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Drash for Rosh Hashanah By Richard Gordon - September 22, 2006 I was asked to comment briefly on this week's Torah portion. Without yet identifying it by name, book and verse, I would like to first take a moment to speak of world events. In the years since September 11, 2001, our nation's focus has been on the absurdity and chaos caused by extremists and their willingness to give their lives for their cause. While Israel has been dealing with homicide/suicide bombers for decades, Americans got a first-hand serving of the terror when two planes slammed into the twin towers, a third was flown into the Pentagon, and a fourth was driven into the ground in Pennsylvania. Whatever might be said regarding the righteousness of their cause, what is most shocking to modern day Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike, is the extremists' disregard for not only their victims' lives, but their own. American Jews, I believe, cannot understand the fervor with which these terrorists act. We see documentaries and read news articles that describe this phenomenon, and ask, "how can we ever feel safe with any enemy such as this?" Policy-makers look at the problem slightly differently, they ask: "How can we possibly fight an enemy who is not only not afraid to die, but instead, relishes the idea?" A parent like myself, on the other hand, asks; "How can a father or mother ever offer his or her own child's life in furtherance of a cause, no matter how just?" These thoughts bring me to this week's Torah portion, Genesis 21, verses 1-19, commonly known as "the binding of Isaac." As you all know, the portion talks about Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's command. In fact, when God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering, Abraham packed up his wood, saddled his donkey, and took two servants - and Isaac - to Moriah, the place where the deed was to be done. Abraham himself carried the firestone and the knife, and had Isaac carry the wood, earmarked to set his son ablaze. While Abraham was willing to obey God's commands, he held hope that God's mercy would ultimately prevail. When Abraham was asked by Isaac: I see the firestone and the wood; but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham replied, God will see to the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. In other words, Abraham, while committed to obey God's will, still held to his belief that his son would be spared. In fact, the Torah portion goes on, as you know, to tell of divine interference. An angel prevents the act from happening. When we read this Torah portion, we all think of sacrifice; a father willing to give his son's life at the command of God and, in return, receive the ultimate blessing, the making of our decedents numerous and the ability to defeat our enemies. The message, however, is not only in Abraham's willingness to sacrifice. It also lies in God's unwillingness to let the deed be done. What we shouldn't forget, therefore, is that we, as Jews, live by the guiding principle that life should never be needlessly sacrificed. L’shana Tova!
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