Editing Binding of Isaac (section)

== Jewish views ==
In ''The Binding of Isaac, Religious Murders & Kabbalah'', Lippman Bodoff argues that Abraham never intended to actually sacrifice his son, and that he had faith that God had no intention that he do so.<ref name="Bodoff2005">{{cite book | author = Lippman Bodoff | date = 2005 | title = The Binding of Isaac, Religious Murders & Kabbalah: Seeds of Jewish Extremism and Alienation? | publisher = Devora Publishing | isbn = 978-1-932687-53-8 | oclc = 1282116298 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PrShQLgsboYC}}</ref> Rabbi Ari Kahn elaborates this view on the Orthodox Union website as follows:{{blockquote|Isaac's death was never a possibility – not as far as Abraham was concerned, and not as far as God was concerned. God's commandment to Abraham was very specific, and Abraham understood it very precisely: Isaac was to be "raised up as an offering," and God would use the opportunity to teach humankind, once and for all, that human sacrifice, [[child sacrifice]], is not acceptable. This is precisely how the sages of the [[Talmud]] ([[Ta'anit (Talmud)|Taanit]] 4a) understood the Akedah. Citing the Prophet [[Jeremiah]]'s exhortation against child sacrifice (Chapter 19), they state unequivocally that such behavior "never crossed God's mind," referring specifically to the sacrificial slaughter of Isaac. Though readers of this [[parashah]] throughout the generations have been disturbed, even horrified, by the Akedah, there was no miscommunication between God and Abraham. The thought of actually killing Isaac never crossed their minds.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kahn |first1=Ari |title=It Never Crossed my Mind |url=https://outorah.org/p/21996 |website=OU Torah |date=3 November 2014}}</ref>}}

In ''[[The Guide for the Perplexed]]'', [[Maimonides]] argues that the story of the binding of Isaac contains two "great notions". First, Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac demonstrates the limit of humanity's capability to both love and fear God. Second, because Abraham acted on a prophetic vision of what God had asked him to do, the story exemplifies how prophetic revelation has the same [[truth value]] as philosophical argument and thus carries equal certainty, notwithstanding the fact that it comes in a dream or vision.<ref>Maimonides. ''The Guide of the Perplexed'', Vol. 2, Book III, Ch. 24. English translation by Shlomo Pines. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.</ref>
[[File:El sacrificio de Isaac (Domenichino).jpg|thumbnail|God commands Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, [[Domenichino]].]]

In ''Glory and Agony: Isaac's Sacrifice and National Narrative'', [[Yael Feldman]] argues that the story of Isaac's binding, in both its biblical and post-biblical versions (the [[New Testament]] included), has had a great impact on the ethos of [[Altruism|altruist]] heroism and [[self-sacrifice]] in modern Hebrew national culture. As her study demonstrates, over the last century the "Binding of Isaac" has morphed into the "Sacrifice of Isaac," connoting both the glory and agony of heroic death on the battlefield.<ref>{{cite book|last=Feldman|first=Yael S.|title=Glory and Agony: Isaac's Sacrifice and National Narrative|year=2010|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, California|isbn=978-0-8047-5902-1}}</ref>
In ''[[Legends of the Jews]]'', Rabbi [[Louis Ginzberg]] argues that the binding of Isaac is a way for God to test Isaac's claim to [[Ishmael]], and to silence Satan's protest about Abraham who had not brought up any offering to God after Isaac was born. It was also to show  proof to the world that Abraham is a true God-fearing man who is ready to fulfill any of God's commands, even to sacrifice his own son:

{{blockquote|When God commanded the father to desist from sacrificing Isaac, Abraham said: "One man tempts another, because he knoweth not what is in the heart of his neighbor. But Thou surely didst know that I was ready to sacrifice my son!"

God: "It was manifest to Me, and I foreknew it, that thou wouldst withhold not even thy soul from Me."

Abraham: "And why, then, didst Thou afflict me thus?"

God: "It was My wish that the world should become acquainted with thee, and should know that it is not without good reason that I have chosen thee from all the nations. Now it hath been witnessed unto men that thou fearest God."|''Legends of the Jews''{{sfn|Ginzberg|1909}}}}
[[File:Beit alfa02.jpg|thumb|[[Zodiac mosaics in ancient synagogues|Mosaic]] on the floor of [[Beth Alpha]] depicting the {{transliteration|hbo|Akedah}}]]

Jacob Howland has pointed out that "Ginzberg's work must be used with caution, because his project fabricating a unified narrative from multiple sources inevitably makes the tradition of rabbinic commentary seem more univocal than it actually is." Ginzberg's work does not encompass the way in which [[midrash]] on 'Akedah mirrored the different needs of diverse Jewish communities. Isaac was resurrected after the slaughter in the version of medieval [[Ashkenaz]]. Spiegel has interpreted this as designed to recast the biblical figures in the context of the [[Crusades]].<ref name=HowlandConway>{{cite book |last=Howland |first=Jacob |editor-last=Conway |editor-first=Daniel |title=Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling |chapter=Fear and Trembling's 'Attunement' as midrash |date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

The [[Book of Genesis]] does not tell the age of Isaac at the time.<ref name=Levenson>{{cite book
|last= Levenson |first= Jon D. | editor1-last  = Berlin | editor1-first = Adele | editor2-last  = Brettler | editor2-first = Marc Zvi |title=The Jewish Study Bible |chapter=Genesis: introduction and annotations |date= 2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn =9780195297515 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195297515 |url-access= registration |quote= The Jewish study Bible. }}</ref> Some Talmudic sages teach that Isaac was an adult aged thirty seven,{{sfn|Ginzberg|1909}} likely based on the next biblical story, which is of [[Sarah]]'s death at 127 years,<ref>{{Bibleverse|Genesis|23:1|HE}}</ref> being 90 when Isaac was born.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Genesis|17:17, 21|HE}}</ref><ref name=Levin>[[Jon D. Levenson]], Lecture October 13, 2016:  [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtBa3CcuFn8 "Genesis 22: The Binding of Isaac and the Crucifixion of Jesus"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221141351/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtBa3CcuFn8&gl=US&hl=en |date=2020-02-21 }}, starting at about 1:05:10</ref> Isaac's reaction to the binding is unstated in the biblical narrative. Some commentators have argued that he was traumatized and angry, often citing the fact that he and Abraham are never seen to speak to each other again; however, [[Jon D. Levenson]] notes that the biblical text never depicts them speaking before the binding, either.<ref name="Levenson 2012 p. 59">{{cite book | last=Levenson | first=J. D. | title=Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam | publisher=Princeton University Press | series=Library of Jewish Ideas | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-4008-4461-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5veRUqfcuNQC&pg=PT59 | page=59 | access-date=2017-12-12 | archive-date=2019-06-15 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190615010413/https://books.google.com/books?id=5veRUqfcuNQC&pg=PT59 | url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[Genesis Apocryphon]] discovered in the [[Dead Sea Scrolls|Qumrannic Caves Scrolls (Dead Sea Scrolls)]] in 1946, Hebrew tribal patriarch [[Lamech (father of Noah)|Lamech]], son of [[Methuselah]] converses with Abraham who also speaks in first and third person narratives.

===Use in worship===
The narrative of the sacrifice and binding of Isaac is traditionally read in synagogue on the second day of [[Rosh Hashanah]].

The practice of the [[Kabbalists]], observed in some communities but not all, is to recite this chapter every day immediately after [[Birkot hashachar]].