The Strength of Isaac

On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, we read the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, as the Torah portion. Abraham took his son Isaac and built an altar, bound Isaac to it, and reached out his hand to take the knife to sacrifice him – at which point the angel of HaShem intervened, so that Abraham sacrificed a ram instead. Afterward, Abraham returned to his servants – but the Torah does not mention Isaac returning with his father (Gen 22:19). There are various rabbinic explanations as to why this is, but from that moment, Isaac walks an independent journey from that of his father. I can’t say I blame him – his father had just started to kill him, after all, even if he was interrupted! Isaac continues this independent journey – later on, the text states that after Abraham dies, God blessed his son (Gen 25:11) – and the rabbis note that although Abraham had the ability to bless people and, indeed, blessed others, he did not bless Isaac, so God blessed Isaac instead.

We travel this journey with Isaac during the first three blessings of the Amidah, which is a roadmap for our own spiritual journey. First, in the Avot (Ancestors) blessing, we give thanks for the heritage we receive from our ancestors, without which we would not have life or the knowledge of God.  Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer (ch. 31) teaches that the next blessing, G’vurot (Strengths), was first prayed by Isaac when his life was spared by the substitution of the ram in the sacrifice. As we pray G’vurot, we spring to life as ourselves, drawing from our ancestral gifts but also establishing ourselves as unique individuals. And it is only after embracing our unique selves and journeys and God’s individual blessing for us that we are able to come together as a community to perceive and rejoice in the holiness of God in the Kedusha.

What, you may ask, does this have to do with Rosh Hashanah? Rosh Hashanah celebrates the original creation of the world by God – and also the continuous creation that God enacts in partnership with us. As the new year begins, we are called by God to embrace the individual selves God creates us to be, grateful for our ancestors and their faith while courageous in our own journeys, and to use those gifts to bless God, each other, creation, ultimately receiving a blessing ourselves. But we can only do this once we have the courage, like Isaac, to set out on our own journey, called and blessed by God.

May we find the strength to do this in 5781.