Parashat Vayera – Rabbi Eliezer Berland Shlit”a

“AND IT WAS AFTER THESE EVENTS THAT GOD TESTED AVRAHAM AND SAID TO HIM, ‘AVRAHAM,’ AND HE REPLIED, ‘HERE I AM’" (BEREISHIT 22:1)

AKEIDAT YITZCHAK

It is brought in II Melachim that Israel defeated the Moabite camp and killed 100,000 of their soldiers.  The King of Moab saw the great victory of the Jews and called upon all the sorcerers and magicians, asking them, “What is the secret of the Jews?  How did they defeat us in one second?  Here they had already been starving for a number of days in the desert, without a drop of water!  How did everything turn over in one moment, and they won?  What merit do they have?  What is the secret of the Jewish people?”

 They told him: The secret of the Jewish people is the Akeida [the binding of Yitzchak]!  The merit that stands for the Jewish people is the binding of Yitzchak!  The redemption will only come through Yitzchak.  In the merit of Yitzchak, the redemption will come.  In the merit of the Akeida, the redemption will come.  Because Sarah Emeinu said, “I want a son who will save the Jewish people!  I want a son who will go to the Akeida!  I want a son who will argue with his father that he wants to be sacrificed!  I want a son who will argue with the Satan that he wants to be slaughtered!”

The moment that Avraham Avinu brought Yitzchak to the Akeida, the Satan didn’t know what to do…  He didn’t know how to put a stop to this Akeida.  He knew that if there would be the Akeida, it would stand for the Jewish people for all generations!  He knew that if the Akeida would take place, he would be lost.  Therefore, he carried out all the strategies to prevent the Akeida.  In the beginning, he turned into a river.  Afterwards, he made himself appear as an old man (Sanhedrin 8b), but nothing worked for him.

Then the Satan said to Yitzchak: “I heard from behind the curtain, ‘The lamb is for the elevation offering, and Yitzchak is not for the elevation offering.’  This, that you are going to be slaughtered, is all a show!  That they’re taking you to the Akeida is all wonderful, but it won’t happen in the end!  I’m telling you, there won’t be an Akeida.  Rather, they will sacrifice the lamb for an elevation offering and not you.”  Then Yitzchak screamed, “Abba, what should we do!?  ‘Where is the lamb for the offering.’  I want to be the lamb for the offering!  Abba, will I be the offering to Hashem?”  Yitzchak was afraid the entire time that Avraham would find some lamb on the way and sacrifice the lamb for the offering and not him.  And Yitzchak argued with Avraham, “Abba, the Satan told me that I won’t be slaughtered.  Why?  Abba, why?  What did I do?  What is my sin?  Abba, tell me what is my sin?  Why won’t I be slaughtered?”

Then Avraham said to him, “My son, you are the offering.  Ignore the Satan!   Forget the Satan.  You are the offering, my son.  We are going to be bound for the sanctification of God’s Name – literally!  Forget everything that he said to you.  You have nothing to worry about; you will be slaughtered.  You will be bound.  You are truly going to be bound.  You are holy of holies.  You are entirely to Hashem.”  The moment that Yitzchak heard the happy news that he would be bound, his soul returned to him.

Avraham Avinu saw everything that would happen until the end of all generations.  Hashem revealed to Avraham all that would happen in all generations.  There is nothing that Hashem didn’t reveal to Avraham Avinu.  He saw all the decrees, all the holocausts that would be.  Avraham Avinu, through binding his son in the Akeida, took upon himself all the suffering until all generations.  With this binding, he already exempted everyone from their obligation from all the Akeida’s in the world, from all the suffering in the world.  With the Akeida, he sweetened all the judgments until the end of all generations.

It is written in the passage of the Akeida, “Behold, a ram caught in the thicket.”  The thicket alludes to the sin of the golden calf.  What is the meaning of “caught in the thicket [סבך-SaBaCh]”?  After the letter ס ("samekh") is ע ("ayin"), after ב ("bet") is ג ("gimel"), and after ך ("kaf") is ל ("lamed") – resulting in ע, ג, ל – [spelling "EGeL -- calf"].  Avraham Avinu saw the sin of the golden calf.  He saw everything, and through the Akeida, he sweetened all the judgments for all generations.

The moment that Avraham Avinu offered the Akeida, a Heavenly voice went out and said, “Do not do anything to him,” and this will accompany the Jewish people for all generations.  If a person recites the passage of the Akeida every day, then a Heavenly voice goes out and says, “Do not do anything to him.”  A Heavenly voice goes out and says, “Do not send your hand against the boy and do not do anything to him.”

If he says the passage of the Akeida with intent without skipping any word, any letter, then he will be saved from all the decrees, from all the judgments of that day!  He is assured that during that day, no harm will happen to him – “Do not do anything to him.”  No accident will happen to him.  A person could be in Auschwitz, in the Holocaust, and nothing will happen to him.  Every time that a person says the Akeida, a Heavenly voice goes out and announces anew, “Do not send your hand against the boy and do not do anything to him.”  Do not do anything to him!  He sweetens all the judgments.

Every day, there are new decrees.  A person doesn’t know.  The child walks in the street, gets off the bus, get on the minibus.  With every movement, especially with children, they need angels to protect them.  “For His angels He will command for you to protect you on all your ways.”  According to the natural order, it couldn’t be that the child would return healthy and complete.  It is only that angels protect them.  Therefore, when a person reads the Akeida in the morning, a Heavenly voice goes out and says, “Do not send your hand against the boy.”  Through the Akeida, all the judgments are sweetened from the youth and the children.  If there was, God forbid, any decree on any child that day, through saying the passage of the Akeida in the morning, the judgment is sweetened.

When a person begins the prayer in the morning, he needs to recite the passage of the Akeida, because it’s forbidden to ever relent on the passage of the Akeida.  Whoever merits to read the order of the Akeida merits to be saved from all the troubles of that day, and one needs to mention the Akeida every day, because through the binding of Yitzchak, all the judgments are sweetened until the end of all generations.  Since every day there are new decrees and we need to sweeten the decrees, we are obligated to recite the order of the Akeida with intention and to never skip it.