מוסר אויף בראשית 22:6

All three commentators address themselves to the three truths surrounding the commandment to Abraham to offer Isaac as a total offering. The commandment to Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice is terribly difficult to understand. Especially so the fact that it is called מאכלת, "something that feeds," i.e. that the people of Israel still "feed" on the merit accumulated by our patriarch Abraham who took his only son and pre-ordained successor in order to slaughter him with his own hands because G–d had commanded him. Also the merit accumulated by Isaac who went along with this cheerfully, viz: Genesis 22,8: וילכו שניהם יחדו, is totally astounding. Thus it appears to anyone who reads the text of our story. If you examine the text carefully, however, you will find that both Abraham and Isaac made efforts to escape this particular death, as has been pointed out by our sages. When Abraham answers his son's question "where is the lamb for the offering? by saying: G–d will select the lamb for Himself, my son," this is to be understood as a prayer to G–d to select a different offering (22,7-8). We must read the verse as: "If G–d does not select a different lamb, then לעולה בני, "my son will be the offering." Thus we find that Abraham prayed for a miracle by G–d. Because of Abraham's prayer and the fact that G–d responded favorably, we say nowadays in our סליחות prayers that "May the One who answered Abraham at Mount Moriah, also answer our prayers." In view of all this, why does the Torah heap so much praise on Abraham? Do we not have a statement in Sifra Vayikra 22,32 that if someone undergoes martyrdom for the sake of the Holy Name of G–d hoping that G–d will save him by some miracle, no miracle will occur? Even if such a miracle does occur, such a person can certainly not be considered as having become a martyr for the sake of G–d's name!

We shall demonstrate that both the view which interprets 22,1 as referring to Satan's accusation, and the view that the test was caused by Isaac's provocative boast to his brother Ishmael that he would be willing to offer his entire body to G–d, are true and totally compatible with one another. We must understand that anything which is due to Satan or a malignment by Satan, has its origin in the סטרא אחרא, the side of the emanations which is separate from sanctity. On the other hand, the statements ascribed by our sages to Ishmael, who boasted of his having demonstrated genuine obedience to G–d, originates in the side of the emanations that contains קדושה, sanctity. Abraham was not sure whether the entire נסיון, test, was because G–d had heeded Satan's malignment of him or whether the test was due to the words of Ishmael and Isaac's reply that he was willing to sacrifice body and soul for G–d. When we consider that Abraham and Isaac rose early in the morning to undertake this journey to Mount Moriah, and that Abraham personally saddled his donkey instead of leaving this chore to one of his servants (compare 22,3), and when the Torah immediately afterwards describes Abraham and Isaac as "going together," the meaning that they both rejoiced in planning to fulfill G–d's will becomes clearly apparent.