Pemikiran Yahudi Yesaya 51:1: Akeidat Yitzchak, Guide for the Perplexed & Nineteen Letters

Bereshit Rabbah 29 states that Rabbi Shimon said, "G-d made three finds in this world. One is Abraham, ‘You have found his heart true before You’ (Nechemyah 9,8). The second one is David, ‘I have found My servant David.’ (Psalms 89,21). The third one is Israel, ‘Like grapes in the desert, I have found Israel’ (Hoseah 9,10).” Rabbi Shimon was questioned by his colleagues who asked, “Does not the Torah also mention Noach as having been a find of G-d, seeing it says "Noach found favor in the eyes of G-d?" (Genesis 6,8). Rabbi Shimon answered "Noach found, G-d did not find." Upon examination, you will find that the three finds represented three profound principles. Abraham primarily expounded the existence of G-d. David propounded the truth of the reward and punishment principle, composing many hymns on the subject. Israel propounded the Power of G-d, be it in Egypt or many subsequent historic events involving Israel. When the prophet describes the finding of Israel as like the finding of grapes in the desert, he draws attention to the unexpected nature of the find. The emergence of Israel was almost as if it had already been despaired of ever coming about. When it did finally happen, it was unexpected. Not so David, who emerged as the result of a diligent search for just such a person (Samuel I chapter 13). Abraham, on the other hand, was like the result one obtains after refining an orebody waiting for the precious metal to distil and crystallize in the crucible. The objection of Rabbi Shimon's colleagues was, "Did not Noach also demonstrate the Power and glory of G-d through the deluge and his being saved?" The answer was that this had not been G-d’s purpose when He saved Noach; in fact, there had been no one left to prove G-d’s Power to who had not already been aware of it though personal experience. When Israel appeared on the stage of history, however, G-d proclaims that He will demonstrate His Power by punishing Egypt for its treatment of Israel (Exodus chapters 7,9,10 and 14). All these quotes prove that Israel could have been saved by many other means, but that it served as a tool for G-d to demonstrate His Power through them. Since Abraham had become the founding father of this nation, it is only proper that he should be no less vis a vis Israel than Noach had been vis a vis the human race. Since G-d had made a covenant with Noach, promising to keep the human race going forever, G-d had to make a covenant with Abraham, promising to keep Israel going forever, and for Abraham to maintain his distinctive lifestyle and to transmit it to his descendants. G-d has granted man three faculties with which to achieve the level of perfection he is capable of achieving. 1) Willingness to listen to and absorb words of wisdom by those who teach him. 2) A basic intelligence characterized by his ability to communicate his thoughts by speech. 3) The ability to reason speculatively and to arrive at ideas not presented to him by outsiders in a finalized form. Unless man possesses all these three faculties, he cannot attain his purpose. When he does possess them, he is well equipped to advance towards his perfect state. Since man is inclined towards evil from his early youth, "for the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth on" (Genesis 8,21), and this is an impediment to his achieving his goal, G-d in His great kindness equipped Abraham/Israel with a tool to counteract this impediment by legislating circumcision of the male on the eighth day of his life. Vayikra Rabbah 25 writes, “It says ‘at eight days old.’ Where does he have to be circumcised? If at the ear, he does not hear properly yet; if at the mouth, he does not speak yet; if at the heart, he cannot think yet. So where shall he be circiumcised? Clearly it must be from part of his body. Rabbi Tanchum remarked that since there is no foreskin which is exclusive to the female of the species, the foreskin referred to must be that of the male organ.” When viewed objectively, these questions posed in the Midrash can hardly be taken at face value, since all the other areas mentioned could have been subjected to a surgical procedure. However, since a surgical procedure of the mouth for instance, would also affect the ear's ability to hear and the heart's ability to understand, the effect of such surgery would have been self-defeating. The three organs are needed to be fully operative to help man achieve his goals. Moreover, unless the organ circumcised does itself benefit through that procedure, how can it hope to improve the function of the remaining organs? This is the reason that the Midrash which describes Abraham as a High Priest, could not conceive of the same person becoming a baal mum, physically defective. Such a defect would nullify his priestly status. All of this is true despite the fact that we have scriptural proof for also the other above mentioned organs being described as arel, uncircumcised. Since the male organ is also described as "the body's summit," the point at which all the body's forces coalesce, whoever touches that area is as if he had touched the whole body, the whole person. Whoever reduces its power is as if he had weakened the whole body. We observe that surgery in the face results in a loss of hairgrowth; frequently one's voice is affected also. Similarly, surgery on the male organ leaves its mark on the whole person. When the Talmud (Baba Batra 16) states, "Woe to the person whose children are female," the meaning is that it is shameful to have children who allow the physical to dominate them like women. Surgery on the male organ then inhibits the owner from being too preoccupied with his body, makes it easier for him to concentrate on the development of mind and soul. It is clear then why this mitzvah had to be given to Abraham prior to Isaac having been conceived.

(1) Since only Isaac and his descendants are called Abraham's seed par excellence, the Torah sees fit to restate Isaac's ancestry, stressing that it did not go back further than to Abraham. Anyone prior to Abraham could not claim a share in Isaac as his descendant. In Jewish law, we have the principle that upon conversion to Judaism, a proselyte's family ties are severed, he ceases to have legal family ties, and is considered like a totally new creature. Abraham having become the first Jew, his children's ancestry was rooted in him and in him only. (2) Isaac married at forty, having attained the mental maturity to found a family, as discussed in Chapter 22. Bethuel was called an Arami since he was deceitful, as implied by that word. For that reason, the two have to be mentioned separately. (3) Rebecca had no hope to have children until Isaac's prayer had been answered, otherwise we might have attributed her pregnancy to the blessing that had been given her by her brother Laban prior to her departure from home (Bereshit Rabbah 63). The meaning of the verse "the Arami was about to cause my father's destruction" (Deut.26,5) could be "the latent traits of deceit and treachery inherited from Laban almost led to my destruction." Isaac's prayer was solely for the benefit of Rebecca, since he as an olah temimah, a flawless offering, and could not have served as such if he had been physically blemished. The word lenochach used to describe Isaac's stance during prayer, means that he concentrated on a single objective. A similar use of that word occurs in Proverbs 4,25-27. (4) Perhaps the reason that we are told that Isaac loved Esau who brought venison to him is to point out that Rebecca possessed enough independence of spirit to love Jacob, whose behavior warranted this, and in whose character she could see the promise of the prophecy that had been revealed to her prior to the birth of the twins that in time the older one would become subservient to the younger one (Genesis 25,23). (5) Jacob's holding on to the heel of Esau may symbolize that values which Esau would stamp his foot on would be the very ones Jacob would cherish.

The reason that sins committed between different human beings are not subject to atonement of Yom Kippur is, that any sin in which man's body is the major party, can only be atoned for by that same body making the appropriate restitution. When reconciling oneself with one's fellow man, it is the senior person, the scholar, who must make the first move, just as Abraham had done with his nephew Lot. (Genesis chapter 13)