The Test of Isaac--Rabbi Yitzhak Miller--Yom Kippur 5770/2009

The Test of Isaac

Twice a week Rachel gets on her knees.  “Oh please God,” she prays, “please let me with the lottery today.”  Twice a week with what we might call religious zeal the prayer goes forth to God: “Please, let me win the lottery today.”  For months and then for years the prayer is recited again and again with sincerity, with fervor, with passion, and with dedication. 

Finally, after 3 years, God can stand it no more.  Finally, after 3 years, on one Wednesday morning God answers.  “I hear your prayers, Rachel.  I hear the sincerity with which they’re offered.  I hear the belief in your voice.  But please, Rachel, please—at least help me out and go buy a lottery ticket!”

Blind faith is not a lesson mainstream Judaism teaches.  And, in reality, I don’t find that most Jews get too caught up in blind faith.  Sure there are a few in certain neighborhoods of Jerusalem and Brooklyn, but for the most part Jewish tradition raises us to be skeptical, questioning, intelligent, learned, and thoughtful.  Our very name—Israel—Yisra-El means “The one who wrestles with God.”

James Fowler, developmental Psychologist and author of the book “Stages of Faith” talks about the reality of blind faith, and labels it the most elementary form of religiosity.  He calls it juvenile, and simplistic.  Yet sadly, if we listen to the messages our society sends us, we could easily think that blind faith is the goal of religious life.

So here we sit on Yom Kippur morning, feeling very self-justified—“I’m not a victim of blind faith!”  “I’m not that juvenile, I’m not that simplistic!”

Bad news.  James Fowler puts a second category of religiosity into his hierarchy—just above blind faith, but still in the category of juvenile and simplistic, James Fowler puts the religious position of “blind rejection”.  Uh oh.  In my experience, most Jews don’t get caught in blind faith, but many many many Jews get caught in blind rejection.  And that’s where today’s Torah portion comes in…

“Yo Dad!” Isaac says to Abraham, “Here we are travelling 3 days and going up a mountain with everything we need for a sacrifice except the animal.  What gives?  Where’s the ram?”

Today’s Torah portion begins with the words “And God put Abraham to a test.”  Most things in Judaism—the Shema, the v’ahavta, the aleinu—are simply called by their first words.  So the logical thing to call this Torah portion would be “The Test of Abraham.”  But Judaism doesn’t refer to this passage as “The Test of Abraham.”  In fact, Judaism doesn’t even refer to Abraham in naming this Torah reading.  In Judaism we call this Torah reading “The Binding of Isaac.”  What gives?  What does Isaac have to do with this story, and what’s he bound up in anyway?

I would suggest we call this Torah reading “The Binding of Isaac” because today’s Torah portion is not ultimately about a juvenile test of Abraham’s blind faith.  Instead I would suggest that today’s Torah portion is about Isaac’s deep and challenging quest to move beyond blind faith—and also to move beyond blind rejection.  I would suggest that today’s Torah portion is less a test of Abraham than a test of Isaac.

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