The root of the word for sacrifice used here, <\/span>Korban<\/em> <\/span>(<\/span>\u05e7\u05e8\u05d1\u05df<\/span>), is <\/span>\u05e7\u05e8\u05d1<\/span>, <\/span>k-r-b<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cclose\u201d or \u201cnear\u201d; sacrifices were one of the ways through which our ancestors came closer to the Divine. The Zohar (III 5a) teaches that the word denotes \u201ccompassion\u201d (<\/span>rachamim<\/span><\/em>). Our parsha is the first time that the Torah uses this particular word to describe a sacrifice, and this is not the only hint that the intended mood of the parsha is tender intimacy. Rashi, the great French medieval commentator, begins his commentary on our parsha by noting that the very first word, \u201cVayikra\u201d (\u201cAnd He called\u201d) signifies affection.<\/span><\/p>\r\n This first word, \u201cVayikra,\u201d is describing the Infinite One calling to Moses. Rashi writes that each utterance from the Divine to Moses is preceded by an affectionate call. Moses was not being summoned to merely absorb information, but rather to participate in a loving relationship. As the Zohar (III 4b) relates, Moses was being called into the nuptial chamber by his bride \u2013 the Shechinah, the Feminine Divine Presence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Rashi goes on to explain that the Infinite One interrupts the flow of each prophecy to Moses with breaks, to give Moses space to contemplate between one passage and the next, and between one subject and another. He comments that if this was necessary for Moses, it must be all the more true for the likes of you and me.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Our parsha calls (<\/span>\u05e7\u05e8\u05d0<\/span>) us to come close (<\/span>\u05e7\u05e8\u05d1<\/span>) into loving, intimate relationship with the Creator of all life. And at the same time, it invites us to pause for reflection. We all know how easy it is to be sucked into the next task on our list, whatever it is. We also know that sooner or later, if we do not pause, we lose the ability to truly appreciate what is happening in each moment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Similarly with shmitah, the sabbatical year that the Torah asks us to apply to our land and to our economy. When we step back from our usual ways of engaging with the earth and the economy, when we release our usual patterns and tools, we open a sacred space for contemplation, and for re-imagining ourselves and our world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n This year is the shmita year: Shmita means a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we continue to share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/em><\/p>\r\n See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"A Weekly Series: The \"Shmitah Parasha\" Blog","tile_main_caption":"Vayikra (Shabbat Zachor): Stepping Back, Drawing Close","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"in conjunction with Hazon.org","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"368","name":"Parasha","old_id":"768"},{"term_id":"494","name":"Shmita","old_id":"894"}]},{"order":3,"id":"37306","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Can We Heed the Call? ","post_title":"Can We Heed the Call?","slug":"can-we-heed-the-call","old_id":"37306","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"21","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Hearing all those who cry out - wherever they are","post_main_content_content":" I'm writing this on the first of Elul, beginning the period of preparation for Rosh Hashana. But that day is never called Rosh Hashana in the Torah. It's called a Yom Tru'ah<\/em>, literally, a day of crying out, or, Zichron Tru'ah<\/em>, a remembrance of crying out. What cries do we remember? Strangely, the first cry that the Torah reading of the day guides us to remember is none other than the cry of Ishmael in chapter 21.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Ishmael who mocked Isaac.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Ishmael who was expelled from his home upon Sarah's insistence, and with God's approval.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Ishmael against whom, in the midrashic imagination, the angels rise up, reminding God of what his descendants will do to the Jewish people. Hagar herself finds Ishmael 's cries too much to bear, and she casts him away. Despite all this, God insists on listening to Ishmael \"where he is\" (<\/span>b<\/span><\/i>a'asher hu sham<\/span><\/em>), in all his present pain, in all his current innocence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n If I wish to remind God of the ability to listen to the cry of each person ba'asher hu sham <\/em>on Rosh Hashana, then I must be willing to challenge myself with this responsibility as well. When my child, my spouse, my loved one, is in pain, am I present for them, or do I feel compelled to cast them away as Hagar did, unable to empathize, unable to be with them in their suffering? <\/span><\/p>\r\n And when I am present, am I capable of listening to their cry based on where they are now, or do I impose some vision of where I think they should be, or my fears of where they will go? And if I can do this for a loved one, as Hagar could not, can I do it even for a person I reject, for an \"enemy\", as God did? The coming month is for considering these questions, for working on our own listening, to prepare ourselves fully for a \"day of crying out\".<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":85640,"alt":"","title":"ps77-crying tears","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Can We Heed the Call?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Hearing all those who cry out - wherever they are","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":85640,"alt":"","title":"ps77-crying tears","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps77-crying-tears-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"21","chapter_main_number":"21","date":"20250928","wall_id":"21"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"405","name":"Memory","old_id":"805"}]},{"order":4,"id":"37313","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"Why is Abraham Complicit in Cruelty? ","post_title":"Why is Abraham Complicit in Cruelty?","slug":"why-is-abraham-complicit-in-cruelty","old_id":"37313","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34267,"post_title":"Danya Ruttenberg","slug":"danya-ruttenberg","old_id":"34267","first_name":"Danya","last_name":"Ruttenberg ","description":"Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is the author of Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting, a National Jewish Book Award finalist and PJ Library Parents' Choice selection, and six other books, including the Sami Rohr Prize-nominated Surprised By God. She has been named by Newsweek as one of ten \u201crabbis to watch,\u201d and the Forward one of the top 50 most influential women rabbis, and currently serves as Rabbi-in-Residence at Avodah.","short_description":"Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is the author of seven books and currently serves as Rabbi-in-Residence at Avodah","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34270,"alt":"","title":"Danya-Ruttenberg2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Danya-Ruttenberg2.jpg","width":1000,"height":667,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Danya-Ruttenberg2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Danya-Ruttenberg2-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Danya-Ruttenberg2-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Danya-Ruttenberg2.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":667,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Danya-Ruttenberg2.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":667,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Danya-Ruttenberg2.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":667,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Danya-Ruttenberg2.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":667,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Danya-Ruttenberg2-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"21","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Could it be the abusive model of parenting he learned from his father?","post_main_content_content":" \"Cast out that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!\u201d (Genesis 21:10)<\/span><\/p>\r\n Hagar is an enslaved woman with no means, and her name literally means, \"stranger;\" Sarah would rather imperil the lives of a vulnerable woman and child than share the inheritance that is legitimately his. Abraham balks, but God tells him to heed her and Hagar and Ishmael are sent out into the ruthless desert. There is no justice here. <\/span><\/p>\r\n Abraham is silent and obedient. \u00a0Where is the man who bravely confronted the Holy One a few short chapters earlier and demanded compassion for the vulnerable? And in Genesis 22, God commands Abraham to bind Isaac to the altar and slit his throat, and he is again ready to simply follow instructions.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Met with the chance to demand mercy for the people of Sodom, Abraham is a prophet fighting for the people. Met with the chance to demand even simple justice for his own children, and he is mute, inert. Complicit.<\/span><\/p>\r\n The reason why, I think, goes back to Abraham\u2019s own father, Terah. The midrash tells us that the young Abraham one day smashed the idols that his father made (Genesis Rabbah 38:11). Terah, furious, took him to the politically powerful Nimrod and the two men threw him into a fiery furnace, to be burned alive\u2014he survived only through divine intervention. \u00a0This is the abusive model of parenting that Abraham learned\u2014that children are not to be protected. Justice doesn\u2019t apply to them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Even when Abraham set out to the Promised Land, he couldn't extract himself from the patterns he had learned as a child. He didn\u2019t have a model of fathering that involves love, caring or compassion, and so when asked to behave without mercy to his own sons, he doesn't comprehend that things could go a different way.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Our obligation is to try to become as clear as possible on on the ways in which we may have been thrown in the fire, and to acknowledge that, even if we did get out\u2014we may not be as unscathed as we might think we are. Knowing where we're burned enables us to be careful as we move forward, to try to bring healing, rather than suffering, down the generational lines.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":37331,"alt":"","title":"hagar-abraham","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","width":629,"height":209,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham-300x100.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":100,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","medium_large-width":629,"medium_large-height":209,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","large-width":629,"large-height":209,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","1536x1536-width":629,"1536x1536-height":209,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","2048x2048-width":629,"2048x2048-height":209,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","post_full_size-width":629,"post_full_size-height":209,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","home_baner-width":629,"home_baner-height":209}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Why is Abraham Complicit in Cruelty?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Could it be the abusive model of parenting he learned from his father?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":37331,"alt":"","title":"hagar-abraham","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","width":629,"height":209,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham-300x100.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":100,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","medium_large-width":629,"medium_large-height":209,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","large-width":629,"large-height":209,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","1536x1536-width":629,"1536x1536-height":209,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","2048x2048-width":629,"2048x2048-height":209,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","post_full_size-width":629,"post_full_size-height":209,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-abraham.jpg","home_baner-width":629,"home_baner-height":209}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"21","chapter_main_number":"21","date":"20250928","wall_id":"21"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"418","name":"Abraham","old_id":"818"},{"term_id":"428","name":"Parent","old_id":"828"}]},{"order":5,"id":"102628","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Hagar The Stranger ","post_title":"Hagar The Stranger","slug":"hagar-the-stranger","old_id":"102628","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"21","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Abraham wasn\u2019t sensitive to her oppression, but God wanted the nation that came from him to understand what oppression felt like\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":" In <\/span>my post on Genesis Chapter 16<\/span><\/a>, I related an interpretation of the Sarai and Hagar story provided by Rabbi David Fohrman. Rabbi Fohrman continued his analysis of this episode with a brilliant (in my opinion) comparison of these chapters with the story of the Israelites\u2019 experience in Egypt.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Why, asks Fohrman, does the introduction of Hagar in Genesis 16 begin with a mention of her nationality as an Egyptian, almost immediately on the heels of God telling Abraham \u201cyour seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they (the Egyptians) will enslave and oppress them (15:13)?\u201d Is the Torah trying to draw our attention to a possible connection between these two historical episodes?<\/span><\/p>\r\n Consider these similarities, as explained by Fohrman:<\/span><\/p>\r\n In the foretelling of the Israelites slavery (15:13) and with respect to Sarah\u2019s treatment of Hagar (16:6), the Torah uses the same word \u201c<\/span>inu<\/span><\/em> - oppressed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n In Chapter 21, Hagar was expelled from Abraham and Sarah\u2019s house and was left wandering in the desert, similar to the Israelites\u2019 eventual expulsion from Egypt and desert-wandering.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Before sending Hagar away, Abraham placed bread on her shoulder, evoking a similar image of the Israelites carrying their unleavened bread as they fled.<\/span><\/p>\r\n When Hagar and her son Ishmael were close to perishing, an angel appeared to Hagar and told her \u201c<\/span>Al tiri\u2019<\/span><\/em> \u2013 do not fear (21:17)\u201d, and they were saved from dying of thirst by the miraculous appearance of a well. Similarly, when the Israelites were faced with certain death at the shore of the Red Sea, Moses told them \u201c<\/span>Al tira\u2019u<\/span><\/em> \u2013 do not fear (Exodus 14)\u201d, and they were saved from certain death by the splitting of the sea \u2013 another miracle involving water.<\/span><\/p>\r\n The moral that Rabbi Fohrman draws in this telling is that Hagar, as her very name suggests, was a stranger (<\/span>ger<\/span><\/em>) in Abraham and Sarah\u2019s household, and experienced oppression. This episode is a foreshadowing of the oppression to be experienced by the Israelites when they will be \u201ca stranger \u2013 <\/span>ger<\/span><\/em>\u201d in Hagar\u2019s homeland. Abraham wasn\u2019t sensitive to Hagar\u2019s oppression, but God wanted the nation that came from him to understand what oppression felt like. Unless we did, we would not be able to fulfill the future commandment \u201cYou shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him (Exodus 22).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n (Listen to Rabbi Fohrman\u2019s full audio-video explanation on the<\/span> AlephBeta website).<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":36806,"alt":"","title":"hagar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","width":626,"height":176,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-300x84.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":84,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","medium_large-width":626,"medium_large-height":176,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","large-width":626,"large-height":176,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","1536x1536-width":626,"1536x1536-height":176,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","2048x2048-width":626,"2048x2048-height":176,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","post_full_size-width":626,"post_full_size-height":176,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","home_baner-width":626,"home_baner-height":176}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Hagar 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The Akedah Project explores the story of the Binding of Isaac (\u201cakedah<\/em>\u201d means \u201cbinding\u201d in Hebrew), which is one of the most confounding narratives in the Bible. Scholars, rabbis, artists, teachers, poets, and readers have tried to make sense of this story for millennia, which has given us a range of lenses through which we can read it, even as we bring the new questions, ideas, and perspectives that come with every new generation of readers.<\/p>\r\n Traditionally, the Akedah is chanted in synagogue on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Many of us will not attend synagogue in person this year due to the worldwide pandemic, and we are all looking for help making sense of our world in these challenging times. So, this year, we invited some of the most prominent scholars, teachers, thinkers, activists, and artists to investigate and present the story in their own way.<\/p>\r\n Here you will find more than 30 videos, each offering coming to the Akedah from a different angle. If you like what you see here, The Akedah Project is just the beginning. We believe that a plurality of voices can be brought together to explore the vast canon of Jewish literature. Tradition tells us that the Torah has \u201cseventy faces,\u201d and we look forward to exploring them with you.<\/p>\r\n Click here for the full collection of videos at the Akedah Project<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":80067,"alt":"","title":"akedahproject","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject.jpg","width":1200,"height":628,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-300x157.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":157,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-768x402.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":402,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-1024x536.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":536,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":628,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":628,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-1200x628.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":628,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-803x420.jpg","home_baner-width":803,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Akedah Project","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Music, art, videos, more!","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":80067,"alt":"","title":"akedahproject","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject.jpg","width":1200,"height":628,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-300x157.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":157,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-768x402.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":402,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-1024x536.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":536,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":628,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":628,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-1200x628.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":628,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/akedahproject-803x420.jpg","home_baner-width":803,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"571","date":"20271107","wall_id":"571"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":7,"id":"37569","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"A Terrible Father, But a Good Jew ","post_title":"A Terrible Father, But a Good Jew","slug":"a-terrible-father-but-a-good-jew","old_id":"37569","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34255,"post_title":"Shira Hecht-Koller","slug":"shira-hecht-koller","old_id":"34255","first_name":"Shira","last_name":"Hecht-Koller ","description":"Shira Hecht-Koller is the Director of Education for 929 English. She received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and is a graduate of the Bruriah Scholars Program in Advanced Talmud Studies at Midreshet Lindenbaum. \r\n","short_description":"Shira Hecht-Koller is the Director of Education for 929 English. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34256,"alt":"","title":"Shira head shot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","width":3456,"height":5184,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-683x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-683x1024.jpg","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","2048x2048-width":1365,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"22","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We bind and are bound because the binding binds us to those who were bound before us","post_main_content_content":" Did Abraham do good in preparing to slaughter his son? Did he do right? Some ancient Jewish texts are not sure. The great 6<\/span>th<\/span>-century poet El\u2018azar be-Rabbi Qillir writes in a liturgical poem:<\/span><\/p>\r\n [Abraham] forgot how a father is supposed to have mercy on a son \/ <\/span> Other ancient poets went further in their criticism:<\/span><\/p>\r\n He stretched out his arm like a cruel person, to murder.<\/span><\/p>\r\n He should have beseeched You, to ask for mercy \/ <\/span> These poems manage to express bewilderment, and even anger at the human father who would slaughter his son, without calling into question the religious value of such a sacrifice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n A similar note is struck by Nicole Krauss in her 2017 novel <\/span>Forest Dark<\/span><\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\r\n The very first Jewish child was bound and nearly sacrificed for something more important than him, and ever since Abraham came down from Mount Moriah, a terrible father but a good Jew the question of how to go on binding has hung in the air. \u2026 We bind and are bound because the binding binds us to those who were bound before us, and those bound before them, and those before them, in a chain of ropes and knots that goes back three thousand years, which is how long we've been dreaming of cutting ourselves loose, of falling out of this world, and into another world where we aren't stunned and deformed to fit the past, but left to grow wild, toward the future.<\/span><\/p>\r\n A terrible father but a good Jew. Can we make our peace with that?<\/span><\/p>\r\n <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":63208,"alt":"","title":"2kings2-father son","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A Terrible Father, But a Good Jew","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We bind and are bound because the binding binds us to those who were bound before us","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":63208,"alt":"","title":"2kings2-father son","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings2-father-son-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"22","date":"20250929","wall_id":"22"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"418","name":"Abraham","old_id":"818"},{"term_id":"428","name":"Parent","old_id":"828"},{"term_id":"476","name":"Compassion","old_id":"876"}]},{"order":8,"id":"37584","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"2","name":"The Akeidah in Art: 4 Studies ","post_title":"The Akedah in Art: 4 Studies","slug":"the-akeidah-in-art-4-studies","old_id":"37584","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37128,"post_title":"Anne Gordon","slug":"anne-gordon","old_id":"37128","first_name":"Anne","last_name":"Gordon","description":"Anne Gordon is the deputy Ops & Blogs editor at The Times of Israel, and a co-founder of Chochmat Nashim. She holds a BA in History & Philosophy and an MA in Judaic Studies from Harvard University, and after nearly a decade of beit midrash study in Israel and the US, she is a graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle. Anne began teaching in 1991, and has taught widely since then, in the US and Israel.","short_description":"Anne Gordon is the deputy Ops & Blogs editor at The Times of Israel, and a co-founder of Chochmat Nashim.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37129,"alt":"","title":"Anne Gordon","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Anne-Gordon.jpg","width":873,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Anne-Gordon-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Anne-Gordon-300x247.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":247,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Anne-Gordon-768x633.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":633,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Anne-Gordon.jpg","large-width":873,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Anne-Gordon.jpg","1536x1536-width":873,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Anne-Gordon.jpg","2048x2048-width":873,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Anne-Gordon.jpg","post_full_size-width":873,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Anne-Gordon-509x420.jpg","home_baner-width":509,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"22","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Rembrandt and Caravaggio on the Ultimate Sacrifice","post_main_content_content":" Sometimes, when there is so much to say, the best path is to say nothing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n The story of the binding of Isaac may be one such case.<\/span><\/p>\r\n The narrative is one of the most poignant in any literature, the very notion that an elderly father must raise his hand against his beloved son, one whom he had awaited for more decades than most people live, in whom lay the unactualized promise of myriad descendants, whom he loved dearly, namely, Isaac.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Indeed, biblical commentators, theologians, and philosophers throughout the ages have tackled the many burning questions of this story. How could God ask Abraham to do this? How could Abraham be so willing? What did Isaac know about the enterprise -- and if he knew about it, was he as passive as the text suggests? Where was Sarah (on the assumption that she would never have let Abraham undertake this sacrifice of her son had she but known about it)? Soren Kierkegaard\u2019s poetic Fear and Trembling (pub. 1843) is a study of the Akedah. The Netziv (R. Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, 1816-1893) explores the multiple meanings of what it means to be \u201ctested\u201d by the Divine, and the process of refinement that surpasses the not incidental accomplishment of passing God\u2019s test. And the Midrash, particularly Bereishit Rabbah, goes out of its way to blame the Satan -- inserting him in conversation with not only Abraham, but also God, to provide some manner of explanation for what otherwise seems incomprehensible.<\/span><\/p>\r\n When the underlying truth is incomprehensible and pathos are unbearable, words often fail.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Sometimes, the fine arts can capture what cannot be discussed -- the powerful emotions that emerge from line and color.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Hence, Rembrandt\u2019s \u201cSacrifice of Isaac\u201d -- it hangs in St. Petersburg\u2019s Hermitage in a tucked away corner, and if you round that corner and stand before the 6-foot tall work, you may find that the poignancy of the moment he depicts hits you full force, in no small part because of Rembrandt\u2019s masterful interplay of light and dark.<\/span><\/p>\r\n And Caravaggio, whose two studies of the scene convey -- to this viewer -- the mix of Abraham\u2019s hesitation, determination, and consternation. Note also the differences in the three angels of these classical works. And Isaac\u2019s presence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u201cAbraham and the Sacrifice of His Son Isaac\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\r\n The artworks presented here can be found at (listed respectively):<\/p>\r\n Rembrandt's Sacrifice, Hermitage<\/a> \u201cIsaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother, and he took Rebecca as his wife; he loved her, and thus Isaac found comfort after his mother\u2019s death.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n Poor Isaac. His own father ties him up, holds a knife over him, ready to slaughter him. Suddenly at the last moment, he is released from that terror, untied and freed - only to come home and find his mother dead.<\/span><\/p>\r\n To make matters worse, according to Rashi: <\/span>The death of Sarah is juxtaposed with the binding of Isaac, because when Sarah heard the news that her son was being prepared for sacrifice, before she could learn that he was not sacrificed, her soul left her and she died.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n Imagine the horror. Isaac returns home from the his own near-death only to be told that his mother died because she thought <\/span>he<\/span><\/em> was dead!<\/span><\/p>\r\n What was Isaac thinking at that moment? Did he hate his father? Was he angry at God? Was he experiencing terrible survivor\u2019s guilt, blaming himself for his mother\u2019s death? Did he return, again and again, to the irrational thought that <\/span>he<\/span><\/i> had caused his mother\u2019s death? (And this, remember, was the mother whose prayers he answered by being born in her old age; the mother who loved him so fiercely that she would cast out anyone who threatened him.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n Unbound from the altar, still shaking from terror, Isaac is released directly into mourning. Trauma piled on top of trauma. How does he cope? What does he do to deal with the pain?<\/span><\/p>\r\n Isaac wanders through the fields. He prays for the ache of grief to go away. But it doesn\u2019t work. Nothing works. <\/span><\/p>\r\n Until one day, out there in the fields, he looks up - and sees Rebecca. And he falls in love.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Isaac needed to love. That was the only way out of his sorrow. His heart, which had been broken in so many ways, needed a new purpose. A new love.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Isaac\u2019s was a unique trauma. Who else was bound to the altar by his father, only to indirectly cause the death of his mother? And so it took a unique love to heal that kind of pain. Isaac didn\u2019t just need a wife, he needed Rebecca. In fact, the name 'Rebecca\u2019 (\u05e8\u05d1\u05e7\u05d4) comes from a root in Hebrew that means, \u201cto couple, \u201cto join,\u201d or even, \u201cto tie together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n Isaac, who had once been tied to the altar of death, could only finally be unbound by someone who could tie him tightly to the altar of love.<\/span><\/p>\r\n image: Dov Lederberg,\u00a0The Passing Away of Sarah: Death and the Resurrection<\/em> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-Z5vGj7g1X0<\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Rebecca's Kindness ","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A Bimbam Video","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-Z5vGj7g1X0","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"24","date":"20251001","wall_id":"24"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"},{"term_id":"461","name":"Kindness","old_id":"861"}]},{"order":11,"id":"102764","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Intro To Laban: Not So Black And White ","post_title":"Intro To Laban: Not So Black And White","slug":"intro-to-laban-not-so-black-and-white","old_id":"102764","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"24","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But is he in fact the evil mastermind that others purport him to be?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":" Embedded in this very long repetitive chapter is our introduction to Laban, Rebecca\u2019s brother. Laban will play a much more central role in a few chapters, with Jacob. Laban is almost universally vilified by commentators and would probably make a \u201ctop-five worst people in Torah\u201d list for anyone who learned the stories in elementary school. He is painted as a blackguard, implying that his name \u201cLaban\u201d (literally, \u201cwhite\u201d) is cynically hypocritical.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n But the text is ambiguous:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man at the spring, when he saw the nose-ring and the bands on his sister\u2019s arms, and when he heard his sister Rebekah say, \u2018Thus the man spoke to me.\u2019 He went up to the man, who was still standing beside the camels at the spring. \u2018Come in, O blessed of God\u2019 he said, \u2018why do you remain outside, when I have made ready the house and a place for the camels\u2019\u201d(verses 29-31).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Rashi comments that Laban ran to Eliezer because he saw the gold rings and wanted to extract more money from this wealthy visitor. Sforno even adds that Laban had no intention of hosting Eleazer; he just wanted to swindle him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n But the text does not say this at all. Laban sees that his sister is wearing new jewelry and Rebecca explains that this man appeared at a well and gave her gifts saying he was the servant of their cousin. Laban then rushes to greet the guest and invites him and his camels to stay in their home! That does not seem evil.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Eliezer then repeats the whole tale, and immediately Laban and his father say that this is ordained by God and that Rebecca should go with him to marry Isaac. Laban even says twice that this is ordained by God. Again, very reasonable and even noble. Rashi interjects that Laban is listed first so it shows he was rude to speak to before his father. However, Laban is the first family member to run and greet Eliezer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Laban and his mother then ask for a ten day delay. This seems reasonable and gives Rebecca a chance to say her goodbyes etc. When Eliezer protests, Laban offers to ask Rebecca what she wants. Rebecca wishes to leave right away and Laban agrees. Laban seems very respectful here. He defers to his sister\u2019s request and allows her to go, despite his desire that she stay a little longer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Laban\u2019s last words here are a very nice blessing that ends in a similar way to God\u2019s blessing to Abraham in 22:17: \u201cyour descendants shall seize the gates of their foes.\u201d\u00a0 All in all, Laban does not come across as some evil mastermind. More on this in chapters 29-31\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":95036,"alt":"","title":"job30-pawn white black","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job30-pawn-white-black.jpg","width":1920,"height":1341,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job30-pawn-white-black-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job30-pawn-white-black-300x210.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":210,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job30-pawn-white-black-768x536.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":536,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job30-pawn-white-black-1024x715.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":715,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job30-pawn-white-black.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1073,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job30-pawn-white-black.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1341,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job30-pawn-white-black-1200x838.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":838,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job30-pawn-white-black-601x420.jpg","home_baner-width":601,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Intro To Laban: Not So Black And White","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But is he in fact the evil mastermind that others purport him to be?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":95036,"alt":"","title":"job30-pawn white 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Loved Both His Sons, and Was Laid to Rest by Both ","post_title":"Abraham Loved Both His Sons, and Was Laid to Rest by Both","slug":"abraham-loved-both-his-sons-and-was-laid-to-rest-by-both","old_id":"37887","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"25","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"There is hope for the future in this story of the past","post_main_content_content":" Abraham, we are told, was buried by Isaac and Ishmael. What is Ishmael doing here? Did we not read that he was sent away into the desert when Isaac was young? Have the two stepbrothers not lived in total isolation from one another? Yet the Torah places them together at the funeral with not a word of explanation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n There is an extraordinary midrash (Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer, 30) which tells the story of how Ishmael was twice visited by Abraham. On both occasions, Ishmael was not at home. On the first, his wife, not knowing Abraham\u2019s identity, refused the stranger bread and water. Ishmael divorced her and married a woman named Fatimah. This time, when Abraham visited, again not disclosing his identity, the woman gave him food and drink. The midrash then says \u201cAbraham stood and prayed before the Holy One, blessed be He, and Ishmael\u2019s house became filled with all good things. When Ishmael returned, his wife told him about it, and Ishmael knew that his father still loved him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n There is a story here of immense consequence for our time. Jews and Muslims both trace their descent from Abraham \u2013 Jews though Isaac, Muslims through Ishmael. Fatimah is an important figure in Islam. She is the daughter of the prophet. Between Judaism and Islam there can be friendship and mutual respect. Abraham loved both his sons, and was laid to rest by both. There is hope for the future in this story of the past.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102816,"alt":"","title":"-62291291bcb40--62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg.jpg","width":1024,"height":576,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":576,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":576,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":576,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Abraham Loved Both His Sons, and Was Laid to Rest by Both","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"There is hope for the future in this story of the 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Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"418","name":"Abraham","old_id":"818"},{"term_id":"446","name":"Islam","old_id":"846"}]},{"order":13,"id":"37913","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"2","name":"Striving to See and Be Seen ","post_title":"Striving to See and Be Seen","slug":"striving-to-see-and-be-seen","old_id":"37913","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36663,"post_title":"Beth Kissileff","slug":"beth-kissileff","old_id":"36663","first_name":"Beth ","last_name":"Kissileff ","description":"Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis (2016 - https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/us\/reading-genesis-9780567381521), and the forthcoming Reading Exodus, and the author of the novel Questioning Return - https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Questioning-Return-Novel-Beth-Kissileff\/dp\/1942134231. \r\nHer journalism appears in many publications; she has taught most recently at the University of Pittsburgh. Visit her online at www.bethkissileff.com. ","short_description":"Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis (Bloomsbury\/ T and T Clark, 2016) , a journalist and teacher.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36664,"alt":"","title":"BethKissileff","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","width":3478,"height":3200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-300x276.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":276,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-768x707.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":707,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1024x942.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":942,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1413,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1884,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1200x1104.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1104,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-456x420.jpg","home_baner-width":456,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"25","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Isaac tries to be different from his own parents - does he succeed?","post_main_content_content":" Isaac is a character who goes back to the past.<\/span><\/p>\r\n When waiting to meet his wife for the first time, he does not wait at home, but at the place called \u201c<\/span>Beer Lehai Roi<\/span><\/em>\u201d the \u201cwell of the ever-living seer\u201d(Genesis 24:62). \u00a0This is a place that says something about who Isaac is and who he identifies with. Ironically of course, Isaac ends his life with \u201ceyes weakened from seeing\u201d(Gen 27:1) the exact opposite of the vigor we are told Moses retains at the end of his life when his\u201d eyes are not weakened\u201d(Deut 34:7)<\/span><\/p>\r\n What is it that Isaac is hoping and praying for at this well about his wife and their relationship? (The concept <\/span>mincha, <\/span><\/em>the afternoon prayer, comes from this example, \u00a0according to the Talmud, Brachot 26b). Simply, that he will be seen.<\/span><\/p>\r\n After all, the place <\/span>Beer Lehai Roi<\/span><\/i> is named by someone who despite being mistreated by humans is seen by God. Hagar names the place when she says \u00a0that \u201calso I have looked after him that sees me\u201d (or: \u201chave I not gone on seeing after He saw me!\u201d Gen 16:13).<\/span><\/p>\r\n Why then does Isaac go back to this place, the third and last time it is mentioned in the Torah now, after the death of his father Abraham?<\/span><\/p>\r\n The midrash suggests that when Isaac was at <\/span>Beer Lehai Roi <\/span><\/i>in chapter 24 he was trying to fetch Hagar back to reconcile with his father Abraham (Genesis Rabbah). In essence, Isaac was identifying with Hagar then, and interestingly, after his father\u2019s death in this same verse, we are told that \u201cGod blessed Isaac and Isaac settled at <\/span>Beer Lehai Roi<\/span><\/i>\u201d (25:11). Perhaps after feeling very much unseen by his own father Abraham, Isaac preferred to symbolically align himself with the also mistreated member of the household, Hagar, by going there.<\/span><\/p>\r\n So why then does the son who usurped Hagar\u2019s own firstborn son, the one who inherited the mantle of all that is Abraham\u2019s, choose to go there now?<\/span><\/p>\r\n Isaac is trying to re-do the past, to bless his older son with a blessing appropriate to Esau. \u00a0Isaac\u2019s plan is not successful in averting strife between the brothers, yet Isaac does attempt to do things differently than his parents did. <\/span><\/p>\r\n Isaac\u2019s dwelling at a place of seeing is an attempt to supersede the human limitations that rivalry creates in interpersonal interactions.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Striving to See and Be Seen","tile_main_caption":"Isaac\u2019s dwelling at a place of seeing is an attempt to supersede the human limitations that rivalry creates in interpersonal interactions","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Isaac tries to be different from his own parents - does he succeed?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"25","chapter_main_number":"25","date":"20251002","wall_id":"25"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"485","name":"Isaac","old_id":"885"}]},{"order":14,"id":"37917","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Inquiring of the Lord: From Rebekah\u2019s Time to Ours ","post_title":"Inquiring of the Lord: From Rebekah\u2019s Time to Ours","slug":"inquiring-of-the-lord-from-rebekahs-time-to-ours","old_id":"37917","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37918,"post_title":"Shai Held","slug":"shai-held","old_id":"37918","first_name":" Shai ","last_name":"Held","description":"Rabbi Shai Held, theologian, scholar, and educator, is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek\u2019s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.","short_description":"Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37919,"alt":"","title":"shai held","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","width":150,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"25","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The textual cord uniting heaven and earth is precious, but we run the risk of being text-worshipers rather than God-worshipers","post_main_content_content":" As Rebekah struggles with the twins who are \u201ccrushing one another in her womb,\u201d she goes off to \u201cinquire of the Lord\u201d (<\/span>lidrosh et Hashem<\/span><\/em>)<\/span><\/i> (Gen 25:22). This is one of our early models of a Biblical figure going to commune with God, and many scholars are struck that Rebekah seems to go at it alone, without any oracle or diviner. <\/span><\/p>\r\n
\r\n<\/span>a prayer or plea he should have offered.<\/span><\/p>\r\n
\r\n<\/span>to spare his only child from a fire of coal.<\/span><\/p>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah1-Rembrandt-Hermitage-204x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah3-Caravaggio-1-300x206.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n
\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-300x231.jpg\")
\r\nBut it is another work of Rembrandt\u2019s -- this time, a small sketch -- that best captures what may be most impossible to convey in the biblical text. Housed at Museum Bredius in the Netherlands, \u201cAbraham Taking Isaac to the Sacrificial Altar\u201d shifts the focus from Abraham\u2019s manner of heeding God\u2019s decree to the relationship between Abraham and Isaac -- on a path where all that matters passes from father to son and back again without words.<\/span><\/p>\r\n
\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah2-Rembrandt-Netherlands-PRE-300x267.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n
\r\nCaravaggio I<\/a>
\r\nCaravaggio II<\/a>
\r\nRembrandt sketch<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Akedah in Art: 4 Studies","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Rembrandt and Caravaggio on the Ultimate Sacrifice","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":37592,"alt":"","title":"Akedah4-Caravaggio-2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2.jpg","width":1279,"height":986,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-300x231.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":231,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-768x592.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":592,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-1024x789.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":789,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":1279,"1536x1536-height":986,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":1279,"2048x2048-height":986,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-1200x925.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":925,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-545x420.jpg","home_baner-width":545,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"22","date":"20250929","wall_id":"22"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":9,"id":"37844","color":"#e8ecf6","size":"1","name":"How Did Isaac Cope? ","post_title":"How Did Isaac Cope?","slug":"how-did-isaac-cope","old_id":"37844","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36771,"post_title":"David Kasher","slug":"david-kasher","old_id":"36771","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Kasher ","description":"David Kasher is the Associate Rabbi at Ikar. He was previously the senior Rabbinic Educator at Kevah in Berkeley. He received his BA in Political Science at Wesleyan University, holds a J.S.D. from Berkeley Law, and received his Rabbinic Ordination at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Rabbi Kasher grew up bouncing back and forth between the Bay Area and Brooklyn, hippies and hassidim \u2013 and has been trying to synthesize these two worlds ever since ","short_description":"David Kasher is the Associate Rabbi at Ikar in Los Angeles.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36772,"alt":"","title":"david kasher","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/david-kasher-e1533291823735.png","width":115,"height":140,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/david-kasher-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/david-kasher-e1533291823735.png","medium-width":115,"medium-height":140,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/david-kasher-e1533291823735.png","medium_large-width":115,"medium_large-height":140,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/david-kasher-e1533291823735.png","large-width":115,"large-height":140,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/david-kasher-e1533291823735.png","1536x1536-width":115,"1536x1536-height":140,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/david-kasher-e1533291823735.png","2048x2048-width":115,"2048x2048-height":140,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/david-kasher-e1533291823735.png","post_full_size-width":115,"post_full_size-height":140,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/david-kasher-e1533291823735.png","home_baner-width":115,"home_baner-height":140}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"24","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Once tied to the altar of death, he could only be unbound by someone who could tie him tightly to the altar of love","post_main_content_content":"
\r\n
\r\n<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":37850,"alt":"","title":"Dov Lederberg - Gen 23","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","width":900,"height":368,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23-300x123.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":123,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23-768x314.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":314,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":368,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":368,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":368,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":368,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","home_baner-width":900,"home_baner-height":368}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"How Did Isaac Cope?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Once tied to the altar of death, he could only be unbound by someone who could tie him tightly to the altar of love","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":37850,"alt":"","title":"Dov Lederberg - Gen 23","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","width":900,"height":368,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23-300x123.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":123,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23-768x314.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":314,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":368,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":368,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":368,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":368,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Dov-Lederberg-Gen-23.jpg","home_baner-width":900,"home_baner-height":368}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"24","date":"20251001","wall_id":"24"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"381","name":"love","old_id":"781"},{"term_id":"484","name":"Mourning","old_id":"884"}]},{"order":10,"id":"37753","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"2","name":"Rebecca's Kindness (A Bimbam Video) ","post_title":"Rebecca's Kindness (A Bimbam Video)","slug":"rebeccas-kindness-a-bimbam-video","old_id":"37753","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37754,"post_title":"BimBam","slug":"bimbam","old_id":"37754","first_name":"","last_name":"BimBam","description":"BimBam sparks connections to Judaism through digital storytelling for learners of all ages.","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37755,"alt":"","title":"bimbam","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bimbam.png","width":218,"height":217,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bimbam-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bimbam.png","medium-width":218,"medium-height":217,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bimbam.png","medium_large-width":218,"medium_large-height":217,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bimbam.png","large-width":218,"large-height":217,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bimbam.png","1536x1536-width":218,"1536x1536-height":217,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bimbam.png","2048x2048-width":218,"2048x2048-height":217,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bimbam.png","post_full_size-width":218,"post_full_size-height":217,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/bimbam.png","home_baner-width":218,"home_baner-height":217}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"24","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"
![Rembrandt's Sacrifice, Hermitage<\/a>\r\n](\"https:\/\/www.hermitagemuseum.org\/wps\/wcm\/connect\/e92a6b1c-9ca5-4fed-8624-4283de99af7a\/WOA_IMAGE_1.jpg?MOD=AJPERES&24157b0d-d373-4a62-b52a-a76408ec1ef8\"){kind=link}
![Caravaggio I<\/a>\r\n](\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sacrifice_of_Isaac_(Caravaggio)#\/media\/File:Sacrifice_of_Isaac-Caravaggio_(c._1603).jpg\"){kind=link}
![Caravaggio II<\/a>\r\n](\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sacrifice_of_Isaac_(Caravaggio)#\/media\/File:Sacrifice_of_Isaac-Caravaggio_(Uffizi).jpg\"){kind=link}
![Rembrandt sketch<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Akedah in Art: 4 Studies","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Rembrandt and Caravaggio on the Ultimate Sacrifice","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":37592,"alt":"","title":"Akedah4-Caravaggio-2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2.jpg","width":1279,"height":986,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-300x231.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":231,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-768x592.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":592,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-1024x789.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":789,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":1279,"1536x1536-height":986,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":1279,"2048x2048-height":986,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-1200x925.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":925,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Akedah4-Caravaggio-2-545x420.jpg","home_baner-width":545,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"22","date":"20250929","wall_id":"22"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":9,"id":"37844","color":"#e8ecf6","size":"1","name":"How Did Isaac Cope? ","post_title":"How Did Isaac Cope?","slug":"how-did-isaac-cope","old_id":"37844","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36771,"post_title":"David Kasher","slug":"david-kasher","old_id":"36771","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Kasher ","description":"David Kasher is the Associate Rabbi at Ikar. He was previously the senior Rabbinic Educator at Kevah in Berkeley. He received his BA in Political Science at Wesleyan University, holds a J.S.D. from Berkeley Law, and received his Rabbinic Ordination at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. 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His own father ties him up, holds a knife over him, ready to slaughter him. Suddenly at the last moment, he is released from that terror, untied and freed - only to come home and find his mother dead.<\/span><\/p>\r\nTo make matters worse, according to Rashi: <\/span>The death of Sarah is juxtaposed with the binding of Isaac, because when Sarah heard the news that her son was being prepared for sacrifice, before she could learn that he was not sacrificed, her soul left her and she died.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\nImagine the horror. Isaac returns home from the his own near-death only to be told that his mother died because she thought <\/span>he<\/span><\/em> was dead!<\/span><\/p>\r\nWhat was Isaac thinking at that moment? Did he hate his father? Was he angry at God? Was he experiencing terrible survivor\u2019s guilt, blaming himself for his mother\u2019s death? Did he return, again and again, to the irrational thought that <\/span>he<\/span><\/i> had caused his mother\u2019s death? (And this, remember, was the mother whose prayers he answered by being born in her old age; the mother who loved him so fiercely that she would cast out anyone who threatened him.)<\/span><\/p>\r\nUnbound from the altar, still shaking from terror, Isaac is released directly into mourning. Trauma piled on top of trauma. How does he cope? What does he do to deal with the pain?<\/span><\/p>\r\nIsaac wanders through the fields. He prays for the ache of grief to go away. But it doesn\u2019t work. Nothing works. <\/span><\/p>\r\nUntil one day, out there in the fields, he looks up - and sees Rebecca. And he falls in love.<\/span><\/p>\r\nIsaac needed to love. That was the only way out of his sorrow. His heart, which had been broken in so many ways, needed a new purpose. A new love.<\/span><\/p>\r\nIsaac\u2019s was a unique trauma. Who else was bound to the altar by his father, only to indirectly cause the death of his mother? And so it took a unique love to heal that kind of pain. Isaac didn\u2019t just need a wife, he needed Rebecca. In fact, the name 'Rebecca\u2019 (\u05e8\u05d1\u05e7\u05d4) comes from a root in Hebrew that means, \u201cto couple, \u201cto join,\u201d or even, \u201cto tie together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\nIsaac, who had once been tied to the altar of death, could only finally be unbound by someone who could tie him tightly to the altar of love.<\/span><\/p>\r\nimage: Dov Lederberg,\u00a0The Passing Away of Sarah: Death and the Resurrection<\/em>\r\n\r\n<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":37850,"alt":"","title":"Dov Lederberg - Gen 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"24","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But is he in fact the evil mastermind that others purport him to be?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"Embedded in this very long repetitive chapter is our introduction to Laban, Rebecca\u2019s brother. Laban will play a much more central role in a few chapters, with Jacob. Laban is almost universally vilified by commentators and would probably make a \u201ctop-five worst people in Torah\u201d list for anyone who learned the stories in elementary school. He is painted as a blackguard, implying that his name \u201cLaban\u201d (literally, \u201cwhite\u201d) is cynically hypocritical.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nBut the text is ambiguous:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nNow Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man at the spring, when he saw the nose-ring and the bands on his sister\u2019s arms, and when he heard his sister Rebekah say, \u2018Thus the man spoke to me.\u2019 He went up to the man, who was still standing beside the camels at the spring. \u2018Come in, O blessed of God\u2019 he said, \u2018why do you remain outside, when I have made ready the house and a place for the camels\u2019\u201d(verses 29-31).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nRashi comments that Laban ran to Eliezer because he saw the gold rings and wanted to extract more money from this wealthy visitor. Sforno even adds that Laban had no intention of hosting Eleazer; he just wanted to swindle him.<\/span><\/p>\r\nBut the text does not say this at all. Laban sees that his sister is wearing new jewelry and Rebecca explains that this man appeared at a well and gave her gifts saying he was the servant of their cousin. Laban then rushes to greet the guest and invites him and his camels to stay in their home! That does not seem evil.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nEliezer then repeats the whole tale, and immediately Laban and his father say that this is ordained by God and that Rebecca should go with him to marry Isaac. Laban even says twice that this is ordained by God. Again, very reasonable and even noble. Rashi interjects that Laban is listed first so it shows he was rude to speak to before his father. However, Laban is the first family member to run and greet Eliezer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nLaban and his mother then ask for a ten day delay. This seems reasonable and gives Rebecca a chance to say her goodbyes etc. When Eliezer protests, Laban offers to ask Rebecca what she wants. Rebecca wishes to leave right away and Laban agrees. Laban seems very respectful here. He defers to his sister\u2019s request and allows her to go, despite his desire that she stay a little longer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nLaban\u2019s last words here are a very nice blessing that ends in a similar way to God\u2019s blessing to Abraham in 22:17: \u201cyour descendants shall seize the gates of their foes.\u201d\u00a0 All in all, Laban does not come across as some evil mastermind. More on this in chapters 29-31\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":95036,"alt":"","title":"job30-pawn white 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Loved Both His Sons, and Was Laid to Rest by Both ","post_title":"Abraham Loved Both His Sons, and Was Laid to Rest by Both","slug":"abraham-loved-both-his-sons-and-was-laid-to-rest-by-both","old_id":"37887","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"25","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"There is hope for the future in this story of the past","post_main_content_content":"Abraham, we are told, was buried by Isaac and Ishmael. What is Ishmael doing here? Did we not read that he was sent away into the desert when Isaac was young? Have the two stepbrothers not lived in total isolation from one another? Yet the Torah places them together at the funeral with not a word of explanation.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThere is an extraordinary midrash (Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer, 30) which tells the story of how Ishmael was twice visited by Abraham. On both occasions, Ishmael was not at home. On the first, his wife, not knowing Abraham\u2019s identity, refused the stranger bread and water. Ishmael divorced her and married a woman named Fatimah. This time, when Abraham visited, again not disclosing his identity, the woman gave him food and drink. The midrash then says \u201cAbraham stood and prayed before the Holy One, blessed be He, and Ishmael\u2019s house became filled with all good things. When Ishmael returned, his wife told him about it, and Ishmael knew that his father still loved him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\nThere is a story here of immense consequence for our time. Jews and Muslims both trace their descent from Abraham \u2013 Jews though Isaac, Muslims through Ishmael. Fatimah is an important figure in Islam. She is the daughter of the prophet. Between Judaism and Islam there can be friendship and mutual respect. Abraham loved both his sons, and was laid to rest by both. There is hope for the future in this story of the past.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102816,"alt":"","title":"-62291291bcb40--62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg.jpg","width":1024,"height":576,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":576,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":576,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":576,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/62291291bcb40-62291291bcb41gen25-judaism-islam.jpg-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Abraham 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Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"418","name":"Abraham","old_id":"818"},{"term_id":"446","name":"Islam","old_id":"846"}]},{"order":13,"id":"37913","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"2","name":"Striving to See and Be Seen ","post_title":"Striving to See and Be Seen","slug":"striving-to-see-and-be-seen","old_id":"37913","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36663,"post_title":"Beth Kissileff","slug":"beth-kissileff","old_id":"36663","first_name":"Beth ","last_name":"Kissileff ","description":"Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis (2016 - https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/us\/reading-genesis-9780567381521), and the forthcoming Reading Exodus, and the author of the novel Questioning Return - https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Questioning-Return-Novel-Beth-Kissileff\/dp\/1942134231. \r\nHer journalism appears in many publications; she has taught most recently at the University of Pittsburgh. Visit her online at www.bethkissileff.com. ","short_description":"Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis (Bloomsbury\/ T and T Clark, 2016) , a journalist and teacher.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36664,"alt":"","title":"BethKissileff","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","width":3478,"height":3200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-300x276.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":276,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-768x707.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":707,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1024x942.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":942,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1413,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1884,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1200x1104.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1104,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-456x420.jpg","home_baner-width":456,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"25","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Isaac tries to be different from his own parents - does he succeed?","post_main_content_content":"Isaac is a character who goes back to the past.<\/span><\/p>\r\nWhen waiting to meet his wife for the first time, he does not wait at home, but at the place called \u201c<\/span>Beer Lehai Roi<\/span><\/em>\u201d the \u201cwell of the ever-living seer\u201d(Genesis 24:62). \u00a0This is a place that says something about who Isaac is and who he identifies with. Ironically of course, Isaac ends his life with \u201ceyes weakened from seeing\u201d(Gen 27:1) the exact opposite of the vigor we are told Moses retains at the end of his life when his\u201d eyes are not weakened\u201d(Deut 34:7)<\/span><\/p>\r\nWhat is it that Isaac is hoping and praying for at this well about his wife and their relationship? (The concept <\/span>mincha, <\/span><\/em>the afternoon prayer, comes from this example, \u00a0according to the Talmud, Brachot 26b). Simply, that he will be seen.<\/span><\/p>\r\nAfter all, the place <\/span>Beer Lehai Roi<\/span><\/i> is named by someone who despite being mistreated by humans is seen by God. Hagar names the place when she says \u00a0that \u201calso I have looked after him that sees me\u201d (or: \u201chave I not gone on seeing after He saw me!\u201d Gen 16:13).<\/span><\/p>\r\nWhy then does Isaac go back to this place, the third and last time it is mentioned in the Torah now, after the death of his father Abraham?<\/span><\/p>\r\nThe midrash suggests that when Isaac was at <\/span>Beer Lehai Roi <\/span><\/i>in chapter 24 he was trying to fetch Hagar back to reconcile with his father Abraham (Genesis Rabbah). In essence, Isaac was identifying with Hagar then, and interestingly, after his father\u2019s death in this same verse, we are told that \u201cGod blessed Isaac and Isaac settled at <\/span>Beer Lehai Roi<\/span><\/i>\u201d (25:11). Perhaps after feeling very much unseen by his own father Abraham, Isaac preferred to symbolically align himself with the also mistreated member of the household, Hagar, by going there.<\/span><\/p>\r\nSo why then does the son who usurped Hagar\u2019s own firstborn son, the one who inherited the mantle of all that is Abraham\u2019s, choose to go there now?<\/span><\/p>\r\nIsaac is trying to re-do the past, to bless his older son with a blessing appropriate to Esau. \u00a0Isaac\u2019s plan is not successful in averting strife between the brothers, yet Isaac does attempt to do things differently than his parents did. <\/span><\/p>\r\nIsaac\u2019s dwelling at a place of seeing is an attempt to supersede the human limitations that rivalry creates in interpersonal interactions.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Striving to See and Be Seen","tile_main_caption":"Isaac\u2019s dwelling at a place of seeing is an attempt to supersede the human limitations that rivalry creates in interpersonal interactions","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Isaac tries to be different from his own parents - does he succeed?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"25","chapter_main_number":"25","date":"20251002","wall_id":"25"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"485","name":"Isaac","old_id":"885"}]},{"order":14,"id":"37917","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Inquiring of the Lord: From Rebekah\u2019s Time to Ours ","post_title":"Inquiring of the Lord: From Rebekah\u2019s Time to Ours","slug":"inquiring-of-the-lord-from-rebekahs-time-to-ours","old_id":"37917","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37918,"post_title":"Shai Held","slug":"shai-held","old_id":"37918","first_name":" Shai ","last_name":"Held","description":"Rabbi Shai Held, theologian, scholar, and educator, is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek\u2019s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.","short_description":"Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37919,"alt":"","title":"shai held","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","width":150,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"25","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The textual cord uniting heaven and earth is precious, but we run the risk of being text-worshipers rather than God-worshipers","post_main_content_content":"As Rebekah struggles with the twins who are \u201ccrushing one another in her womb,\u201d she goes off to \u201cinquire of the Lord\u201d (<\/span>lidrosh et Hashem<\/span><\/em>)<\/span><\/i> (Gen 25:22). This is one of our early models of a Biblical figure going to commune with God, and many scholars are struck that Rebekah seems to go at it alone, without any oracle or diviner. <\/span><\/p>\r\n](\"http:\/\/en.museumbredius.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/03\/t12-rembrandt.jpg\"){kind=link}