Parshat Va-yera

Shabbat Mom will never forget the moment her then 6- or 7-year-old son Caleb, upon learning about Va-yera, asked the most frighteningly obvious question about this emotionally shattering parsha, one that rendered Shabbat mom temporarily speechless (as you can imagine that is no easy task):

"What would you do if G-d asked you to sacrifice me?" Caleb said.

"He would not ask," was, ultimately, Shabbat Mom's admittedly unsatisfactory answer.

Certainly the Akeda, the binding of Abraham's beloved son Isaac (represented above with an altar of cinnamon sticks) is a Biblical moment that no Jewish child can ever forget. When G-d calls upon him, Abraham does not question or protest, he simply obeys. “...(Abraham) laid (Isaac) upon the altar, on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. Then an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he answered ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Do not raise your hand against the boy...For now I know that you fear G-d...’” Shabbat Shalom!

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