In this shiur I tried to move the dialogue away from the Narrator's intent and to the subtext of the relations between Avraham and Sarah that were not revealed openly because of the religious purpose of nation building going on. However on a deeper level their anxieties and mutual distrust give us their children hope precisely because they articulate for us the very complexities of marriage and differing visions. In their difference we see the children Ishmael and Isaac as the ones who must carry the burden and live their lives out with the decisions their parents made.
In our understanding of the divine we move from the psycho-dynamic features of the narrative to the mystical as we see Sarah imeinu transmuted into Schechina consciousness with all the tent allusions ans her connection to Rivkah her daughter in law and the other Matriarchs.
The very struggle between the two national parents now becomes the struggle, we their children, have to carry in facing the divine opposites of Judgement and Mercy, and the sometimes inappropriate closeness we feel to the Schechina like Isaac and Sarah's realtionship.
It is precisely in our managing the divine rage as well as love that we the people, must dance .
The very leitwort of vision seeing and "ayeih" where are YOU? in this parsha forms the strands of lack of visual acuity that, paradoxically makes this story of the Akedah, not about Isaac, but about its only victim...Sarah. Despite ISaac's survival she does not see it because she is so caught up in the horror of the narrative of fathers sacrificing their sons.
Last year I suggested she purposefully did not allow herself to remain on this earth since she worried that despite his survival, other Jewish children WOULD be sacrificed in Jewish history so she made haste "upstairs" to confront the divine. This year I am more moved by her blindness to Isaac's presence as he comes back from the mountain to tell her of the tale. She just cannot see him because of the horror of the story he unfolds.
Rabbi Nachman speaks of "ayei" this existential question we all ask ourselves in the dark night of the soul, "where are you?" where are You Lord!!!" in Torah 12 Part 2 of Likutei Mehoran.
"Ayei Haseh Laola" meaning "Daddy, where is the goat for the offering?" this seemingly innocent question posed by Isaac is the same question we all pose to the divine...a 37 year old can surely figure out who is the sacrifice! And the midrash has him really asking his father about Sarah..."where is the mother who will hear this story Dad!" What will become of her! "Will you at least break it to her gently" ...
As we develop what I call "Schechina consciousness" we too must ask about Her, and that is the specific intention of Tikkun Chatzot.
Monday, November 14, 2011 at 08:33PM
Reader Comments (1)
In this shiur I tried to move the dialogue away from the Narrator's intent and to the subtext of the relations between Avraham and Sarah that were not revealed openly because of the religious purpose of nation building going on. However on a deeper level their anxieties and mutual distrust give us their children hope precisely because they articulate for us the very complexities of marriage and differing visions. In their difference we see the children Ishmael and Isaac as the
ones who must carry the burden and live their lives out with the decisions their parents made.
In our understanding of the divine we move from the psycho-dynamic features of the narrative to the mystical as we see Sarah imeinu transmuted into Schechina consciousness with all the tent allusions ans her connection to Rivkah her daughter in law and the other Matriarchs.
The very struggle between the two national parents now becomes the struggle, we their children, have to carry in facing the divine opposites of Judgement and Mercy, and the sometimes inappropriate closeness we feel to the Schechina like Isaac and Sarah's realtionship.
It is precisely in our managing the divine rage as well as love that we the people, must dance .
The very leitwort of vision seeing and "ayeih" where are YOU? in this parsha forms the strands of lack of visual acuity that, paradoxically makes this story of the Akedah, not about Isaac, but about its only victim...Sarah. Despite ISaac's survival she does not see it because she is so caught up in the horror of the narrative of fathers sacrificing their sons.
Last year I suggested she purposefully did not allow herself to remain on this earth since she worried that despite his survival, other Jewish children WOULD be sacrificed in Jewish history so she made haste "upstairs" to confront the divine. This year I am more moved by her blindness to Isaac's presence as he comes back from the mountain to tell her of the tale. She just cannot see him because of the horror of the story he unfolds.
Rabbi Nachman speaks of "ayei" this existential question we all ask ourselves in the dark night of the soul, "where are you?" where are You Lord!!!"
in Torah 12 Part 2 of Likutei Mehoran.
"Ayei Haseh Laola" meaning "Daddy, where is the goat for the offering?" this seemingly innocent question posed by Isaac is the same question we all pose to the divine...a 37 year old can surely figure out who is the sacrifice! And the midrash has him really asking his father about Sarah..."where is the mother who will hear this story Dad!" What will become of her! "Will you at least break it to her gently" ...
As we develop what I call "Schechina consciousness" we too must ask about Her, and that is the specific intention of Tikkun Chatzot.