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Rabbi's Blog

rabbi 05 smallsf badge lgRabbi Joel Landau  (rabbi@adathisraelsf.org) has been the Rabbi of Adath Israel since May 2013. He was ordained by the Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem and has served previously as a congregational Rabbi in Charleston, South Carolina and Irvine, California. A full biography of Rabbi Landau is available here.


In this week’s parasha, we run into one of history’s most famous paradoxes. On the one hand, G-d has promised Abraham time and time again that he will have numerous descendants who will be a great nation. After decades of childlessness, against all odds, a child is born. Then one day, G-d commands Abraham in his most difficult test- to bring up his son Isaac like an offering. 

In his article, "The Miracle of a Child," Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks helps us understand these events. First, Rabbi Sacks goes through the four promises that G-d made to Abraham regarding his descendents:

The first words of G-d to Abraham were: “Go out from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house . . . And I will make you a great nation . . .”

In the next chapter there is another promise: “I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, so shall your offspring be counted.”

Two chapters later comes a third: “G-d took him outside and said, ‘Look at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.’ Then He said to him, ‘So shall your children be.’”

Finally, the fourth: “Your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.”

Four escalating promises: Abraham would be the father of a great nation, as many as the dust of the earth and the stars of the sky. He would be the father not of one nation but of many.

When Sara has a son, it seems as if we’ve reached our happy ending:

After all the promises and prayers, Abraham and Sarah at last have a child. Then come the words which, in all the intervening centuries, have not lost their power to shock:

After these things, G-d tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then G-d said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you.”

As Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac, a voice from Heaven commands him to stop. Isaac lives, but the following questions remain:

Why all the promises and disappointments? Why the hope so often raised, so often unfulfilled? Why delay? Why Ishmael? Why the binding? Why put Abraham and Sarah through the agony of thinking that the son for whom they have waited for so long is about to die?

There are many answers to these questions. According to Rabbi Sacks, this is meant to teach us the importance of not taking things for granted:

Judaism is a sustained discipline in not taking life for granted. We were the people born in slavery so that we would value freedom. We were the nation always small, so that we would know that strength does not lie in numbers but in the faith that begets courage. Our ancestors walked through the valley of the shadow of death, so that we could never forget the sanctity of life.

He goes on to say that as Jews, our children are our greatest value:

Throughout history, Jews were called on to value children. Our entire value system is built on it. Our citadels are schools, our passion, education, and our greatest heroes, teachers. The seder service on Pesach can only begin with questions asked by a child. On the first day of the New Year, we read not about the creation of the universe but about the birth of a child – Isaac to Sarah, Samuel to Hannah. Ours is a supremely child-centred faith.

The juxtaposition of G-d’s promises to Abraham, the wait for children, and the binding are meant to teach us that each child is a miracle and we should never take them for granted:

That is why, at the dawn of Jewish time, G-d put Abraham and Sarah through these trials – the long wait, the unmet hope, the binding itself – so that neither they nor their descendants would ever take children for granted. Every child is a miracle. Being a parent is the closest we get to G-d – bringing life into being through an act of love.

Which is why we here at Adath Israel are so incredibly invested in our youngest members. It is our duty to provide them with meaningful and exciting Jewish experiences to ignite a spark that will continue to grow their whole lives. From stimulating Shabbat story time to helping parents get their children to school every morning, we are committed to providing opportunities that will shape positive and confident Jewish identities. We thank you for your contributions to our youth programming, including the Jeff Keyak Memorial Youth Fund and the Jewish Day School Transportation Fund, which helps make such programming possible. Thank you for making this investment in our children and our future.