Rabbi Mordechai Kraft - Abraham's Final Test

Okay, everybody. Welcome. First, I'd like to welcome everybody once again to our lunch and learn on Tuesday, Tuesday 12:00 New York time. And um if it's Tuesday, much must be lunch and learn. That's what we say. And we do hope that everybody can utilize this time to find a way to be part of the Emunah community and to to share and and to to grow in words of Torah and inspiration. Please feel free if you have any questions on what I'm saying to you can send me an email to [email protected] or just you know, even better just unmute yourself and and really ask a question and join in the conversation. Okay, and uh we'd be happy to take all questions and to to make this a joint learning experience. So, I'm going to speak today about um a topic which you know, which I think we're all very fascinated by. We're all very interested in. And by that I'm referring specifically to the story of the binding of Isaac. And the binding of Isaac is the 10th test that Abraham experiences as we know. After passing nine other tests. And seemingly out of the blue Hashem asks him to take his son the son that he's waited for for 100 years and to offer him up as a as a sacrifice. And and that seems startling. It seems to be something which uh you know, even despite the fact that that it it's against everything that Abraham believes in and everything he understands to be true about Hashem. What's even more startling about it, where does it come from? Like, why? And that perhaps is something to think about as we go through the story as well. Though what I'd like to focus on today is is really to see if we can discover the meaning of the story by just looking at the storyline itself. And to do this, I'm going to do it with a structure that was introduced to me by a a a teacher that many of us are familiar with, Rabbi David Foreman of Aleph Beta and someone who's been teaching guiding students for many many years. And we're going to look at the story and see if the story itself from the words from the words itself if we can find a a structure, like a hidden meaning in the storyline. And without even looking so much at outside sources but maybe the story itself can teach us really what is the essence of this amazing test called the binding of of Isaac and the sacrifice of Isaac. So, to do this, we're going to do we're going to look for something which in the terms of analysis is called a a chiasm. A chiasm means when things converge towards the center. Thus to say, if we could look at Hashem's words and just through the words themselves can we identify what the but perhaps the the central part of the story is, the verse or the word that might be right at the middle of the story. I I think we'd agree that that would indicate that's probably where the meaning lies. You know, any author, God is the ultimate author, but any author ha- skillfully will try to to have all ideas converge towards one central point and that central point will really be the heart. God communicates Hashem communicates in many ways. He communicates to us through the the oral law, which also of course is an essential part of understanding the written law. But within the written law itself, the text has meaning. And when the meaning when we we analyze and we think a little bit into it maybe we could find a little bit of God's plan. Now, I think particularly we can see this beautifully communicated. And maybe this will help answer that question that we have, which is what does God really want from Abraham? What why test him with a test of sacrificing his son? What's that to What's that all about? And you know, I think when we first think about the story, obviously many ideas come to mind and and certainly the idea that God wants to see, you know, are you doing this because it makes sense to you? Is logical? Or are you a true servant of me, which means that even when it defies all of your logic you're still willing to do what I'm asking of you. You know, we have to remember that Abraham Avinu came to the Torah on his own. No one taught it to him. He lived in a world of idolatry, an idolatrous father and came to this understanding through his intellect and was able to discern and maybe extrapolate God's word because it was so logical. He looked at the world and he said, I see a designer. And therefore there must be a moral code to this world and through his his his refined he was able to discover and and keep the whole Torah they say. But perhaps there's always a question, is he keeping it because it makes sense to him? Or is real service of God when it makes no sense? And the truth of the matter is that's really where service of God lives. It's God, I'm going to love you where I don't understand you. And real all love lives there as we spoken about in other classes. Love really lives where we don't understand the other and that's definitely an important ingredient to the story. Though I I think what we need still to explore is the idea that what does God want to bring out from Abraham? Why why this test? You know, what is he trying to bring forth from him with a test to kill your child? I mean, that is something which again it defies all logic. It goes against everything that Abraham believes in. It's certainly something which you know, certainly fits that idea. But maybe there's another aspect to it. And something that he wants to see from Abraham a bring out from Abraham, a part of Abraham that maybe Abraham didn't even know that he had but God wants to bring it forth. And the reality that's the purpose of every test. Every test that God gives us, every Nisayon the purpose of a test, you know, the word Nisayon in Hebrew is from the word Nasa. Nasa in Hebrew means to elevate. So, when God wants to elevate us, he tests us. He's in the testing business. If anything God is doing, he's finding ways to create unique tests for us all. And by doing so, bring out that part of us that maybe we have the potential to be but we didn't know we had inside of ourselves. So, God wants it to come forth into the world. I think there's something special that God wants to bring forth from Abraham in addition to the major lesson that he's teaching him that service of me is about serving me when you don't understand, not just when you do understand. But I think there's something that God wants to bring out from Abraham and that I think the structure of the story perhaps will shed an amazing light on. So, to do this, I'm going to read the story. And as we do as we go through it I'm going to see let's see together if we can identify a pattern in the story. Now, what I mean by a pattern in this context is can we identify a beginning a middle and the end? Now, let's see what that means. A beginning, a middle and an end. And if we can do that and we can identify that middle I think we can be confident that the essence of the story will lie in that chiasm, the convergence right towards the center. So, the story begins like this. Be This is in in in the parsha in Genesis 22 22 begins the verse one. In in in Vayeira. It says Vayachar Divarim Ele Velokim Nisah Avram. And after these things, so God tested Abraham. Vayomer Elav Avram. And Abraham said Vayomer Hineni. And Abraham said to God this such an important word that we see in the in the through as we read it. Abraham said the words Hineni. I'm ready. Keep that word in mind. It's going to occur again. Vayomer, God says Kach Nas Bincha Es Yichidcha Asher Ahavta Es Yitzchak. And God says to Abraham, I want you to take your son. Abraham says back, Rashi quotes, I have two sons. Shmuel and Yitzchak And God says Es Yichidcha. Your special son. He said, they're both special to me. Asher Ahavta, the one you love. I love both of them. One I love from this mother and I have that mother. Es Yitzchak. I'm talking about Yitzchak. And Rashi points out the reason he does that in that way is to build the love for Yitzchak. The concept being that the more we focus, the more we love. Of course, he loves Yitzchak. But the more he thinks about Yitzchak, who who is he? He's not only your son, he's your special son, the one you love. And thereby the more he focuses on his love the deeper and the harder will be the test and the greater will be the reward. And just to keep that in mind that that I think that's just a just a beautiful point in its own right. That love is really a function of focus. We might intuitively or or maybe innately love. But the more we focus on the beauty and the greatness and the virtues of the other, the more capacity we have to even greater love. And he says to Abraham Velech Lecha El Eretz HaMoriah. I want you to go to the land of Moriah. Veha'alehu Sham Le'olah. And I want you to bring him up to be an offering. Doesn't say to kill him. He just said to bring up to be an offering. Al Achad Heharim Asher Omar Elecha, on one of the mountains which I will say to you. Vayashkem Avram Baboker, and Abraham up early in the morning, which shows Rashi says shows his alacrity, his willingness to do the mitzvah. He saddles his own donkey despite the fact that he was one of the wealthiest men, if not the wealthiest man in the ancient world. He takes his two lads with him. We're told that Eliezer is a servant and Ishmael. Question is raised there by the way, what's Ishmael doing in the house? Isaac is 37 and Ishmael is 13 years older. Ishmael is 50. I think at this time he was already living in Paran. He wasn't living at home. Yet for some reason Hashem doesn't call upon Avram to do the Akedah until till Ishmael is there with him. Perhaps the message he's trying to communicate is that we should understand, Avram you should understand, the one I'm choosing is Isaac. And don't think well maybe had Ishmael been there, he would have been chosen. No, Ishmael is there. I'm still choosing Isaac. What happens? And Avram cuts wood. He gets up and he goes to the place where God had told him. And he goes to the place where God has told him. Now on the third day, three days we have to know he's traveling. This isn't an impetuous decision. This isn't a sudden spark of inspiration. He has three days to consider this. Now Avram lifts up his eyes. And he sees the place in the distance. He sees the place in the distance. And he says to Eliezer and to Ishmael, "Both of you come here. Stay here with the donkey. And I and the boy, meaning Isaac, will go up to here. And we stop and we bow down. We'll return to you." Doesn't say what's going to happen exactly. Says well we will return. Is that prophetic or is he just saying it because he doesn't want to tell them what's going on? And Avram takes the wood and Avram takes the sticks that he's going to use for the fire. He places them on Isaac his son. He takes in his hand the fire of the wood, the knife. And they both walk together. Important line. They both walk together. Apparently they're in harmony. What's going to happen? They're walking together. And Isaac says to Avram, And Isaac says to Avram his father, He says, "My father." He says, "I'm here for you, my son." He says, "I see the fire the fire and the wood, but I but where's the ram for the offering?" And Avram says back, "God will provide the ram for the offering, God will provide the ram for the offering, my son." Interesting by the way, this is the only recorded dialogue between Avram and Isaac in the entire Torah. Not to say that they didn't speak. They probably spoke a lot. But the only dialogue that God feels necessary to record in the Torah is this one dialogue between Avram and Isaac there at the mountain. And we'll revisit it in a moment because it's a very significant dialogue. That's interesting by the way also. Avram's response to to Isaac is interesting. Isaac says, "I see the fire and I see the wood, but where's the ram for the offering?" And Avram says back, "God will provide the ram for the offering, my son." Does that mean that God will provide the ram for the offering, comma, my son? Or God will provide the ram for the offering, my son? Everything depends on where you choose to put the comma. Is that true in all writing? Where you choose to put the comma is everything. And then it ends by saying and Avram cuts wood and they both walk together, the same word. And they came to the place where God had told them. And they came to the place that God had told them. And Avram built there an altar. And Avram built there an altar. And he arranged the sticks. And he arranged the sticks. And he bound Isaac. And he bound Isaac. And Isaac said to him, "Listen, I'm 37. I'm a strong man. I don't want to I don't want to move just instinctively and therefore cause a blemish in myself. Please bind me." Avram places him on the altar above the sticks from above the sticks, above the wood. And Avram picks up his hand and he takes the knife to slaughter his son. And he slaughters his son. And an angel calls out from heaven. And an angel calls out from heaven. He says to him, "Avram, Avram." Says to him two times, "Avram, Avram." And Avram says that word again, "I'm here." He says, "I'm here." And the angel says, "Don't send your hand forth to the boy. Don't make a blemish. I tell you that because now I know that you that you truly fear God. And you did not withhold your son, your special son from me." Let's stop the story right there. The story is so fascinating. Let's just go back to the beginning for a moment and see if we can identify a beginning, a middle, and an end. That's how we're going to do this. Well, let's look at the story one more time. God comes to Avram to test him. And Avram responds with the word and Avram says to him, "I'm here." "I'm here." I'm here. I'm ready. That word "I'm here" is a crucial word. It repeats itself. By the way, just to comment, the next God says to Avram, "Please take." "Please take" means in Hebrew, "Please take." But according to many commentaries, the Ram especially Ram, "Please take" I think supports this. "Please take" means "Please take." What does What does God say "Please take your son"? It's almost a little perverse, you know. "Please take your son to slaughter him." Like I'm giving you I'm commanding you to kill your son. Please take him. It seems like if you're going to command to kill a son, you don't say "Please." You just say "Take him." You know, for example, we see that um that the animals on the ark, so it says all the animals that were to come two by two, it says Moses took them. He said He said to them Moses said to them the the animals that were, you know, going to survive, it says they came on their own free will. The animals that were going to be used in a sacrifice, God commands Noah, "Take them." Just because it's not nice. You can't let animals that are going to be used as a sacrifice, you know, to come on their own free will. They're going to be slaughtered. So too here, if God's using the word "Please take your son." "Please take your son. Please take your son." You know, giving you a command to kill him, you say well just please take him to be killed. So the way that the Ram, one of the great Rishonim, but decent, he explains it. No, this is not a command. This is a request. I'm not commanding you to do this. Please take. It's my request. I'm asking you Avram, between you and me, God is saying, "I'm asking this of you to please take my son." But it's not a command. Interesting. By the way, think for a moment. Does that make the test less difficult or more difficult? Less difficult or more difficult? The fact that it might not be a command at all, but Avram, it's your free will. It's a request from me to you. I'd like you to take. Please, I'd like you to take your son and to offer him as a sacrifice and kill him. Interesting. I think we might agree on this that this ratchets up the test by I in awesome amount of degrees. See, if it's a command, he could maybe fall back and say, "Look, God, you're commanding me to do this. I don't have a choice. And look, you're the creator of reality and you're asking it of me. I know I have to submit." But you're not asking it as a command. You're requesting it. If you're requesting it, well, it means I have to come and discover a part of myself where I want to say I'm willing to do this. Not because you're commanding it, but because I love you and you're asking it of me. It's a different test in some ways. Just keep that in mind a little bit. But that word is so important. Avram says back to God, "I'm here." Let's think for a moment. How might we identify an end of a story? If that word "I'm here" is the beginning of the story, when God says "I'm ready" when Avram says "I'm ready." How might we identify Well, where does the story end? So we could find a beginning and an end and thereby work towards the middle. Well, interesting, let's go back Let's go to the end of the story where the angel calls to Avram. It says an angel calls from heaven. An angel of Hashem calls from heaven. He says to him, "Avram, He says to him, "Avram, Avram." Vayomer, "Hineni." And what does Avram say back? "Hineni, I'm here." Interesting. And that's really where the story ends. Because that's where the angel now comes to him and says basically stop it. So, the story begins with Avram saying, "Hineni, I'm ready." And the story seems to end with Avram responding to the angel who's trying to stop doing it, and Avram says the exact same word, "Hineni." Oh, interesting. I think we have a beginning and we have an end. Let's see if we can work towards a middle. Now, how are we going to find a middle? Well, let's think. If we have a beginning and an end, can we identify a what we might call, let's say, a second position that mirrors sort of a second position from the end? That's to say, if we found a Hineni Hineni, can we find, let's say, a B that mirrors a B at the end of the story? And then a C that mirrors a C. And D that mirrors a D until we're right there in the middle. Let's see if we can do that. Well, it's interesting. As they go up the mountain, it says that in verse five, excuse me, in verse six, it says Vayikach Avram et atzei olam. Avram has sticks that he's going to use for the fire because to burn an offering requires a lot of of wood. It says Vayasem al Yitzchak beno. And he places them on Yitzchak, his son. That's the language in verse six. He places the sticks that he's going to use for the fire on Yitzchak, his son. Let me ask you a question. How do you place sticks on somebody? If you try to place sticks on someone's back, let's say, they're going to fall off. What do you do? You just can't place sticks on somebody and can't expect Yitzchak to be holding his arms up the whole way up the mountain as they're walking. Can And it says he placed them on Yitzchak. What must that mean? Oh, interesting. It must mean he tied the sticks on Yitzchak. He tied the sticks where? On Yitzchak's back. In other words, sticks are on top of Yitzchak. Sticks on top of Yitzchak. Let's see, can we find a mirror image of that at the end of the story? I think we can. Look what happens over here. As we get to verse That was verse six. Let's go to verse 11. Excuse me. Let's go to verse 10. Ooh, pardon me, verse nine. It says Vayavo el hamakom. And they came to the place as Elohim had God said. Vayiven sham Avram mizbe'ach, and Avram built over there an altar. Listen to this. Vaya'aroch et ha'etzim. And he arranged the sticks. Vaya'akod et Yitzchak beno, and he tied up Yitzchak. Vayasem oto al hamizbe'ach. And he placed Yitzchak on the altar mimma'al la'etzim. On top of the sticks. Oh, this is the mirror image. First, God places sticks on top of Excuse me, Avram places sticks on top of Yitzchak. And now what does Avram do? He places Yitzchak on top of sticks. Mirror image. Sticks on top of Yitzchak so they shouldn't fall off. And then a few verses later, what does Avram do? He places Yitzchak mimma'al la'etzim on top of the sticks. Sticks on top of Yitzchak, Yitzchak on top of sticks. A mirror image. A mirror image. Also, let's where where are we right down the story? Let's examine. We have a Hineni at the beginning. Point one. Mirrored by Hineni at the end. One one. We have a second position. Yitzchak on top of sticks Excuse me, sticks on top of Yitzchak. Mirrored by Yitzchak on top of sticks. Oh, we're moving towards a center. Can we find, let's say, call point C that mirrors point C towards the end of the story? Well, let's say, I think we can. It says that in verse the end of verse six, where it says Vayikach Avram et atzei olam, and Avram takes the wood and places them on Yitzchak, his son. And he takes in his hand the fire and the ma'achelet, the knife. Vayeilechu shneihem yachdav. Interesting words. Three words. Vayeilechu shneihem yachdav means and they both walked together. That phrase, Vayeilechu shneihem yachdav, and they both walked together. Well, where do we find that phrase? Interesting. That's the end of verse six. Right there at the end of verse eight, we find the exact same line. Vayomer Avram, Avram, and Avram says, "Elohim yireh lo haseh le'olah, beni." God will provide the ram for the offering, my son. Vayeilechu shneihem yachdav. And they both walked together. Same exact three words. The end of sentence, the end of pasuk vav, the sixth pasuk, the sixth verse, ends with that word, three words, and they both walked together, Vayeilechu shneihem yachdav. And the end of verse eight ends with the exact same words, Vayeilechu shneihem yachdav, and they both walked together. Do you hear what's happening? Let's review. We have a Hineni at the beginning. When God Avram says, "I'm ready." We have a Hineni at the end. When Avram says, "I'm ready not to do it." When the angel stops him. We have the We have the image of Avram placing sticks on top of Yitzchak. Then we have it reversed. Yitzchak is then on the altar on top of the sticks. And then we see in verse the end of verse six, and it says and they both walked together. And the end of verse eight, it says the same three words, Vayeilechu shneihem yachdav, and they both walked together. Hineni Hineni. Sticks on top of Yitzchak, Yitzchak Yitzchak on top of sticks. They both walked together. They both walked together. Where are we in the story? There's only one verse now that separates between six and eight. That's verse seven. It must mean that the center point of this story is verse seven. Oh, let's read verse seven. What is in verse seven over here? If you're not following along, everybody, I recommend you pick up a Chumash or just after we know the discussion, please, you'll see something so beautiful. Let's read verse seven together. Vayomer Yitzchak el Avram aviv. This is the conversation. How interesting. The one conversation between Yitzchak and Avram in the entire Torah is right here in verse seven. The middle point of the whole story is this conversation. Oh, let's examine this conversation. I love conversations in the Torah because there's They're They're few and far between. Hashem doesn't choose to record every conversation. But if he does, they're so meaningful. So, what does it say over here? Verse seven. Vayomer Yitzchak el Avram. And Yitzchak says, and he started again. Vayomer Yitzchak el Avram aviv. And Yitzchak says to Avram, his father, Vayomer, "Avi." And he says, "My father." What's wrong with that sentence? David over there in Bolivia, I'm asking you right now. David, how are you? What's wrong with that sentence? Vayomer Yitzchak el Avram aviv. And Yitzchak says to Avram, his father, Vayomer, "Avi." He says, "My father." That sentence doesn't make any sense. And Yitzchak said to Avram, his father, and he said, "My father." What? It should read, And Yitzchak Vayomer Yitzchak el Avram, and Yitzchak said to Avram, his father, {comma} "My father." Why does it say Vayomer Yitzchak el Avram aviv, and Yitzchak said to Avram, his father, Vayomer Yitzchak, and Yitzchak said, "Avi." Why does the Torah repeat and Yitzchak said? Just simply say, And Yitzchak said to Avram, his father, {comma} "My father." Vayomer Yitzchak el Avram aviv. Vayomer, and he says, "My father." It's a beautiful fact you showed that beautiful foundational idea that that Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch says, "Whenever a dialogue begins, and then it's right in the middle of the dialogue, the speaker says Vayomer, and he said, without kind of ending the thought, it means that he had a thought, and halfway through the thought, he started again." So, let's see if that works in this particular situation. Vayomer Yitzchak el Avram aviv. And Yitzchak said to Avram, his father, Vayomer, and he said, "Avi." Meaning, Yitzchak is trying to wants to say something to Avram, his father. All of a sudden, something dawns upon him. What's going on over here? Vayomer and he says he stops in mid-sentence and begins again and he says Avi my father. Interesting. You know how do soldiers how do armies train soldiers to kill? What do they do? Every army uses the same technique. They have to instill in the minds of the soldiers that the enemy is not a real person. You have to dehumanize the enemy. You know, for example, in World War II Americans always referred to the American Navy, American Army, always referred to Japan as Team Orange. You have to There's Team Orange. They're they're They're not really They're not They're not really people. The guy is in world in It's It's It's They always refer to the enemy as the other guy. He's the other guy. Like World War II, they referred to the Germans as Jerry. You never can see the enemy as a person like you. Otherwise, how do you do it? How do you kill? You have to dehumanize the other in order to kill the other. And that's the technique that every army will use and and otherwise, how do you do it? If a If a guy is going to If you're going to kill somebody, he's going to take out the picture of his wife and children and and and you have to just How can you do it? So, you have to In your mind, one needs to In one's mind, say, "In my mind, I don't see a person in front of me." You know, it's interesting, just parenthetically, they're really in in throughout history and especially European history for the most part, Jews in Europe were not citizens of the country and therefore no obligation to serve in the army. Which was really a blessing in some ways because the fact that we were scattered all across Europe meant that we never had to oppose each other in battle. There's only one war, I believe where Jews all of a sudden were on opposing sides, and that was World War I. You had Jews in the German army and Jews in the French army. And the famous story that they say about In World War I, World War I work was trench warfare and there was so much blood was spilled just in taking a few yards of of trenches as they're moving forward in the fields of France. And the famous story of a officer giving the French soldier the command to jump out of the trench and to just to a to to attack and to the the German trench. So, the French soldier jumps out, bayonet. He lands on the German soldier. He's about to stab him and the German soldier screams out, "Shema Yisrael!" And the French soldier responds, "Echad!" And of course once those words were said it's no longer a German soldier and a French soldier. Now it's two brothers, part of Am Yisrael. And of course, the outcome's going to be entirely different. They can't We we know each other now. But that's that's the exception to the rule. So, I'm going to suggest something. Yitzchak's about to say something over here. Vayomer Yitzchak el Avraham Avraham and Yitzchak says to Avraham his father He starts again, vayomer, and he says Avi my father. You know right now as Avraham is preparing himself to sacrifice Yitzchak, to kill Yitzchak, mentally steeling himself for the surrenderous act that that he's been requested to do. I would suggest there's one word that he does not want to hear now. There's absolutely one word in the entire world that would be the last thing that he wants to hear coming out of the mouth of Yitzchak right now. What's that one word? Abba. In Russian, they say "Papushka." Daddy. You know, Abba. That would be the last thing that Avraham wants to hear right now. Yitzchak turning to him and saying Daddy, Abba. You know, the word Abba, by the way, is such a beautiful word. Abba, they say it says in the Gemara, comes from the word And the way they play a play on the word is ani evyon, which means I'm poor. I'm I need you. Abba, ani evyon. I'm lacking. I'm just a poor person. I'm poor. I need you. That's why it's such a beautiful, sweet word. When a child turns to a father and says, "Abba." I know my children, when they have to say "Abba", to this day it's many of them are They're adults. I've met them. But when they say the word "Abba" I I feel such What can I What can I do for you? How can I help you? The last thing that Avraham wants to hear right now is that one word. Avi. My father? You my father? You're going to do this to me? It dawns upon him. He gets it. What's going on over here? I see the I see the fire. I see the wood. I see the knife. But where's the offering? Where's the ram? My father. Like you're going to really do this? Now, Avraham responds and he says, "Hineni b'ni." Behold, I'm here for you, my son. Vayomer Yitzchak says the line I just said, "Hinei ha'eish v'ha'etzim." I see the fire and the wood, but "Ayah ha'seh l'olah?" "Ayah ha'seh l'olah?" Where's the ram for the offering? Vayomer Avraham and Avraham says back, "Elohim yireh lo ha'seh l'olah, b'ni." God will provide the ram for the offering, my son. Again, Avraham says those ambiguous words. Will God provide the ram for the offering, comma, my son? Or God will provide the ram for the offering my son. And then what happens? It says Mhm. Vayomer Avraham b'ni. Right then Avraham says back Vayomer Elohim yireh lo ha'seh l'olah, b'ni. And then those words, "Vayeilchu shneihem yachdav." And that's the conversation. Now, let's look at this conversation. Just analyze it just before we delve for a moment. Again, let's just review where we are over here so we make sure we understand. We had the hineni at the beginning. Hineni at the end. We have wood on top of Yitzchak. We have Yitzchak on top of wood. We had the end of verse six saying they both and they both walked together. We have the end of verse eight saying "Vayeilchu shneihem yachdav." They both walked together. Now we're right in verse seven, the only dialogue between Avraham and Yitzchak in the entire Torah. Interestingly, in this dialogue, there's something extraordinary. There's a word that's repeated in this dialogue many times. Let's see if we could find the word. Listen carefully. Vayomer Yitzchak el Avraham Avraham. And Yitzchak said to Avraham his father Vayomer Avi. And he said my father. Vayomer. And he said "Hineni b'ni." I'm here for you, my son. Vayomer. And he said "Hinei ha'eish v'ha'etzim." I see the fire and the wood, but where's the offering? Vayomer. And he said God will provide the ram for the offering my son. Do we hear a word that's repeating in this dialogue excessively? Let's do it again. Vayomer Yitzchak el Avraham Avraham. And Yitzchak said to Avraham his father. Vayomer. And he said my father. Vayomer. Hineni b'ni. He said my son. Vayomer. And he said, "Here's the fire and the wood." Vayomer. And he said, "God will provide the offering, my son." What word is repeated five times? Vayomer. And he said. Very strange. A dialogue that repeats the word "And he said" "And he said" "And he said" "And he said" "And he said" five times in one dialogue. Five times. Now, that's interesting. Though, maybe what's even just very remarkable is it's said five times. So, wait a minute. You know, I'm not so good at math, but I'm pretty aware that five is an odd number. If five is an odd number, what does that mean? It means that there's a middle point to those vayomers. Five vayomers, five he says. So, you have five he says, you have two over here, you have two over here, and there's a central one. Let's see if we could discover what that central vayomer is. Here we are in the story, everybody. We're getting right to that center. Hineni at the beginning. Hineni at the end. Wood on Yitzchak. Yitzchak on wood. They both walked together. They both walked together. Sandwiched between that is the only dialogue between Avraham and Yitzchak in the entire story with five vayomers. And five is an odd number, which means there's going to be a central vayomer. And that central "And he said" is the bull's-eye. That is the heart of the story. That is that central point that we're looking for right now. Let's see if we can identify it. And what will it be? Of course, it's going to be vayomer "And he said" number three. Let's see if we could find it. Vayomer Yitzchak el Avraham Avraham. And Yitzchak said to Avraham, his father, Vayomer avi, number two. And he said, "My father." Number three, are you ready? Vayomer, and he said, "Hineni, beni." I'm here for you, my son. Wait a minute. How did the story begin? What was the first word that indicated the beginning? Hineni. What was the word that indicated the end of the story? Hineni. What now is the word dead center in the middle of the story? Hineni. Have we identified the middle? I think we have. All converging to that central point of that middle Hineni. And what's the word that follows that middle Hineni? Hineni, beni. I'm here for you, my son. That is the central point of the story. And perhaps if that's the central point of the story, that's where the essence of the story lives. Let's see if we could put it together. What does that mean? Avraham is being asked by God, requested by God, to take his son and to kill him. Is Is that really a test? Many people have wanted to sacrifice their children in history for God. We see it. Maybe to this day we see it. People willing to give their children over to to die, to commit atrocities, to to to kill people, to kill Jews in the process. We We witness that. Giving one's child over to kill to kill one's child for God's name or God's sake, granted it takes an enormous amount of faith, but is that really what God wants to see from an Avraham? That you have within you, if I'm asking it of you, to withhold all your feelings of a father to a son and just do what I'm asking you to do, to kill your son? Just to If you're asking you to be cruel, because cruelty would be the complete opposite of everything you understand about me and the world and what I'm all about, but if I'm asking you to do it, you'll do it. Is that what God's asking of Avraham? To see how cruel you can be? I don't think so. That central Hineni, beni, is God Is Avraham turns to his son and says, "I am here for you, my son." What does that mean? Yitzchak, I'm not sure what's going to happen up on that mountain right now. I'm going to bring an offering. It might be a ram. It may be you. But I want you to understand something right now. Whatever is going to happen, you are my son. Even if it means that I have to take a knife and slaughter you. I'm never going to let go of the love that a father has for a son. I'm not going to do this by cauterizing my emotion, by steeling myself and just pretending that you're not You're not my son, that you're not a person. What I'm going to do is I'm going to feel for you with every ounce of love that a father has for a son. You are my son even now, and I'm not going to let go of that. I'm going to show God I can love him. I'm going to do what he wants me to do, because if that's what he wants me to do, I'm going to do it. But I'm going to love you to the end. You see, the test for Avraham right now was not a test of how cruel you can be if I'm asking you to do that. The test for Avraham was how human can you be even now? How much love do you have inside of you? How developed is your heart that even in an act like this, you're going to hold onto every ounce of your humanity and show and feel the love for your child even now. Hineni, beni. Behold, he says, "Hineni, I'm ready. I'm here for you, my son." That's the bull's-eye of the story. It's a test not of can I cauterize and be callous if God asked that of me. And be so cruel and defy everything I understand about God if that's what he asked of me. The story is, "God, you're asking this of me. That's true. It does contradict things I know about you. I understand this is a test. It's a test to subordinate my intellectual understanding, my logical understanding to your to really serve you because I'm serving you when I don't understand you. But I want the real test that God is asking of Avraham, and Avraham gets it, is how human can you be even now? Can you hold onto that humanity? Can you love with every ounce of a love for a father even now? How real are you? How deep is your love? How deep is your neshama? How developed are you that you're going to love even now? That's what God perhaps wants to pull out of Avraham in this final 10th test that he has. And he succeeds. He pulls it out of Avraham. And of course after that, the story just needs to close there. How interesting it is, by the way, at the end of the story, when the angel comes to Avraham, he says two words. He says, "Avraham, Avraham." Says it twice. So we have a tradition that whenever two names are mentioned, the same name is mentioned twice, it means that the Avraham down below matches the Avraham up above. That's to say that in shamayim, there's some spiritual image, as it were, of who we can be or who we're supposed to be. And it could be even after 120 years we go to shamayim, God's going to show that to us and say, "Did you achieve that? This is who you were supposed to be. Did you become that?" When the angel turns to Avraham and says to him, "Avraham, Avraham," it means the Avraham upstairs, the Avraham that you were created to be is in harmony, is aligned with the Avraham down below. There's a mirror image of the Avraham above and the Avraham below. How interesting. The story ends with that mirror image. Because the whole story is working that way. Mirror imaging. A Hineni bearing a Hineni. Wood on top of Yitzchak, Yitzchak on top of woods. They're both walking together. They're both walking together. A middle dialogue, the only dialogue between Avraham and Yitzchak in the whole story with five vayomers, and that central one is that beautiful line of the third of the middle Hineni, which Avraham says, "I'm here for you, my son. I'm not going to let go of my humanity. I'm going to show how much I can love even now. That's the type of person I can be. And that's the type of person God created in Avraham, created in Avraham to be, and wanted to see if he's capable of it, and wanted to pull it forth from him. And when Avraham did pull it forth, he really created a spiritual gene, a spiritual gene that is inherited by the entire Jewish nation. A gene that can be so holy in its love and protection of its own humanity even in the most difficult of times. I wish everybody a good week and look forward to continuing the discussion next week. Take care.