{"id":65689,"date":"2019-11-14T11:13:04","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T09:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65689"},"modified":"2022-02-28T17:50:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T15:50:15","slug":"vayera-walking-together-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/vayera-walking-together-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Vayera: Walking Together, Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[418,454,368,369],"acf":{"old_id":"65689","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46171,"related_cahpter":"1070","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The lamb for the sacrifice","content":"<p>Genesis 22 opens with, \u201cGod put Abraham to test,\u201d but Abraham does not know that he is being tested. God tells him to take his beloved son Isaac to the land of Moriah \u201cand offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains\u201d (Gen 22:2). Abraham sets out with Isaac, taking two young men and a donkey. Three days into their journey Abraham \u201clifted his eyes\u201d and saw his destination. Leaving the two men and the donkey behind, he and Isaac \u201cwent both of them together\u201d (Gen. 22:6).<\/p>\n<p>These verses give rise to several questions. How could Abraham possibly have been ready to sacrifice his only son, the heir that he had longed for for so many years? What is the meaning of the words, repeated twice in the story, about walking together, once when \u201cAbraham took the wood of the burnt-offering and laid it upon Isaac his son\u201d (Gen.22:6) and then, again, after Isaac\u2019s question about an animal for the sacrifice and Abraham\u2019s answer? Does the phrase mean that they walked together in silence or that they were in total accord as they walked on?<\/p>\n<p>In Avner Moriah\u2019s unusual rendering he does not portray Abraham placing his son on top of the altar he had built, as we find in most images of the Binding of Isaac. Rather, it seems that he gives expression to Abraham\u2019s enormous burden coupled with his total faith and commitment to God by painting a mountainous area with Abraham, fire in one hand and a knife in the other, climbing from one mountain to another. Isaac is following behind carrying the wood for the sacrifice. Abraham\u2019s knife seems to be touching Isaac\u2019s neck, giving the impression that the boy is being pulled along rather than willingly walking \u201ctogether\u201d with his father. At the bottom left of the painting the artist ingeniously gives a significant role to the braying donkey, who seems to \u2018inform\u2019 Abraham of the saving ram\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n<p>The fire in Abraham\u2019s hand is shedding light on a triangular area between two mountains, where we see an image of a crouching lamb. The painting seems to capture the very moment when Isaac says to his father \u201cBehold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?\u201d (Gen. 22:7). Interestingly, Isaac talks about the fire and the wood but not the knife in his father\u2019s hand. As portrayed here, the image of the knife is so alarming that Isaac might have been afraid to ask about it.<\/p>\n<p>Abraham\u2019s tender and evasive answer, \u201cGod will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son\u201d (Gen. 22:8), is visualized in the image of the lamb above. This depiction is not only Abraham\u2019s answer to Isaac\u2019s question, but perhaps also his heartfelt plea to God. To the left of the central scene we see a ram \u201ccaught in the thicket by his horn\u201d (Gen. 22:13). He will not have to slaughter his son but will sacrifice the ram instead. Yet he will return to the waiting youths alone, the whereabouts of Isaac remaining a mystery.\u00a0<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65701,"id":65701,"title":"04 Va-yera","filename":"04-Va-yera.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/04-Va-yera.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/vayera-walking-together-alone\/04-va-yera\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"04-va-yera","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65689,"date":"2019-11-14 09:04:49","modified":"2019-11-14 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