that since that time has been feeding Israel throughout history since that time as we all still benefit from Avraham’s having passed this “test.”

אברהם אברהם ABRAHAM, ABRAHAM — The repetition of his name is an expression of affection (Genesis Rabbah 56:7).

Avraham, Avraham: An expression of love. And that which He did not call him twice the first time, [as] an expression of love, is because his love was still not known to all those that come to the world - perhaps he would not pass the test. But after he passed the test, [the love that was] beyond [that of] others was then apparent with tremendous clarity and power in the eyes of everyone. Hence, he [then] called him "Avraham, Avraham," [as] an expression of love - since this test was for the benefit of the one tested, to make known his love.

ויקרא...מן השמים, he heard a voice without seeing a visual image.

Avraham, Avraham: Since Avraham was immersed in the enthusiasm of the deed [and, so,] almost devoid of his physical senses, it was hence necessary to stop him with an alarming voice before he would turn back to listen.

ויקרא אליו מלאך ה' מן השמים, “an angel of the Lord called out to him from the heaven, etc.” Why did the angel call from the celestial regions instead of first descending to earth and addressing Avraham, as had occurred on other occasions? The interference had become such an urgent matter that he was afraid that he would be too late, Avraham having already concluded the act of slaughtering Yitzchok.

Nicht so wie oben Vers 1, wo das הנני sofort und nach einmaligem Aufrufe erfolgte. Hier erst nach zweimaligem Zurufe; denn er war versunken in Erfüllung des göttlichen Wortes und hatte für anderes nicht Ohr. — Es dürfte bedeutsam sein, dass Gott diese Mitteilung durch einen Engel sandte, während sonst in Abrahams Leben Gott selbst mit Abraham spricht. Zum Innehalten genügt die Sendung eines Engels. Auch hierin liegt die ganze Tiefe des Kampfes, den Abraham zu bestehen hatte. Hätte ihm ein Engel die Aufforderung gebracht: opfere deinen Sohn, er hätte ihm nicht geglaubt, so sehr außer allem Zusammenhang und so in schreiendem Widerspruche mit allem, was er von Gott im allgemeinen wusste und was ihm Gott bisher in betreff Jizchaks im besonderen offenbart hatte, stand diese Aufforderung. Zum Nicht- opfern genügte die Sendung eines Engels; denn dazu, und zur Erklärung der ganzen Aufforderung als Prüfung, die mit dem zum Opfer bereiten Willen erfüllt worden, dazu bedurfte es keiner außerordentlichen Offenbarung, das fügte sich allem dem Abraham bekannten andern harmonisch ein.

And an angel of God called to him from the Heavens: And even though he was speaking in the [manner] of the Divine Presence - as he said, "and you have not withheld your son [...] from Me" (Genesis 22:12), it is since in every place when the messenger of the Omnipresent would speak, it is as if the Holy One would speak. And the end shows that it was an angel - as the second time, he said (Genesis 22:16), "'I have sworn by Myself,' declares the Lord."

אברהם, אברהם! “Avraham, Avraham!” The repetition of Avraham’s name is to indicate that the call was of an urgent nature. This is a formulation also known in other languages.

Another explanation It was because at the time that he was occupied with the commandment, with the binding of his son, he was so preoccupied with the commandment - to complete it according to its law - that he did not pay attention to the voice of the calling. Hence it was necessary to call him a second time. And that is the reason for the doubling of the name, Avraham, Avraham, which was not the case the first time, since he was not preoccupied with a commandment. And some say that Avraham understood about this calling, that they would impede him from the Heavens. That is why he made himself like someone in a stupor and like someone who does not hear - in order to complete the commandment - until they called a second time.

אברהם, אברהם, G’d repeated his name to ensure that Avraham would listen immediately.

Wir heben dies aber noch ganz besonders hervor, weil ein, das "Wissenschaft des Judentums" nennender, Wahnwitz auch an diese, den Glanz- und Höhepunkt nicht nur der jüdischen, sondern überhaupt der sittlichen Menschengröße bildende Begebenheit, seine Wahrheit in Lüge verkehrende Hand gewagt, auch sie in ihr Gegenteil zu verwandeln und zu sprechen: Nicht, dass Abraham auf Gottes Geheiß seinen Sohn zu opfern bereit gewesen, sondern dass er dem Zuruf des Engels gehorcht, ihn nicht zu opfern, darin besteht seine Größe, dass ihm noch zur rechten Zeit das Bewusstsein gekommen, Menschenopfer sei Gott nicht wohlgefällig! Eben damit sei Abraham der große Reformator seiner Zeit geworden und habe zuerst Menschenopfer abgeschafft und ihnen Tieropfer substituiert — wo dann natürlich wir den Abrahamsgeist noch überflügeln, eine noch höhere Größe dadurch bewähren, dass wir gar nicht mehr opfern!! Nur Wahnwitz kann dies aus unserer Geschichte heraus argumentieren. "Wo ist das Lamm zum Opfer?" fragt Isaak schon auf dem Wege, und war daher wohl schon gewöhnt, in seinem Vater keinen Kannibalen zu sehen, der seinem Bitzliputzli einen Menschen schlachtet, und unendlich klar und nicht wegzudeuten stehen ja die Worte: עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה ולא חשכת את בנך את יחידך ממני. Also nur darin erkennt Gott die Größe Abrahams, dass er ihm selbst seinen einzigen Sohn zu opfern bereit gewesen, nicht aber darin, dass er dies noch zur rechten Zeit unterlassen! Und eben darauf, auf die "Akedah Jizchaks", blickt die ganze jüdische Judenheit bis heute, als auf das Höheziel mustergültiger Gottesfurcht begeistert hin. Freilich ist jener Wahnwitz denn auch dieselbe "Wissenschaft des Judentums", die eine Gottesfurcht, welche die höchste sittliche Freiheit und Menschenvernünftigkeit durch freie ganze Unterordnung ihrer Einsicht und ihres Wollens unter die Einsicht und den Willen der höchsten Vernunft und höchsten Güte betätigt, — Hundegehorsam zu nennen weiß. —

אל תשלח LAY NOT THINE HAND [UPON THE LAD] to slay him. Then he (Abraham) said to God, “If this be so, I have come here for nothing; let me at least inflict a wound on him and draw some blood from him”. God replied, “Neither do thou anything (מאומה) to him” — inflict no blemish (מום) on him (Genesis Rabbah 56:7).

FOR NOW I KNOW THAT THOU ART A G-D FEARING MAN. At the beginning Abraham’s fear of G-d was latent; it had not become actualized through such a great deed. But now it was known in actuality, and his merit was perfect, and his reward would be complete from the Eternal, the G-d of Israel.³⁸⁵See Ruth 2:12.
The doctrine of this chapter which teaches that G-d is the One who tries Abraham and commands him about the binding of Isaac, and it is the angel of G-d who restrains and promises him, will be explained in the verse, The angel who hath redeemed me.³⁸⁶Further, 48:16.

כי עתה ידעתי, I now can demonstrate My knowledge about you to the whole world,

Now (ata) I know that you fear God: Not every usage of ata is to negate time before it. As behold we find, "And ata, O Israel, what does the Lord [...] ask of you but to fear [Him]" (Deuteronomy 10:12). And is it that before this, He did not ask fear of us? Rather it is as if He said, "And behold, O Israel." Likewise, "ata I know," is as if He said, "and behold, I know."

Now I know. These were the words of the angel — “Now I know why God elevated you above us.”

ויאמר...ואל תעש לו מאומה, again G’d repeated what He had said in different words, in order to lend additional emphasis to His warning not to touch Yitzchok.

Nor do anything to him: It is like the explanation of Rashi, that he should not even make an impression of blood like the matter of the blood of circumcision: For even if [a child] is not relevant to this commandment - such as if he is born circumcised - it is nevertheless a commandment to draw a drop of covenantal blood. But here He warned him also against this.

אל תשלח ידך אל הנער, “do not touch the lad!” According to the Midrash, the angel saw that Avraham had suddenly realized that he no longer had a knife in his hand. (this is why the angel told him not to harm Yitzchok with his hand, instead of with his knife). Avraham therefore decided to strangle Yitzchok with his bare hands in order to carry out G’d’s command. This is when the angel had to tell him not to harm Yitzchok in any manner.

Now I know. Hashem knew that even when Avraham spared his son’s life he did so only because he was commanded to do so. This was the proof that he was truly God-fearing.

I will make a cut in him and draw a little blood... Question: Why does drawing blood make a מום (blemish)? The answer is: Avraham said, “I will draw blood and offer it up. Hashem said: “Do not draw blood.” Avraham thought that just drawing blood was insufficient and said, “If so, I will offer up one of his limbs.” Hashem said: “Do not cause him any מום.” (Maharshal)

Do not stretch out your hand against the lad: For you have already done the commandment. As He only commanded you to bring him up, and you brought him up over the wood.

עתה ידעתי, “now I know for a fact, etc;” did G-d not already know? Actually the meaning is: “now I am able to make My knowledge public to all.” We have a similar formulation in Exodus 32,12, where G-d said to Moses: ידעתיך בשם, “I have made your name well known.” The appropriate translation would be: “I have made you so famous that no one can dispute it.”

כי עתה ידעתי FOR NOW I KNOW—R. Aba said: Abraham said to God, “I will lay my complaint before you. Yesterday (on an earlier occasion) you told me, (Genesis 21:12) “In Isaac shall seed be called to thee”, and then again you said, (Genesis 21:2) “Take now thy son”. Now you tell me, “Lay not thy hand upon the lad”! The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, in the words of Psalms 89:35, “My covenant will I not profane, nor alter that which is gone out of My lips”. When I told you, “Take thy son”, I was not altering that which went out from My lips, namely, My promise that you would have descendants through Isaac. I did not tell you “Slay him” but bring him up to the mountain. You have brought him up — take him down again” (Genesis Rabbah 56:8).

And some say, "I know," is like, "I made it known" - since the purpose of this test was in order to raise the banner flag to show the nations the beauty of his deeds. So the statement, "And God nisa Avraham" (Genesis 22:1), was an expression of raising a banner (nes) visible to everyone. For 'good is open reproof,' when it comes 'from concealed love': When there is great love but it is concealed, the Holy One, blessed be He, sends open reproof upon one. And from his accepting it with love, his love is revealed and seen in the eyes of everyone. And behold regarding God's knowledge of everything before it happens and man's choice [nevertheless] being preserved - many have been confused by this investigation. And most scholars went out 'to gather and did not find' a sufficient path to answer this question - since [these principles] seem to contradict one another; and it is a teaching that is 'deep, who can find it?' And about it, the Rambam explained [that] our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Avot 3:15), "Everything is foreseen, and freewill is given" - that even though everything is foreseen in front of Him, may He be blessed, free will is nevertheless given to man, so he remains with his free choice.

From Me (or, “than I am”). These are also the words of the angel. The verse should be inverted and read: “You are more God-fearing than I am because you did not withhold your son”.

That you fear God: This statement is wonderous! And was it not already known, even to everyone, that Avraham feared God in the most expansive way possible? And just the opposite - there was no great proof from this deed alone that Avraham always feared God, since it was in His hands to kill [him] even without Avraham's sacrifice! As behold, if a king of flesh and blood decrees upon a man to slaughter his son, it is impossible to resist it. For he knows that it is in the hands of the king to kill both of them, the father and the son. Rather the matter of the test is in two things: The first is that if a king commanded a simple person that has no acquaintance or business with the king to slaughter his son, it is obvious that he has nothing to do besides to go and fulfill the word of the king. But if [the king] says to his friend who is frequently with him to do this wonderous thing, it is obvious that he would not restrain himself from asking the king why and how; and maybe he would change his mind. So too was it possible with Avraham. As he was the friend of the Holy One, blessed be He, and he found the courage to request much concerning Sodom. But behold, when a decree like this about his son, who was like his own soul, came before him, he did not say a thing and went and did [it] without any question or hesitation. And this is as if he were not a particular friend, but rather with the fear of God like any person. So he did not say anything about that which related to himself. And this is a wonderous novelty, and see what I wrote on the book of Deuteronomy 4:10 (Haamek Davar on Deuteronomy 4:10).

כי עתה ידעתי, if we were to explain this word as derived from the root ידע in the kal conjugation and we follow the path we outlined in verse 1 that G’d wanted Avraham to translate his potential into an actual, in verse 1 of this chapter, the problem is that we never find the root ידע in a transitive mode; therefore I suggest that the meaning of ידעתי is similar to Exodus 33,12 ידעתיך בשם, or Exodus 33,17 ואדעך בשם. [This means כי שב החלק, “individual attributes form an integrated part of the larger pattern of one’s personality.” This is my understanding of the somewhat obscure phrase כי שב החלק, seeing that we do not have the author’s commentary on the verses in which he quotes himself as having interpreted the root ידע in such a fashion. Ed.] This allusion is sufficient for the initiated. (author’s words).

כי ירא אלוקים אתה, that you are G’d fearing. [in the most selfless manner. Ed.]

כי עתה ידעתי, “for now I know, etc.” Nachmanides writes that the meaning is that up until that moment the degree of reverence for G’d that Avraham was capable of existed only as a potential; now it had been translated into reality.

For now I know: It is [God's] way to speak like the speech of people. For He knows the hearts of people from the beginning. [So this is] meaning to say, I made Myself to be as if I did not know and now I know. [This was] to make it known to all, so no prosecutor will be able to prosecute you any more.

כי עתה ידעתי FOR NOW I KNOW — From now I have a reply to give to Satan and to the nations who wonder at the love I bear you: I have an opening of the mouth (i.e. I have an excuse, a reason to give them) now that they see that you are a God-fearing man (Genesis Rabbah 56:7).

And you have not withheld, etc. from Me: And this is the second novelty:

כי ירא אלוקים אתה. The word יראה, “fear,” mentioned here is none other than a form of אהבה, love, seeing that the fear was not something physical, concern for his body, but concern that he soul should not suffer irretrievable damage. Avraham was prepared to sacrifice his son to demonstrate that his love for abstract, invisible G’d was greater than his love for his physical, mortal son. He wanted to ensure that neither of them would forfeit their lives in the world to come.

And it is the reason for, "nor do anything to him." For if the Holy One, blessed be He, had commanded him to slaughter and kill his son, he would have been obligated to do it whether he wanted to or not. But with God's command to bring him up as a burnt-offering - given that a burnt-offering is only willing, as it is written, "according to your will" - if so, if it had been from compulsion, Yitzchak would not have been sanctified as a burnt-offering. So he would have been permitted afterwards to inflict a blemish upon him. But since Avraham did it with love, with complete will to the point that Yitzchak was sanctified as a burnt-offering; if so, he did not withhold him from Him. And because of that, He warned him not to inflict a blemish upon him.

והנה איל BEHOLD, A RAM — It was predestined for that purpose from the six days of Creation (Avot 5:5; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 23).

וירא והנה איל, passing by in front of him

And behold, a ram after (achar) it had been caught in the thicket by its horns: The meaning of the word achar is as if there were two rams here, and it wanted to distinguish between them; so it said that this ram was other (acher) then the first one. For even though, according to this, it should have been vocalized with a tzeri under the [letter], chet, it should nevertheless be understood as it if was vocalized with a tzeri. As the chet being vocalized by a patach does not fit so well, since the word, after (achar), is written between, "ram," and, "thicket." And some say that this ram was not from those rams that were created on the six days of creation, but it was rather another ram. For the ram of Yitzchak was created on the eve of Shabbat at twilight.

והנה איל אחר נאחז בסבך, this incident indicated to him that G’d must have arranged for this ram to be at his disposal, and that there could be no question of his committing robbery if he took this ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering. The fact that there had been no such ram when he prepared the altar and bound Yitzchok and suddenly this ram materialised, was ample evidence of its purpose.

וישא, he raised his eyes in order to see if there was some pure animal suitable for a sacrifice which he could offer in lieu of his son.

And behold, a ram after it had been caught: The word, after, has no meaning [here]. And Rashi explained, [it means] after the words [of the angel]. And likewise did Onkelos translate [it]. But if so, "after," should have been written before, "and behold, a ram." Rather it is referring to, "had been caught," such that it was not caught in the thicket at first, but rather Avraham saw in front of his eyes that it got caught in the thicket. And the reason according to the straightforward meaning is that he would have had to have been concerned lest one of the passers-by stuck him there until he would return. But this would not be the case when he sees a ram walking wildly - it would be obvious that it is ownerless. But if so, it would be difficult to take it. Hence it was caught in the thicket in front of his eyes and he went and got it.

והנה איל אחד, “and lo there was a ram, etc.” According to Ibn Ezra, Avraham had not seen the ram until it had become enmeshed in the thicket with its horns. Other commentators hold that Avraham had observed the same ram previously when it was unencumbered and grazing, whereas now he saw it suddenly caught in the thicket by its horns. He assumed that this was in order for him to be able to secure it easily as a substitute for Yitzchok.

וירא והנה איל, “and he saw, and here there was a ram, etc.” This ram was one of the ten things which were created on the original sixth day of creation at dusk (according to Avot 5,6). This is why this animal was called איל instead of כבש. Normally, when the Torah refers to these types of animals in connection with their being used as sacrificial animals they are always referred to as כבש or כבשים בני שנה “one year old sheep.” The word כבש suggests that this animal (when offered as a sacrifice) is כובש, “suppresses” the sins of the Jewish people. When this animal grows to maturity it is known as איל, when it is only a day old it is referred to as כבש, as we know from Leviticus 22,27 שור או כשב או עז כי יולד, “when an ox, a sheep or a goat is born, etc.” Another reason why this ram which was sacrificed as a burnt-offering was called איל is the similarity of this word with the word אילת השחר, a complimentary name applied to the כנסת ישראל, “the spiritual concept represented by the Jewish people” (compare Psalms 22,1). Allegorically speaking, this ram represents Israel which receives its spiritual input via שחר which protects it generation after generation due to the merit accumulated by Avraham as a result of his having bound his son. [The word describes something which precedes the light of the morning. G’d preceded everything in this world. Israel receives its spiritual and material input from such pre-historic sources. Ed.]

It was prepared for this purpose from the Six Days of Creation. [Rashi knows this] because it should have said וירא איל אחר נאחז. Why does it say והנה? Perforce, to teach that “it was prepared for this purpose...”

וישא. Er sah sich danach um. Es war ihm Bedürfnis, die Hinopferung dieses עקוד und הֵעָקֵד, dieses freie Hinopfern des ganzen Wesens mit Hand und Fuß auf dem Altar, das er faktisch zu üben bereit gewesen, nun durch ein symbolisches Opfer zum Inhalt des ganzen künftigen Lebens seines Sohnes und der Nachkommen desselben zu machen. —

והנה איל אחר, נאחז בסבך בקרניו, “and behold, behind him a ram had been caught with its horns in the thicket;” according to B’reshit rabbah, 56,9, the strange word “behind” in this verse is interpreted as G–d having said to Avraham, that He could foresee that his descendants would likewise be caught up in various kinds of sins at different times, and that by using the ram’s horn on designated days of the year and blowing its horn, they would be able to secure for themselves atonement as their founding father Avraham had willingly offered his beloved son as an offering to Him. Ram’s horns which are open ended at both ends are to remind the Jewish people that though they will seemingly enter a dark tunnel when sinning, there is light at the end of the tunnel if they do penitence; blowing the ram’s horns when asking G–d for forgiveness is one of the means of obtaining forgiveness. The ram’s horn may therefore be viewed as an advocate on our behalf.

And he saw; and behold, a ram: And he nevertheless would not have taken it, as he was afraid lest another person lost it; and he would not extend his hand [to take the property] of others. But "after it was caught in the thicket by its horns," he knew that it was a sign to him that he should take it and that it was stuck there for his sake. So he went and took it.

אחר נאחז בסבך, “subsequently he saw a ram that had become entangled in the thicket.” We find a similar construction (using the preposition אחר) in Psalms 68,26: קדמו שרים אחר נוגנים, “the singers preceded the musicians,” or in Kohelet 12,2: ושבו העבים אחר הגשם, “and the clouds return after the rain.”According to Rashi, Avraham saw the ram as it became entangled. This is why he understood that it was not there accidentally, but that G-d had given him a hint to use it as a substitute for the offering he had been prevented by the angel to complete. If that ram had been standing there as did others, he would have thought it was privately owned by someone else and would not have touched it. A different interpretation: “he noticed it after it had become entangled by its horns.” (Ibn Ezra).

אחר AFTER the angel had said to him “Lay not thy hand upon the lad” he saw it being caught in the thicket. And that is what we mean when we translate it in the Targum by “And Abraham lifted up his eyes after these (i.e. after these words)”. Other versions of Rashi have: according to the Midrashic explanation, after means after all the words of the angel and the Shechinah, and after all the arguments of Abraham.

אחר נאחז בסבך בקרניו, getting enmeshed in the thicket with its horns after Avraham had seen it. He reasoned that surely this must be a message from the angel who had caused this ram to become entangled at the command of G’d so that he, Avraham, could offer it in place of his son Yitzchok. This is also the meaning of Psalms 68,26 קדמו שרים אחר נוגנים, “first come the singers, afterwards the musicians.” A similar meaning of the word אחר is found in Ecclesiastes 12,2 ושבו העבים אחר הגשם, “the clouds return after the rain.” Another example of the word אחר having the same meaning as here is found in Exodus 5,1 ואחר באו משה ואהרן, “after (what had occurred before) Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh.”

And what appears likely to me about this is that anyone who is a sinner and very rebellious is compared to a person with horns. He gores upwards with sins between man and God, may He be blessed. It is as Rashi explained on Parashat Lech Lecha (Rashi on Genesis 14:2), "Shemever: He placed a limb (Sam ever) to jump and to fly against the Above." And likewise is it stated with the nations (Daniel 8:20), "The two-horned ram that you saw, etc." So the analogy is raised by the two-horned ram here [as well]: As there is one that gores upwards - that is one that sins to the Heavens. But the majority of animals' horns point to the right and the left. For this is how a person who sins injures his fellow - either in the 'length of days which is to his right,' or in 'wealth and honor which is to his left.' Hence Adam who was alone in the world and sinned only to the Heavens - that is why an ox that had only one horn on his forehead chanced upon him as an atonement. Meaning, from the aspect of its being on his forehead, it pointed upwards. Such that [in this way,] he fixes that which he sinned. And it is from this that our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, learned to say that it had one horn and that it was specifically on his forehead (Chullin 6oa). But for [all] the generations, all sinners bring an ox, a lamb or a goat, with two horns - to the right and to the left - to atone for that which he sinned to his fellow. For even one who sins with things that are between a man and God, may He be blessed, nevertheless also injures the creatures - whether it is from the angle that all of Israel are guarantors for each other and many bear the punishment of his sin, as is known; or whether it is from the angle that he causes others to learn from his deeds, to do like his deeds. Hence his law is to bring animals that have two horns to the right and to the left, to atone for what he sinned against the creatures, whereas the Holy One, blessed be He, forgives His portion [of the sin]. For 'if they rebelled greatly, what does it to Him,' may He be blessed? But to a person that is similar to him, he may inflict great damage, according to the magnitude of his power. Hence their laws are differentiated with the sacrifices. For the power of an anointed priest and of the Great Court is great, and they have the power to inflict great damage on others. Hence their law is to bring a bull, whose goring is great and very dangerous. But the goring of every plain individual is not so great to his fellow; hence their law is to bring a lamb or a goat. However a poor person's power is weak to [cause] damage, so he is similar to a fowl which strikes with its wings, according to [the idea of] Shemever. Hence his law is to bring doves or young pigeons. This is to say that he is pursued like them, yet he strikes others with his wings. Yet the very poor are considered like the dead. Hence his sacrifice is fine flour, which does not have a living soul. And, with God's help, this will be explained further later in Parashat Vayikra. [This pattern] is because everything that atones must be similar in its description to the one getting atoned. This is what the verse states (Psalms 75:5-6), "I said to the mockers, 'Do not mock'; and to the wicked, 'Do not raise the horn.' Do not raise your horn on high." "Do not raise the horn," implies one [horn], such that they should not sin to the Heavens alone. "Do not raise your (plural) horn on high," implies two - corresponding to one who also sins to man. Hence it stated, "Do not raise on high" - two raisings, one to the right and one to the left, as mentioned.

תחת בנו, in exchange for what he had had in mind to do with his son. The phrase reminds us of Psalms 15,2 ודובר אמת בלבו, “he spoke truthfully in his heart.” [the author justifies the use of the word תחת, “in lieu of,” for something which had not actually happened, i.e. Yitzchok had not been slaughtered. The verse from Psalms proves that the intention is as good as the deed when such an intention was sincere, wholehearted. Ed.]

וירא והנה איל אחר נאחז, after it had become enmeshed in the thicket.

אחר נאחז בסבך בקרניו, “subsequently, caught by its horns in the thicket.” The plain meaning of the text is that after the angel had told Avraham not to touch Yitzchak he saw this ram. The word בסבך suggests that the part of the mountain on which the binding took place was full of trees and low brush, a place also known in Kings I 7,2 as יער לבנון, a type of Cedar forest. In Psalms 132,6 David said of the שכינה, G’d’s benevolent presence, מצאנוה בשדי יער, “we found it in the fields of Yaar.” This place was within the boundaries of the territory of Benjamin of whom it is said (Genesis 49,27) בנימין זאב יטרף. These words are translated by Onkelos as “G’d’s benevolent presence will reside in the territory of Benjamin, and His Holy Temple will be built there.”

After the angel had said to him... I.e., אחר is connected to an earlier phrase. It is out of place. The verse means to say: “Avraham looked up afterward, and beheld a ram that had been caught...” Rashi proves it from Onkelos, who translates: “And Avraham looked up after these [words].”

Wie Isaak bereit gewesen, sich auf Gottes Altar zu opfern und vom Gottesaltare erneut zum Leben erstanden: so soll dieselbe Gesinnung und dieselbe opferfreudige Bereitwilligkeit fortan von ihm und seinen Kindern im Opfer gelobt und im Leben verwirklicht werden. Isaaks und seiner Kinder Leben soll eine ewige Akeda bilden. —

בסבך IN A THICKET— a tree.

And this thing was hinted to Avraham because 'there is no righteous man on the earth who does good and never sins.' And all the more so according to the those that say (Nedarim 32) that the exile of Egypt was because of Avraham's sin, when he said, "with what will I know" (Genesis 15:8). So he caused his children affliction, slavery and the death of the sons in Egypt - as if he gored them right and left. And if so, his law is that he must offer another ram. And it was other from the first, as the first ram was a man who sins, who gores north and south. And with God's compassion, He took a ram that was caught in the thicket by its horns in his place. The matter of its being caught in the thicket - meaning a tree - is a hint that, so too is a sinner entangled in sin, which extends from the Tree of Knowledge, which is the cause of all sin. And the matter of [it being caught] by its horns is because the horns of a sinner are what caused him to become entangled. It is as if it said that a person is ensnared and caught in a trap because 'his horns are the horns of a ram' - 'he raises his horn on high,' or to the right and to the left. And in Bereishit Rabbah (56:9), they said, "'And behold a ram after (achar)' - what is after? [After] all that happened, Israel is [still] caught in sins and entangled in troubles; but in the end, they will be redeemed by the ram’s horns." Behold the simple meaning of this midrash agrees with our words, that this verse is speaking about a sinner and one very rebellious, whose 'horns are all around him.' And that which they said, "but in the end, they will be redeemed by the ram’s horns" - it appears to me that it can be explained as being about the shofar of Rosh Hashanah, which is from the horn of a ram. And through it, Israel is redeemed from the hands of their evil impulse, the trap of which is cast over all the living. But they are redeemed from his hands through the shofar, that comes to confuse the Accuser (Satan). For the shofar arouses a person to repentance, as it is written (Amos 3:6), "When a shofar is blown in a town, do the people not take alarm?"

בסבך בקרניו, this served Avraham as an invitation from G’d that seeing that this ram was caught in a thicket away from the flock it belonged to, something which its shepherd had not even become aware of. This is why we have learned in the Mishnah Avot 5,6 (according to some scholars) that among the things which had been created at dusk on the 6th day of creation was also this ram which would eventually serve as the sacrifice brought by Avraham instead of his son. If Avraham had been able to locate the shepherd of this ram, he would have compensated him for the value of the animal. He would not have wanted to offer an animal as a sacrifice without paying for it.

For it was running towards Avraham... [Rashi knows this] because it says נאחז in singular, which must refer to the ram itself. If so, why does it say בקרניו? Rashi answers that it tells us that the ram’s face, meaning its horns, was towards Avraham, as it was running to Avraham to be sacrificed, but the Satan entangled it to impede it. Perhaps the Re’m, too, meant this. (R. Meir Stern)

Die Identifizierung des Menschen im Opfer wird durch diesen איל תחת בנו in höchster Prägnanz für alle Zeiten dahingestellt. אותו היום, heißt es im תנא רבי אלי׳ ,שהעלה אבינו אברהם את יצחק בנו על גבי המזבח תיקן הב״ה שני כבשים אחד בשחרית ואחד ביו הערבים שנאי את הכבש אחד וגוי וכל כך למה שמשעה שישראל מקריבין תמידין על המזבח וקוראין את המקרא הזה צפונה לפני ד׳ הב״ה זוכר עקידת יצחק בן אברהם מעיד אני עלי שמים וארץ בין גוי בין ישראל בין איש בין אשה בין עבר בין שפחה קורא את המקרא הזה צפונה לפני ד׳ הב״ה זוכר עקידת יצחק בן אברהם.

בקרניו BY ITS HORNS — because it was running towards Abraham, but Satan caused it to be caught and entangled among the trees (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 31).

And that which our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Rosh Hashanah 16b) that the shofar confuses the Accuser (Satan) - from the aspect of his reasoning [that] perhaps it is the shofar of the messiah, the Accuser is not so devoid of knowledge. And does he not know that it is a law in Israel from days of yore, and yet the messiah has still not come? So it is more likely to say that since he has become accustomed, he has become accustomed. Except that he knows it is commandment from God upon us, and he also knows the reason of the commandment is to arouse to repentance and that repentance brings the redemption closer. Hence he is bewildered, lest the messiah come. For even though they did not become aroused to repentance according to its law in previous years, ultimately there will be a time when they will regret their evil and completely repent. Therefore he is afraid each and every year, lest they will now shudder and repent. And since the horn is the place of the sin, hence it will also be the place of the repair. An example of this is the fig leaves of Adam, since he repaired with that with which he corrupted. So too, [man was] corrupted with the horn and he will be repaired through it; such that the accuser will turn into a defender. For the willful sins of all penitents will turn into merits for him, so that the merits will come through it.

So wird auch hier das tägliche Opfer nur als eine nationale Fortsetzung der Akeda des Ahns und insbesondere die Bestimmung ׳צפונה לפני ד, dass die Opferung der allerheiligsten Opfer zur "Mitternachtseite" vor Gott geschehen musste, in Zusammen hang mit ihr begriffen. In der "Mitternacht des Lebens", die Sonne tief unter uns, um uns nur Finsternis, und doch sprechen: Wenn wir auch nicht sehen — Gott sieht, צפונה" - ,ד׳ יראה, in der Mitternacht, ׳לפני ד, vor Gott stehen" — "bei Gott wohnt die Einsicht, Gott hat das Auge für uns, brauchen keine Einsicht in die Einsicht Gottes, weder sein Gesetz noch seine Waltung braucht erst vor dem Richterstuhle unserer Einsicht zu plädieren, und wie sich auch auf Erden die Verhältnisse gestalten: ד׳ יראה!" — Das ist die Einsetzung des ewigen Opfers auf Moria.

תחת בנו IN THE STEAD OF HIS SON — Since it is written, “He offered it up for a burnt offering”, surely nothing is missing in the text; what then is the force of “in the stead of his son”? At every sacrificial act he performed on it he prayed saying, “May it be Thy will that this act may be regarded as having been done to my son — as though my son is being slain; as though his blood is being sprinkled; as though his skin were being flayed; as though he is being burnt and is being reduced to ashes” (Genesis Rabbah 56:9).

Und deshalb sucht hier Abraham ein Tier, denn Worte reichen für diesen Ausdruck nicht aus, und siehe, da steht ein Widder, und אחר, nachher, nachdem ihn Abraham gesehen, blieb er sestgehalten stehen. Da ging Abraham hin und brachte "ihn zum Opfer statt seines Sohnes". Diese von uns hervorgehobenen letzten Worte enthalten eine schlagende Widerlegung jener schmalstirnigen oder böswilligen Beschränktheit, die unserem Opfer die symbolische Bedeutung abstreiten, um sich in stolzer Herabwürdigung eines "blutigen Opferkultus" ergehen zu können.

Hätte das Opfer keine symbolische Bedeutung, spräche die Opferung dieses Widders nicht eine dreimal höhere und bedeutungsvollere Dahingebung im Leben aus, als die wirkliche Tötung Jizchaks gewesen wäre, welch eine Blasphemie, ja welche erbärmliche Lächerlichkeit wäre es nicht gewesen: תחת בנו — statt des Teuersten, für das man lieber selbst zehnmal den Tod erlitten hätte, ein Tier hinzugeben, das einem so zufällig in der Wildnis zuläuft, das somit nicht einmal den Wert hat, sein Eigentum zu sein!! Es hat uns jemand großmütig eine Million gelassen — wir greifen eine zufällig daliegende Stecknadel auf und bitten: dies wenigstens dafür anzunehmen!

Durch den Namen ד׳ יראה vermachte Abraham die הוראה, die der Moria durch die Erinnerung an diese Begebenheit seinen Nachkommen bringen soll. 1־׳ יראה([an- klingend an das אלקים יראה לו וגו׳) Gott siehet! Wenn wir und wo wir auch nicht sehen, sieht Gott, Ihm haben wir unsere Einsicht frei und willig unterzuordnen. "Gott siehet" — so allgemein sprach Abraham die Bedeutung des Moria aus. Heute aber, nachdem diese allgemeine Überzeugung von Gott sich in einer speziellen Offenbarungstat für uns manifestiert hat, Gott seine Einsicht für uns in seinem Gesetze uns gereicht, dem auf diesem Berge sein Heiliglum erstehen soll, damit es unsere Einsicht werde und wir danach unser ganzes Leben gestalten, heute spricht sich diese Wahrheit nicht bloß allgemein aus: Gott schaut, sondern: jeder von uns "wird von Gott geschaut" und hat sich Ihm auf diesem Berge wiederholt zur prüfenden Anschauung und Durchschauung vorzustellen. Dreimal im Jahre יֵרָאֶה jeder Sohn Abrahams und Isaaks auf diesem Berge und nicht ריקם, nicht bloß in innerer, vorüberrauschender Andacht, sondern mit dahingebender Weihe seines ganzen Wesens in עולת ראיה. Jeder, der fortan mit עולת ראיה auf dem Moria erscheint, schließt sich dem עולה an, das Abraham תחת בנו gebracht, und gelobt, seines Teils die Akedaaufgabe zu lösen, die der Ahn damit für seinen Sohn und dessen Nachkommen an dieser Stätte gelobt, und in deren Lösung er selbst für alle Ewigkeit mustergültig zur Moriahöhe hinangewandelt. —

'ה יראה Its real meaning is as the Targum renders it: The Lord will choose and select for Himself this place to make His Shechinah reside in it and for sacrifices to be offered there.

אשר יאמר היום, “of which its is being said today and tomorrow that G’d had manifested Himself to Avraham at this mountain of the Lord.”

And he called the name of the place, the Lord will see, as it is said this day, on the mountain of the Lord, He will be seen: Since it is stated (Exodus 23:17), "all your males shall appear" - you may read, "shall appear (yiraeh)," as, "and will see (vayireh)," the [letter], yod, [being vocalized] with a tzerei. This means that in the same manner that one comes to be seen, so does he come to see (Chagigah 2a). So too is it said here for this reason - "shall appear (yiraeh)," [is also,] "and will see (vayireh)," for it is all one matter. However to make the expression, "as it is said this day," fit, I say that this is why he called the name of the place, the Lord will see, implying the future: Because the Holy One, blessed be He, did not reveal this holy place to any creature. For even to Avraham, it was said, "upon one of the mountains which I will tell you" (Genesis 22:2). And we do not see that He said anything to him, except that which Avraham sensed, in that he saw a cloud tied around the mountain. Nevertheless, 'there was no speech and no words,' that this was the place that God desired for His seat. As God hid the reason from him, which will be explained later, Parashat Reeh (Kli Yakar on Deuteronomy 12:4), with God's help. That is why he called it, the Lord will be seen/show, from the usage, "God will see to the lamb for Him" (Genesis 22:8). Likewise did he say [that] the time will come when God will show and choose this place. And at that time, "it will be said," for [all] the generations, "this day, on the mountain of the Lord, He will be seen" - this day, but not before. For until this day, when He chose [it], the Holy One, blessed be He, did not reveal it.

ויקרא...ה' יראה, a reference to his having said to Yitzchok in verse 8 that G’d would select the animal for the offering.

The Lord will see: From this place He shall see, to oversee His world. For behold, here is the place of His Kingship, may He be blessed - as it is found in Rosh Hashanah (27a) [Chapter] 3, that we blast trumpets and a horn in the Temple, because it is stated (Psalms 98:6), "With trumpets and the blast of the horn, raise a shout before the Lord, the King."

אשר יאמר היום, the place of which the Israelites had said on the day that the Torah was written (or given) that G’d manifests Himself on the mountain. G’d would reveal which mountain this is only in the future, in the days of David, seeing that even in Deuteronomy 12,11 only veiled reference is made to such a mountain. It was this mountain, subsequently known as the Temple Mount which Avraham now named ה' יראה.

ויקרא אברהם שם המקום ההוא: ה' יראה, “Avraham named that site: “The Lord will see.” The place is known in our days as the mountain of Moriah. It is called thus as it became a mountain due to the extreme degree of awe of the Lord Avraham had demonstrated there. It had actually first been a valley. Suddenly it was transformed into a tall mountain. Since it had previously been called “shalem” as we know from when its king congratulated Avraham on his victory over Kedorleomer and the kings with him (Genesis 14,18) Avraham now added another word to its name, i.e. יראה, “awe of the Lord,” so that after David conquered it from the Jebusites it is called “Y’ru-shalem.” [The name actually occurs already in chapter 10 of the Book of Joshua, but it did not become part of the Kingdom of the Israelites till some 400 years later. Ed.]

The Lord will see: Meaning, He will see this place and remember the deed.

ה' יראה, Avraham said the following: “Hashem will become my witness after I have fulfilled this commandment of His.” The reason that this is necessary is some people will say that this is the mountain to which I brought my son in order to prove that I would honour Him even by offering my son as an offering and at which I had weakened at the last moment and not gone through with my intention, as proved by the fact that I returned with my son intact. They will not give me credit when told that G-d had to stop me from going through with slaughtering my son in His honour.”

אשר יאמר היום AS IT IS SAID TO THIS DAY — In the generations to come people will say of it,” On this mountain the Holy One, blessed be He, shows Himself to His people.”

As it is said this day: After the giving of the Torah, when they were commanded to build the Temple there, such that there would be appearance of the face in the courtyard.

אשר יאמר היום, a reference to the day on which this story is being related. This occurrence would be remembered every time G’d would manifest Himself on that mountain. When the Temple would be built, this event would be commemorated, for instance. Avraham had been told in a prophetic vision why this mountain had been chosen by G’d for this particular event. It was because also in the future Avraham’s descendants would make a point of offering their sacrifices on that mountain.
בהר ה' יראה, G’d would manifest Himself in the future also on this mountain.

השם יראה, “the name of the attribute of Mercy of the Lord will become manifest.” According to our author, the name is meant to demonstrate not only to G–d but to mankind, that at this place Avraham had demonstrated the ultimate degree of being in awe of the Lord by being willing to sacrifice his son to him.

As it is said this day: Among people when they speak about this mountain, [one] will ask [the other], "What mountain are you saying?" And he will answer that its name is, He will see. As this is what Avraham called it.

היום THIS DAY — the future days, with the same meaning as עד היום הזה “even until this day” wherever it occurs in the entire Scriptures: that all future generations who read this passage will refer the phrase “even unto this day” to the day in which they live. The Midrashic explanation is: May God see this Binding of Isaac every year to forgive Israel and to save them from punishment, so that it may be said “in this day” — in all future generations — “there are seen in the mountain of the Lord” the ashes of Isaac heaped up as it were and serving as a means of atonement (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 23).

On the mountain of the Lord, He will be seen (yiraeh): Yireh (will see) [can also be a reading of] yiraeh, as is known - the beginning of Tractate Chagigah (2a).

אשר יאמר היום בהר ה' יראה, “of which it be said today, i.e. (nowadays)”on the mountain of the Lord He can be perceived as having manifested this attribute of His. ” Avraham was concerned that people knowing he had been commanded to sacrifice his son, and had returned with his son, might think that he had been unable to bring himself to do this. The name of that mountain was to be a sign that the abandoning of the original command had nothing to do with his being unwilling or unable to carry it out. We are told in the Midrash that when G–d, i.e. His angel, said to Avraham: “do not dare touch the skin of the lad,” Avraham was not willing to desist until G–d swore to him that He would consider the ashes of the ram that he would slaughter a if they had been the ashes of his son. [This editor finds this difficult, as Avraham had not seen the ram until after he had desisted, as the Torah clearly tells us. Since the author did not reveal which Midrash he has seen this in, I cannot check it. Ed.] Our author adds that as soon as Avraham had taken Yitzchok off the altar, he asked G–d for His signet ring as proof that He had told him this. G–d answered that legally He was not obliged to put his seal on what He had said, as Avraham had not requested it before taking Yitzchok down from the altar. However, having high regard for him, He would hand over that seal to Yaakov instead, and that this is what we derive from the line in Michah 7,20: תתן אמת ליעקב, חסד לאברהם, “Who grants truth to Yaakov and loving kindness to Avraham.” [G–d’s “seal” is proverbially known as אמת, “truth.” Ed.]

ויקרא, He called him a second time to inform him that as compensation for what he had just been prepared to do, G’d would compensate his children when the occasion would arise to do so.

שנית, erst nachdem Abraham an Isaaks Statt den Widder geopfert und dem Orte den Namen gegeben, ward ihm diese Verkündigung der segensreichen Folgen seiner Tat. Denn mit beidem hatte er diesen Höhepunkt seines Lebens zum Höheziel seiner ganzen Nachkommenschaft gesetzt. Daran knüpft sich dieser Segen für diese Nachkommenschaft.

BECAUSE THOU HAST DONE THIS THING. In the beginning He promised him that he would increase his descendants as the stars of heaven³⁸⁷Above, 15:5. and the dust of the earth,³⁸⁸Above, 13:16. but now He gave him the additional assurance that because thou hast done this great deed, He swore by His Great Name [that He would increase his descendants as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore],³⁸⁹Verse 17 here. and that his seed will possess the gate of its enemies.³⁸⁹Verse 17 here. Thus Abraham was assured that no sin whatever would cause the destruction of his descendants, nor would they fall into the hand of their enemies and not rise again. Thus this constitutes a perfect Divine assurance of the redemption which is destined to come to us.

Because you have done this thing, etc.: From that which it said, "and you did not withhold your son," we understand from this that the statement, "because you have done," is another matter. Moreover [an explanation is required], since above (Genesis 22:12), it said, "and you did not withhold your only son from Me" - whereas here it did not say, "from Me." And also the doubling of the expression, "I will surely bless you," requires an answer. As, according to Rashi's answer - [that] one is for the father and one is for the son - the duplication of, "I will surely multiply," is problematic. Hence it appears to me that with every [part of the] divine service, he said, "May it be His will that it is as if my son were slaughtered," etc. Hence it is as if he did two deeds. For he did the sacrifice of the ram in actual practice, and the sacrifice of his son in thought. Hence it is stated, "because you have done this thing" - meaning, the doing of the sacrificing; since all of the promises were said to him in the merit of the sacrifices. And, "and you did not withhold your only son," is due to his mentioning him with each [part of the] divine service. That is why it did not state, "from Me," which indicates actual sacrificing. For at this point, he did not consider actually sacrificing him. Hence, "I will surely bless you," is a double blessing - one corresponding to the act and one corresponding to the thought. And that is [also] the reason for, "I will surely multiply."

ויאמר בי נשבעתי, G’d added an oath to the blessing He had already bestowed on Avraham. When G’d swears an “oath” it is as if He were to say “by My life, etc.” Just as He is eternal and therefore will be able to keep His oath, so He can keep His oath to the children and grandchildren of the ones to whom He promises something by oath. While it is true that G’d does not need to swear an oath to assure us that He will keep His word, the new element in G’d swearing an oath is that even if the recipient of the oath did not keep his part of the bargain, i.e. sinned in the meantime, G’d promises that this will not invalidate His blessing, the one He confirms by an oath. Furthermore, He added another dimension to the existing blessing,

And did not withhold your only son: Here it did not specify, "from Me," like in the first statement (Genesis 22:12). Rather it is like its literal meaning - that he gave over the soul of his son for the glory and the will of the Holy One, blessed be He.

נאם ה' כי יען אשר עשית, “I, G’d, say that because you have done this I will bless you in an increased measure.”

יען אשר עשית את הדבר הזה, “because you have done this thing, etc.” G’d had already assured him long before this that He would greatly increase the number of Avraham’s biological descendants and compared them to the stars in heaven and to the sand on the beaches of the sea, etc. At this point G’d adds an additional blessing in the form of an oath that Avraham’s seed will be successful in conquering the land of their enemies.

Was früher bloß als ברית, somit, wenngleich von allem Äußern unabhängig, doch durch gegenseitige Erfüllung bedingt gegeben war, wird nunmehr hier durch hat עקדה als völlig bedingungslose Bestimmung ausgesprochen. Durch die ,שבועה Abraham bereits seinerseits die höchste Anforderung gelöst und gleichzeitig dadurch auch die endliche treue Lösung abseiten seiner Nachkommen sicher gestellt. Das ist das זכות dieser Akeda. Durch dieselbe ward der Geist der höchsten sittlichen Vollendung also in Isaak gesenkt, und leuchtet also als ewiges Muster vor, dass durch beides, durch das ererbte geistig sittliche Naturell und durch das glänzende Beispiel, Isaaks Nachkommen nie ganz verloren gehen können, sondern, wenn auch über Abwege tiefster Verirrungen, sich endlich zu dem reinen Höheziel ihrer Bestimmung emporarbeiten werden. Darum יען אשר עשית darum entspricht es, ist es die entsprechende Folge deiner Tat ( — von ענה —) dass ich die gesegnete und segenspendende Zukunft deiner Nachkommen als völlig gewiss und absolut verheißen kann.

And did not withhold your only [son]: You brought up your only son before Me, and you planned to reduce your seed. But I will give you, "and I shall surely increase your seed" (Genesis 22:17).

ברך אברכך I WILL SURELY BLESS THEE — The double use of the term “bless” is intended to signify a blessing for the father and a blessing for the son (Genesis Rabbah 56:11).

Like the stars of the sky and like the sand, etc.: We have found that sometimes He compares Israel to the stars and sometimes to the sand on the shore of the sea, and sometimes to dust - as it is stated (Genesis 28:14), "And your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth." It is because it all indicates different times. As in times of tranquility and success, He compares them to the stars. That is an expression of greatness, as Rashi (Rashi on Deuteronomy 1:9) explains on the verse, "The Lord, your God, has multiplied you, and behold you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky" (Deuteronomy 1:10) - "He multiplied and aggrandized you." Likewise is, "I will surely multiply you," here an expression of greatness.

וירש זרעך את שער אויביו, the meaning of the words שער אויביו is ארץ אויביו, the land of its enemies. A land surrounded by oceans and mountains is difficult to conquer. Eretz Yisrael is such a country. When one has breached the coastal defences, or conquered the mountain ranges, it is as if one had broken through the gates of the fortified walls around a city. This is why the Torah here describes such a victory as “inheriting the gates of one’s enemies.” We find a similar expression used in Nachum 3,13 פתח נפתחו שערי ארצך, “the gates of your country will be completely open.” The prophet refers to the country lying at the mercy of an invader. G’d added further:

And I will surely multiply: The intent is not quantitative multiplication. For behold he was already blessed with [being] like the dust of the earth (Genesis 12:16). Rather this multiplication is largeness of the soul, like above 17:2. So here the seed of Avraham was blessed with the commandment of the sanctification of [God's] name - as it is found in Sanhedrin [in the] chapter [entitled] Ben Sorer ouMoreh, that Israel is commanded about the sanctification of [God's] name, but the nations of the world are not. And it is understood that this only glorifies Israel. For behold, a civilized person will not request from his fellow to cut off his hand for the sake of his [own] life. But that is not the case from his son, whom he loves like his [own] soul, and whom he knows about himself that he would do the same for the sake of his son's life. It is [hence] no wonder that it is likewise fitting that the son should do so for the sake of his father. It comes out that this desire shows [their] soulful love, since they are both like one body, and [that] he would give everything he has for his life. And so did the Holy One, blessed be He, command His children - who are His portion, may He be blessed and the bearers of His Kingship - to give over their lives on account of His name and His glory, which is, as it were, His life. It is as it is written (Numbers 14:21), "However, just as I live and the Glory of the Lord fills the entire land," and as I have written in explantion of that verse there (Haamek Davar on Numbers 14:21) and in several places. [But] this is not the case with the nations of the world, as they are removed from Him, may He be blessed. And Avraham merited this deed so that his children would attain largeness of the soul to willingly give themselves over on account of the sanctification of [God's] name, may He be blessed. And God said that this multiplication would be in two aspects: The first is as the stars of the sky - these are the greats in knowledge, who shine in their generations like the stars of the sky. And they also give merit to the masses, in that which they give themselves over and are killed for the sanctification of [God's] name. And the second is and like the sand on the seashore - these are the masses of the people. When they come to the sanctification of [God's] name, they give themselves over with a good heart. And this is such that the idolaters are compared to the seas, as it is written in the book of Isaiah (17:12), "they roar like the raging seas." And it is written in the Song of Songs (8:7), "Great waters will not quench the love," which is referring to the idolaters. And the waves of the sea futilely appear as if they are flooding the sand around it. And in fact, [the sea] sometimes floods over many grains of sand surrounding it without number. Yet they are nevertheless broken on account of the sand. Likewise are the nations of the world not able to flood the largeness of their souls and their inner strength. And see Bava Batra 8 (7b) - as they explained the statement of David, "I count them; they exceed the sand" (Psalms 139:18), like this: "Just like the sand [...] protects from the sea [etc.]."

בי נשבעתי, “I have sworn to Myself that I will greatly bless you/ you.”

One for the father and one for the son. It seems to me that Rashi means that both blessings are for Yitzchok: one in his own merit and the other in Avraham’s merit. This is the meaning of “One for the father and one for the son.” (Nachalas Yaakov)

וירש זרעך את שער אויביו. Wird hier darauf hingewiesen, dass seine Nachkommen auch Feinde haben werden, so steht dies wohl im Zusammenhange mit den Verirrungen, auf welche, wie zum Vers 16 bemerkt, eben in dem בי נשבעתי hingeblickt wird. Israel wird Kämpfe haben, allein zuletzt werden ihm die Tore seiner Feinde zu Erbe fallen. Schwerlich ist hier an eine kriegerische Eroberung zu denken. War das doch nie Israels Bestimmung. Vielmehr scheint es in dem Sinne zu nehmen sein, wie in תהלים wiederholt die höchste Vollendung der Gestaltung der Verhältnisse durch: צדיקים יירשו ארץ ausgedrückt wird, dass die letzte Entwicklung der Erde den Gerechten zufallen werde, alle anderen Potenzen werden geschwunden sein, und nur das sittlich Rechte wird die Leitung erhalten. Also auch hier: zuletzt wird שער, das Forum, d. i. die soziale und politische Gestaltung eben der Völker, die Israels Prinzip feindlich bekämpft, Israel zufallen, und sie werden sich an Israel und durch Israel den auf allen anderen Wegen vergebens angestrebten Segen gewinnen.

.וכחול אשר על שפת הים, and like the sand on the beaches of the sea. This promise became fulfilled during the reign of King Solomon. (Kings 5,9)

והרבה ארבה AND I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY— once for the father, and once for the son (Genesis Rabbah 56:11).

And the comparison of the sand indicates the time when the nations rise up against Israel to destroy them, but they cannot [defeat] them. This is like the waves that go up as if they wanted to flood the whole world. But immediately when they reach the sand, they are broken. So too are the nations, as it is stated (Psalms 42:8), "all Your breakers and waves have swept over me." However they are not able to [defeat] them, because they fall and break there. That is why it called them, "Your breakers." That is why Israel is compared to this sand that breaks the waves. As they are not able to pass the sand; for the sand is the statute and the limit of the sea. So too are the nations not able to destroy Israel. Therefore when Esav came to meet Yaakov, Yaakov said in his prayer (Genesis 32:13), "You have said, I will do very good with you, and I will make your offspring like the sands of the sea." Why did he mention specifically the promise of the sand and not mention the stars, which have two advantages - numerousness and greatness? And he also did not [even] mention an expression of increase, but rather, "and I will make your offspring like the sands of the sea!" Rather, it is that since this is a promise that their enemies will not be able to [defeat] them, so too will Esav not be able to injure him. And for this reason, he mentioned specifically the sand that is at the shore of the sea. For is there no other sand in the world besides it? Rather, it is because it breaks the waves, as mentioned. That is why, "as the sand on the shore of the sea," is stated here. But what is the relationship of this to "and your descendants will inherit the gate of their enemies?" Rather it is in the way of, "not [only] this, but also that." As it is not [only] this, that they will be like the sand that the waves - meaning the enemies - are not able to [defeat]; but rather also that, that they will inherit the gate of their enemies and will be able [to defeat] them.

And your descendants will inherit the gate of their enemies: In many places, the gate is the meeting place of sages and the greats of the province. So he was blessed that, in the end, it will occur that Israel will sit at the gates of the nations that pursued them in hatred.

ככוכבי השמים וכחול, by this simile, and especially the repeated reference to two different hyperboles, He wanted to reinforce the meaning of this promise. Up until now, the only simile for the multiplying of Avraham’s seed had been the expression כעפר הארץ, “as the dust of the earth.” (13,15) On another occasion (15,5) the comparison had been to the stars. Now, two comparisons are mentioned, showing that the blessing had been reinforced.
והתברכו בזרעך, this too is an additional dimension of the promise made to Avraham concerning his offspring.

And the comparison of the dirt indicates the time of lowliness. For at the time when they will be like dirt to be trampled on upon the lowest floor, they will rise up from there, from their lowly state, and expand in every direction - as it is written (Genesis 28:14), "And your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall expand to the west, to the east." And it as it is written (Psalms 44:26), "We lie prostrate in the dust." And what is written after it? "Arise and help us" (Psalms 44:27). And the reason of the matter is because Israel does not seek God with all of their hearts except at the time when they are at their lowest point - as is known from the ways of all of the generations and our generation. And perhaps the comparison of dirt is hinting to the exile of Egypt, since the Egyptians were plowing on their backs (Sotah 11b), like dirt which is plowed upon. And this will be explained further later, Parashat Vayetzeh (Kli Yakar on Genesis 28:13), with God's help.

וירש, one of the letters י that we would have expected as part of this word is missing. It is the י which is part of the root of the verb ירש. The י which does appear is the one describing the future tense indirect speech masculine. [this is common for roots beginning with the letter י. Ed.]

כי ברך, we already explained the meaning of the repetition of such formulations.

והתברכו בזרעך כל גויי הארץ, if and when your descendants will join together in proclaiming the holy name of the Lord, the nations of the world will be blessed as they will try to follow your example and to be like you.

והתברכו, the meaning of this word is not identical with the wordונברכו in 12,3 which we explained at the time as meaning that wherever you would reside the people around you would benefit from you or your children’s proximity. In this verse the meaning of the word והתברכו is that the gentile nations, thanks to their prayers, will accumulate merits and therefore blessings for themselves. They will make the kind of blessings Avraham has experienced the focus of their own prayers. They will acknowledge Avraham’s G’d as the source of all blessings.

And through your seed will be blessed, etc.: This is a blessing in of itself - that they should find grace and kindness in the eyes of the nations of the world to the point that they be blessed by them.

שכר .עקב kommt in der Bedeutung, die wir damit verknüpfen, Belohnung für Guttaten des Gerechten, fast gar nicht in תנ"ך vor. Der Gerechte hat keine "Einbuße" im Dienste Gottes, selbst das größte Opfer, das er brächte, wäre dem Gerechten an sich schon der größte Gewinnst; שכר (verwandt mit סגר und סכר, Lücke ausfüllen, Lücke schließen), "Ersatz" kennt er daher nicht, weil er keinen Verlust kennt; würde er auf Ersatz hoffen, er wäre der Gerechte nicht. Der Segen, der aus seinem Wirken erblüht, kommt ihm עֵקֶב, wörtlich: "auf die Ferse" seines Wirkens. Es ist nicht das, was er mit seinem Wirken "im Auge" hat, es kommt ihm "unbeabsichtigt". Er will nur seine Pflicht tun. (Daher heißt עקב auch: betrügen, buchstäblich: "berücken"; jemand rücklings misshandeln, wovor er sich nicht in acht nehmen kann). Hier bezieht sich das עקב entweder auf das Ganze: alles dies, dein, deiner Nachkommen und der Völker Segen kommt in Folge deines Gehorsams, den du mir bewiesen; oder es bezieht sich nur auf das letzte: jetzt bist du nur vereinzelt im Gehorsam gegen mich, allein in letzter Folge deines jetzt so vereinzelt stehenden Gehorsams wird einst die Gesamtmenschheit sich dem Segenswege deiner Nachkommen anschließen. —

עקב אשר שמעת בקולי, as a consequence. This is what we know as the concept of שכר מצוה מצוה, that the fulfillment of one commandment begets the opportunity of fulfilling another commandment. By doing this you will receive the satisfaction that your children will be a banner to the nations, teachers to the gentile nations instructing them in how to serve the Lord. All of this will accrue to you as a credit, a merit.

Because you have listened to My voice: This blessing is not because he did not withhold his son, but rather because he understood the voice of God. And he learned from His words that His will was to have a fixed sacrifice, like the law of communal altars - as I wrote above, [verse] 9 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 22:9). Hence his children merited that a thread of grace would be extended over them [when giving these sacrifices], like the principle of the one who occupies himself with Torah. As it is found in Avodah Zarah 3b, "Anyone who occupies himself with Torah at night, a thread of kindness, etc." And we have already explained several times that the meaning of listening to the voice, is understanding and precise inference about [the speaker's] words. And see Deuteronomy 30:2, as we learned from there that it is necessary to explain it that way. And also see verse 20 there.

עקב, as a reward. It is an apt simile, seeing that he heel, עקב is the lower end of the body, so the reward is what one acquires at the conclusion of performing G’d’s commandments.

אשר שמעת בקולי, both in this instance as well as in all the other instructions I have issued to you

וישב אברהם בבאר שבע AND ABRAHAM DWELT AT BEER-SHEBA — This does not mean really dwelling there but merely staying there on his way home, because he was, as a matter of fact, living at Hebron. Twelve years before the Binding of Isaac he had left Beer-Sheba and had gone to Hebron, as it is said, (21:34) ‘‘And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days”, i.e. exceeding in number the earlier days when he had resided at Hebron — altogether 26 years, as we have explained above (21:34).

וישב אברהם, there was no need to mention that Yitzchok accompanied him. Rather it mentioned Avraham mentioned, because he was the principal.

And Avraham returned: But it is not written, Yitzchak (returned with him). Onkelos already translated that he brought him to the study hall of Shem to study Torah. And it is reasonable to say that when God finished [saying], "because you listened to My voice," he contemplated that this was the will of God - to occupy oneself with words of Torah. And even though Avraham studied with him, it is better that there be two places regarding contemplation about words of Torah, as it is found in Avodah Zarah 19a.

וילכו יחדיו: Abraham, Isaak und seine Leute. Zum drittenmal lesen wir dies יחדיו in der Akeda, und ist dies der letzte Federstrich, der letzte Zug in dieser großen Geschichte. Während יחד größtenteils nur eine äußere Gleichzeitigkeit oder ein äußeres Zusammensein bedeutet, bezeichnet יחדיו mehr eine auf einem inneren und innigen Zusammenhang beruhende Vereinigung; dunkel bleibt dabei freilich die Erklärung des Suffix: שבו לכם פה עם החמור" . — ו" hieß es oben, als Abraham mit Isaak am Fuße des Moria von seinen Leuten schied und sich zu dem großen Gange mit seinem Sohne anschickte; denn zu dieser Höhe kann nur ein Abraham und Isaak wandeln, und wiederholt hieß es von ihnen, dass sie diesen schweren Gang יחדיו einmütig und einstimmig zusammen vollbrachten. Ungemein bezeichnend für den ganzen Geist des mit Abraham und Isaak beginnenden Sinnes heißt es nun hier, nachdem sie das große, ja das für Menschenleistung Höchste vollbracht: sie kehrten zurück zu den Leuten und alle — Abraham und Isaak und ihre Leute — sie gingen zusammen — יחדיו — nach Beerscheba. In allen anderen Menschenkreisen würden nach einem solchen Aufschwung in die Gottesnähe, nach einer solchen Erhebung über alles Irdische ein Abraham und Isaak so voll gewesen sein von dem "Ich", oder von dem "Göttlichen" dass sie für das "gewöhnliche" irdische Leben, und für die "gewöhnlichen" irdischen Menschen verloren gewesen wären; ein solches — selbst nur vermeintliches — "Gott näher stehen" erzeugt sonst überall einen Hochmut, dass man auf alle anderen Menschen als "gemeine Sterbliche" stolz hinabblickt und eine Berührung mit ihnen meidet. Ganz davon verschieden ist der Geist, der aus Abrahams und Isaaks Beispiel sich vererben dürfte. Nachdem sie eben das Allerhöchste vollbracht, das nur auf Erden zu vollbringen ist, gehen sie zurück zu den am Fuße des Moria gelassenen Leuten und gehen יחדיו mit ihnen, fühlen sich in nichts höher als die anderen. Dem Abrahamssohne ist jeder in seinem Berufe gleich geachtet, er findet keinen Unterschied zwischen sich und dem niederen Holzhauer oder Diener. Je höher er geistig und sittlich steht, je weniger überhebt er sich, je weniger weiß er von der eigenen Größe. Wohl mit Recht schwanken die Weisen ז"ל darin, wem sie die Palme des Vorzugs reichen sollen, dem הסידות oder der ענוה. Ist doch ענוה die einzige Tugend, die der Mensch nur unbewußt besitzen kann. Wer weiß, dass er ein ענו ist, ist schon eben kein ענו mehr, ist vielmehr von dem schlimmsten Hochmut erfüllt. Er sagt sich immer, er hätte doch ein Recht stolz zu sein, und sei es so wenig! Abraham und Isaak kehrten vom Gipfel der Moriahöhe zurück, als hätten sie gar nichts vollbracht — וישב אברהם אל וידחי וכליו ומקיו וירענ.

וישב אברהם, “Avraham went back, etc.;” why has Yitzchok not been mentioned here? What did he do now? Avraham sent him off under cover of darkness to protect him against the “evil eye.” It is noteworthy that when Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah, after they had escaped unharmed from Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace have never been heard about again. (Daniel chapter 3-4, with Babylonian names for them) According to one view in the Talmud, tractate Sanhedrin, folio 91, these men were killed by the evil eye. According to the view of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehutzdak, they changed their place of residence and went to study Torah with Joshua, the High Priest. He bases his opinion on what is written in Zecharyah 3,8: שמע נא יהושוע הכהן הגדול אתה ורעיך היושבים לפניך כי אנשי מופת המה, “hearken well O High Priest Joshua, you and your colleagues sitting before you! For these men are to be wondered at.” According to B’reshit rabbah 56,11, the line means that the three men we mentioned were chosen by Me to serve as survivors after I performed miracles for them.

וישב אברהם אל נעריו, “Avraham returned to his lads;” where did Yitzchok go? According to Midrash hagadol, quoted in Torah shleymah item 204 on our verse, he was kept in gan eden for the next three years [until he married Rivkah.] A different interpretation: he proceeded to study Torah during those three years in the academy of Ever. (B’reshit Rabbah 56,11)

וישב אברהם בבאר שבע, the Torah did not mention for how many years Avraham lived in Beer Sheva, seeing Sarah died there, [something which must have greatly dampened his joy at living there. Ed.]

אחרי הדברים האלה AFTER THESE THINGS [IT WAS TOLD ABRAHAM] etc. — When he returned from Mount Moriah Abraham was pondering and he said, “If my son had really been slain, he would have died without children! I must marry him to one of the daughters of Aner or Eshcol or Mamre”. The Holy One, blessed be He, therefore had the announcement made to him that Rebecca, the one fit to be his (Isaac’s) consort, had been born. This is what is meant by “after these things or words” — namely, “after the words” that expressed the thoughts aroused by the Binding of Isaac (Genesis Rabbah 57:3).

BEHOLD, MILCAH, SHE ALSO HATH BORN CHILDREN. Since Milcah was the daughter of his brother Haran,³⁹⁰Above, 11:29. this was a tiding to Abraham that his older brother Nahor³⁹¹Ibid., Verse 28. had been visited with many children from the daughter of his dead brother Haran.³⁹²Abraham was older than Nahor for Scripture says, Abram, Nahor, and Haran, (ibid., Verse 27). Since Nahor was older than Haran, Ramban refers to him as “the older” brother.
Now from the text of Scripture it would appear that Abraham had no knowledge of any of them except on that day. If they were visited with children in their younger days, it would be impossible for them not to have been heard until this time for the distance between Mesopotamia and the land of Canaan is not great. Now when Abraham left Haran he was seventy-five years old,³⁹³Ibid., 12:4. and Nahor was also elderly and his wife too was not young.³⁹⁴And if Nahor and his wife had had children many years ago, Abraham would have heard of it previously. Indeed, we must say, G-d performed a miracle for them in that they were visited with children in their old age. This is the sense of the verse, Milcah, she also. In the words of our Rabbis, it is said³⁹⁵Yalkut Shimoni Numbers, 746. See the complete quote in my Hebrew commentary, p. 127. that Milcah was visited with children as was her sister Sarah.³⁹⁶Iscah, Milcah’s sister (above, 11:29), is another name for Sarah. (Rashi, ibid.)

She also gave birth. Avraham was told that if he did not wish to take Rivkah for his son, Re’umah also had a daughter — Ma’achoh — who was fitting to be Yitzchok’s wife.

ויהי אחרי הדברים האלה, ויגד. After these events Abraham was told, etc.. The reason that the Torah recorded this whole paragraph as well as the words "after the events," something totally unrelated to what the Torah spoke about previously, is to tell us that now Rebeccah, Isaac's soul-mate, had been born. We have already explained why Rebeccah was born only at that point in time. Isaac, whose soul had originated in the female emanations, had not acquired a soul from the male emanations until after the עקדה, the binding on the altar. ובתואל ילד את רבקה, Bethuel fathered Rebeccah. This is the principal line of the whole paragraph. Why did the Torah have to bother to list all the other descendants of Nachor including those from his concubines? The Torah reminds us that ever since the spiritual poison of the original serpent permeated Adam, purity could no longer exist in isolation. The birth of even the most perfect human being is invariably accompanied by the birth of impure people who lie in wait for the pure. By telling us of the other descendants of Nachor, the Torah indirectly extols the virtue of Rebeccah, mother of all that is holy, who, despite the environment she grew up in, shone forth with her many virtues.

ויהי, after the binding of Yitzchok.

ויהי אחרי, “it was after;” according to Rashi the words הדברים האלה refer to the עקדה, to the episode of the biding of Yitzchok immediately preceding this paragraph. Although as a general rule the word אחרי, as opposed to the word אחר, refers to matters not immediately before what had been related last, in this instance it could mean either.

ויגד לאברהם לאמר הנה ילדה מלכה גם היא, “Avraham was informed that ‘here Milkah too has given birth, etc.’” Nachmanides explains that this news concerning his older brother being blessed with children which Avraham is reported to have received at this time was reported now as both Nachor and Milkah were already quite advanced in years when they were blessed with offspring. They too were beneficiaries of such a miracle in their old age. The miracle occurred due to their sister Sarah’s merit. This is why the Torah wrote the extra words גם היא, “she too,” when reporting that Milkah had born children. If all this is so, how does Nachmanides explain that Nachor’s concubine gave birth? Surely, even granting that Sarah’s merit may have sufficed for G’d to work a miracle for her sister, why would G’d trouble Himself to perform a miracle for Nachor’s concubine so that the Torah wrote the words “she gave birth also?” The Torah reports that Milkah bore eight sons. These eight sons corresponded to the eight sons born to Yaakov by his two major wives Leah and Rachel. The four sons born to his concubine corresponded to the four sons born to Yaakov by Zilpah and Bilhah. The Torah compares Nachor’s family to that of Avraham The point of informing us about all these details is to relate to us that Rivkah who became the mother of Yaakov, the founding father of the Jewish nation, was born to a member of Avraham’s family. All of this was related to stress that members of Nachor’s family were suitable to intermarry with the descendants of Avraham. who cleaved to the Lord G’d as testified by Moses in Deut. 4,4 “and you who have cleaved to the Lord your G’d are all alive as of this day.”

The words of the thoughts that came about as a result of the akeidah. The Re’m writes: I do not know what brought Rashi to depart from the simple meaning of Scripture, that אחרי הדברים האלה refers to the words spoken previously — the angel’s words promising “I will make your descendants as numerous” — as indicated by the word האלה (these). And after these words, Avraham was informed of Yitzchok’s destined mate. Rashi instead follows the Midrash of, “[After] the words of the thoughts that came about as a result of the Akeidah.” [But these “words”] are not mentioned in Scripture at all! Continues the Re’m: [Rashi says,] “Therefore, Hashem announced to him that Rivkah, Yitzchok’s destined mate, had been born.” It is implied that this was immediately [after the akeidah. But is it not written אחרי, which Rashi states in many places that it always means “after a long time”? The answer is: It is called “after a long time” if it is not immediate and without delay.

In dem הנה liegt, dass diese Nachricht eine Antwort auf eine Erkundigung war: Es hat ja auch Milka, Saras Schwester, geboren (und da könntest du leicht eine Ebenbürtige finden, wenn du Isaak verheiraten wolltest). Abraham scheint das לך לך -bisher so vollständig erfüllt und sich in Folge dessen von seinen Ver וגוי אביך ומבית wandten so fern gehalten zu haben, dass er erst dann von ihrer Vermehrung und Ausbreitung erfährt, als er sich nach einer Schwiegertochter umsieht.

ויהי אחרי הדברים האלה, “It was after these events, etc.;” according to Rashi, the event that had occurred on Mount Moriah; when returning from that experience, Avraham reflected and realised that if he had indeed slaughtered his son, how could he now get married so that G-d’s promised to him could be fulfilled. If you were to point out that in Genesis 15,1, Rashi had interpreted the line: אחר הדברים האלה, by commenting that wherever we find this construction in the Torah it means that what follows followed immediately after the events recorded previously, whereas here three years elapsed until Avraham sent Eliezer to get his son a wife, we have to make a distinction between the use by the Torah of the word: אחר and אחרי. When the latter word is used it means that the events now described did not necessarily occur immediately following those described previously.

גם היא SHE ALSO — She also had a number of families equal in all respects to those which Abraham was to have — namely, twelve, and just as in the case of Abraham, of the twelve tribes born of Jacob) eight were the children of the principal wives and four those of the hand-maids, so here, also, eight were sons of the principal wife and four were sons of the concubine (Genesis Rabbah 57:3).

גם היא, in addition to the children born by his concubine.

גם היא, just as Sarah had born a son, so Milkah bore these children to Nachor your brother. It would appear that Milkah had stopped bearing children for a while already, but she had not been barren as had Sarah. Therefore Avraham was given the news that more children had been born for Nachor by his wife Milkah. This whole paragraph describing the children born to Nachor, both by his wife and his concubine Re-umah, has been written in honour of Avraham and to tell us among other facts that Rivkah had been born.

הנה ילדה מלכה גם היא, “Milkah also gave birth to several children.” According to Nachmanides the use of the introductory word הנה suggests that up until that moment Avraham had been unaware that Milkah had born any children. If Milkah had already born children while a young woman, it is difficult to imagine that Avraham would not have heard about this. After all, they did not live that far apart from one another. When Avraham had emigrated he had been 75 years old, whereas at this point he was 137 years old. Nachor obviously had also aged in the interval, and Milkah apparently had not been blessed with children until late in life. Nachor’s family had also become the beneficiary of G’d’s miraculous intervention in their lives. Milkah had shared the good fortune of her sister.

את עוץ בכורו, as we explained already on Genesis 10,15 in connection with the phrase את צידון בכורו.

קמואל אבי ארם. According to Nachmanides, Aram is mentioned in order to have an excuse to mention Kemuel, to show that Kemuel’s son Aram became far more distinguished than his father. [normally, the Torah lists the names of people as “son of such and such.” The reverse here indicates that the son outshone the father. Ed.]

את עוץ בכורו, “his firstborn son Utz, etc.; according to B’reshit rabbah this is a reference to Job (Job, 1,1) where we are told about Job living in the land of Utz.

אבי ארם, perhaps Aram was the better known of the two, and that is why his father is mentioned as an adjunct to his more famous son Aram. We have a similar construction in Genesis 10,21 אבי כל בני עבר, and numerous other examples in Chronicles dealing with historical details. Generally, people so described are complimented, although on occasion such descriptions may mean something derogatory, as in Genesis 9,18 אבי כנען. We have commented on these matters in connection with Genesis 10,23.

קמואל, he is supposed to be identical with the prophet Bileam, who tried to manipulate, rise up against, G–d (Yalkut Shimoni)

ואת כשד, this man became the founding father of the famous nation known as the Kasdim as we mentioned on 11,28.

ובתואל ילד את רבקה AND BETHUEL BEGAT REBECCA — The entire genealogical record is given only for the sake of this verse (i. e. to lead up to this verse).

AND BETHUEL BEGOT REBEKAH. The verse does not mention Laban, even though he was older than Rebekah, for its intent is only to mention the eight children which Milcah bore to Nahor.³⁹⁷And Bethuel is already the eighth: Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, Bethuel. Hence the verse does not intend to mention the children of Bethuel, namely, Laban. Rebekah, his daughter, however, was mentioned for the reason explained in the text. However, Rebekah is mentioned since the entire chapter is written to make known her genealogy.
Kemuel the father of Aram.³⁹⁸Verse 21 here. Aram is mentioned only in order to make known the identity of Kemuel as Aram was a more important man than his father. Perhaps, also, there was another Kemuel in their generation. Hence [Scripture identifies Kemuel by saying that] he was the father of Aram.

ובתואל ילד את רבקה, the person relating all this to Avraham added that Betuel, a son of Nachor’s proper wife, sired Rivkah. The meaning of the message was that there had been born in his own family a girl who would be a suitable wife for Avraham’s son so that he would not have to look for such a wife among the Canaanites surrounding him.

ובתואל ילד את רבקה, Laban is not mentioned as the focus of the story is Rivkah. The whole paragraph is recorded only on account of Rivkah.

ובתואל ילד את רבקה, “and Bethuel sired Rivkah.” The Torah fails to mention Lavan at this stage, so that we have no clue whether he was older than Rivkah. The only reason for writing this paragraph at all was to inform us about the birth of Rivkah.

AND HIS CONCUBINE, WHOSE NAME WAS REUMAH. Scripture tells the entire tiding which they related to Abraham concerning his brother’s children.
It is possible that this was written in order to make known the entire genealogy of Nahor, to establish that all of them were worthy to marry the children of Abraham, and it was with reference to all of them that Abraham said to Eliezer: But thou shalt go unto my father’s house and to my family.³⁹⁹Further, 24:38.
Chayei Sarah

ופלגשו...ותלד גם היא, the words ותלד גם היא must be understood as ותלד לו גם היא, that his concubine also bore these children for Nachor. The letter ו at the beginning of the word ופלגשו made it unnecessary to add the word לו, “for him,” after the word ותלד.

ופילגשו ושמה ראומה, “and his concubine who was called Re-umah.” The Torah relates all the details that had been reported to Avraham about his family at that time. It is possible that the reason why the Torah bothered to record all these details is to inform us about the genealogy of Nachor, to let us know that all of his family were potentially suitable marriage partners for Avraham’s family, and that concerning all of them Avraham had instructed Eliezer to search for a wife for Yitzchok when he told him “go only to my country and to the house of my father.”