ASBI Parsha Class #4: Taanit 15a and Parshat Vayera

(1) Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test, saying to him, “Abraham.” He answered, “Here I am.”(2) “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.”(3) So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him.(4) On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar.(5) Then Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the ass. The boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you.”(6) Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together.(7) Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”(8) And Abraham said, “It is God who will see to the sheep for this burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.(9) They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.(10) And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son.(11) Then a messenger of יהוה called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.”(12) “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.”

Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff [of Moses], [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs.

And he recites at the end of all of these six blessing their unique conclusions. For the conclusion of the first blessing: Redeemer of Israel, he recites: He Who answered Abraham on Mount Moriah (see Genesis 22:11–18), He will answer you and hear the sound of your cry on this day. Blessed are You, Lord, Redeemer of Israel. For the second blessing, to which he adds the verses of Remembrances, he recites: He Who answered our forefathers at the Red Sea (see Exodus 14:15–31), He will answer you and hear the sound of your cry on this day. Blessed are You, Lord, Who remembers the forgotten.

HALAKHAH: But was not Isaac redeemed? Since Isaac was redeemed it is as if all of Israel was redeemed. Rebbi Bevai Abba in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: Abraham said before the Holy One, praise to Him: Master of the worlds, it is open and known before You that when You said to me to sacrifice my son Isaac I could have answered and said before You, yesterday You said to me, for in Isaac will your descendants be named, and now You are saying, sacrifice him as elevation offering. Heaven forbid that I should have done this, to the contrary I suppressed my inclination and did Your will.