Isaac's Death and Resurrection
Read Genesis 22: 1-19
And why do they place ashes upon the head of
each and every individual? Rabbi Levi bar Ḥama and Rabbi
Ḥanina disagree with regard to this matter. One said that this is as
though to say: We are considered like ashes before You. And one said
that these ashes are placed in order to remind God of the ashes of
our forefather Isaac, on our behalf.
R. Yehuda
says: Since the knife came upon [Isaac's] neck, Isaac's soul burst out and
departed. And since God projected His voice from between the Cherubs and said
to [Abraham], "Do not raise your hand" (12), [Isaac's] soul returned
to his body. Isaac rose up and stood on his feet, and Isaac knew thus that in
the future the dead will be revived. He opened his mouth and said,
"Praised are You, Adonai, who revives the dead."
From
Shalom Spiegel, The Last Trial, p. 64 (iBooks edition): MhG on 22:19.
And so, too, the poet Benjamin bar Samuel of Coutances speaks of Isaac
spending three years in Paradise, in a Kerobah for the Feast of Shabuot,
“Longer than the earth, wider than the sea.” Sec L. Zunz,
Literaturgeschichte der synagogalen Poesie (Berlin, 1865), p. 291 [hereafter
abbr. Literaturgeschichte], The Kerobah has disappeared and was not copied from
the Turin Mahzor. cf. I. Davidson, Seder Hibbur Berakot, JQR. XXI (1931), 252.
Now when
Isaac, lying on tops of the altar, heard the angel say, “Put not forth thy
hand,” he exclaimed: “Blessed is He who quickens the dead.”
Sefer
ha-Eshkol, by R. Abraham of Narbonne, ed. S. and H. Albeck, I, p. 27.
From:
Shalom Spiegel. “The Last Trial.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/UyNDdb.l
The story
of the near-sacrifice of Isaac is traced to E. It refers to the deity as Elohim
in vv. 1,3,8, and 9. But, just as Abraham’s hand is raised with the knife to
sacrifice Isaac, the text says that the angel of Yahweh stops him (v. 11). The
verses in which Isaac is spared refer to the deity as Yahweh (vv. 11–14). These
verses are followed by a report that the angel speaks a second time and says,
“… because you did not withhold your son from me….” Thus the four verses which
report that Isaac was not sacrificed involve both a contradiction and a change
of the name of the deity. As extraordinary as it may seem, it has been
suggested that in the original version of this story Isaac was actually
sacrificed, and that the intervening four verses were added subsequently, when
the notion of human sacrifice was rejected (perhaps by the person who combined
J and E). Of course, the words “you did not withhold your son” might mean only
that Abraham had been willing to sacrifice his son. But still it must be noted
that the text concludes (v. 19), “And Abraham returned to his servants.” Isaac
is not mentioned. Moreover, Isaac never again appears as a character in E.
Interestingly, a later midrashic tradition developed this notion, that Isaac
actually had been sacrificed. This tradition is discussed in S. Spiegel’s The
Last Trial (New York: Schocken, 1969; Hebrew edition 1950).
Richard
Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible? (Kindle Locations 4122-4132).
Kindle Edition.
From
"The Slaughter of Isaac and his Revival" by R. Ephraim of Bonn (1132–1200), chronicler of the massacres of Jews
during the Crusades (From S. Spiegel, The Last Trial)
He made
haste, he pinned him down with his knees,
He made his two arms strong.
With steady hands he slaughtered him according to the rite,
Full right was the slaughter.
Down upon
him fell the resurrecting dew, and he revived.
(The father) seized him (then) to slaughter him once more.
Scripture, bear witness! Well-grounded is the fact:
And the Lord called Abraham, even a second time from heaven.
The
ministering angels cried out, terrified:
Even animal victims, were they ever slaughtered twice?
Instantly they made their outcry heard on high,
Lo, Ariels cried out above the earth.
We beg of Thee, have pity upon him!
In his father’s house, we were given hospitality.
He was swept by the flood of celestial tears
Into Eden, the garden of God.
The pure one thought: The child is free of guilt,
Now I, whither shall I go?
Then he heard: your son was found an acceptable sacrifice,
By Myself
have I sworn it, saith the Lord.
In a nearby thicket did the Lord prepare
A ram, meant for this mitsvah even from Creation.
The proxy caught its leg in the skirts of his coat,
And behold, he stood by his burnt offering.
So he
offered the ram, as he desired to do,
Rather than his son, as a burnt offering.
Rejoicing, he beheld the ransom of his only one
Which God delivered into his hand.
This
place he called Adonai-yireh,
The place where light and the law are manifest.
He swore to bless it as the Temple site,
For there the Lord commanded the blessing.
Thus
prayed the binder and the bound,
That when their descendants commit a wrong
“This act
be recalled to save them from disaster,
From all their transgressions and sins.
O Righteous One, do us this grace!
you promised our fathers mercy to Abraham.
Let then their merit stand as our witness,
And pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance.
Recall to our credit the many Akedahs,
The saints, men and women, slain for Thy sake.
Remember the righteous martyrs of Judah,
Those that were bound of Jacob.
Be Thou the shepherd of the surviving flock
Scattered and dispersed among the nations.
Break the yoke and snap the hands
Of the bound flock that yearns toward Thee
“O GOD! O
KING”
Midrash
HaGadol Gen. 22:19
And
Abraham returned to the youths. And where was Isaac? R. Eleazar ben Pedat said
even though Isaac did not die, the text regards it as if he died and his ashes
were sprinkled over the altar.
Another
interpretation: And Abraham returned... And where was Isaac? The Holy One brought him into
the Garden of Eden and he dwelt there three years.
(27) and he went up and kissed him.
And he smelled his clothes and he blessed him, saying, “Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of the fields that the LORD has blessed.
Added by: Daniel Moshinsky
(1) And Isaac trembled very
exceedingly (Gen. 27:33).
(4) Three words in this one verse are expressions of pleading, humility,
and meekness. The
wicked one, however, said merely: Let my father arise, and eat. The Holy
One, blessed be He, said to Jacob: Inasmuch as you said Arise, I pray thee,
your descendant Moses will say to Me: Rise up, O Lord, and let thine enemies
be scattered (Num. 10:35). Inasmuch as you said sit (shevah), your
descendants will say: Return (shuvah), O Lord, unto the tens of thousands
(ibid., v. 36). However, because Esau said Let my father arise, I will
exact retribution from him through that very expression, as it is said: Let
God arise, let His enemies be scattered (Ps. 68:2). Let my father arise.
At that moment Isaac recognized his voice and began to tremble. Who art
thou? (Gen. 27:32), he asked. When Jacob entered the room, a fragrance from
the Garden of Eden accompanied him; a fragrance so pleasant that the righteous
one’s mind was set at ease, as is said: See, the smell of my son is as the
smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed (ibid., v. 27). However, when
Esau entered, Gehenna was revealed to him. Hence, it says: Isaac trembled
very exceedingly (ibid., v. 33). Isaac was astonished and cried out: I see
Gehenna and Esau is causing the flames to rise.
(5) Who, then, is he that hath
trapped venison? (ibid.). Why is the word trapped repeated in the
text?11The Hebrew for “hath trapped venison” reads: hatzad
tzayid. The words for “trapped” and “venison” have the same root and are so
similar as to warrant the question. Isaac said to Esau: “You went out to trap,
and you were trapped.” “Why are you upset?” Esau asked. He replied: I have
eaten of all (ibid.); that is, everything that the Holy One, blessed be He,
created during the six days of creation was contained in the food I ate before
you entered, and I blessed him. Isaac desired to withdraw the blessing he had
conferred upon Jacob and to declare instead: “Cursed shall ye be,” but the Holy
One, blessed be He, rebuked him, saying: What are you doing? You are, in fact,
cursing yourself, for you said to him: Cursed be everyone that curseth thee,
and blessed be everyone that blesseth thee (ibid., v. 29). He changed his
mind and confirmed the blessings, saying: Yea, and he shall be blessed
(ibid., v. 33).
Added by: Daniel Moshinsk
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