CHULA VISTA, California — A friend of mine in Israel told me the following story: Shortly after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 a young man went to enroll in a basic Judaism class in Israel. My friend asked him why he wanted to study the Torah.
The young man, whose name was Yitzhak, explained that he had been a soldier stationed at Suez. His unit was signed up to cross the canal in what everyone knew was a suicide mission. Three days later, the mission was canceled.
His first reaction was joy for the fact that his life had been unexpectedly spared. Then he began to think about the meaning of what had happened to him. He wondered, “This is the way that Yitzchak, Abraham’s son must have felt when after three days of walking and waiting, his life was unexpectedly spared.
What did Yitzchak of the Torah do after the event? He must have felt driven to find out the meaning of what had happened to him.
Did Yitzhak wonder whether his father was mad? Was his sacrifice worthwhile? These questions must have haunted him for the rest of his life.
“This is now my situation,” the young man said. “I too am named Yitzchak, and like him I too have lived with death for three days. I asked to be ready to give up my life for the sake of some abstraction called “Jewishness” and for the sake of something called the “Jewish State.”
Now I have to find out why my father—the Jewish people—asked me to be willing to die. It may be the greatest madness in the world, or it may be for the sake of the most magnificent purpose on earth. I need to understand Isaac’s choice to be a sacrifice. I want to understand what motivated his behavior. This is why I now want to come here and study Torah.”
Not every child named Yitzchak of Jewish history has been so blessed.
In 1996, who could forget the death of another famous Yitzchak—Yitzchak Rabin, who was killed by a Jewish extremist. Unfortunately for Yitzchak, Rabin, no angelic hand prevented his assassin.
Although we read on Rosh Hashanah how God commanded that Abraham sacrifice his son, today, you can be sure that God no longer makes this demand from his followers.
However, the State in many ways has usurped the traditional role of God when it comes to the practice of human sacrifice.
How many wars have we seen since the Vietnam War, where the State has called upon its Abrahams to sacrifice their beloved Isaacs?
Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is to try the same experiment a thousand times and expect a different result.”
When will we learn that the lives of our Isaacs are more important the lives of people who despise what we stand for as a country? Unfortunately, liberty cannot be forced fed into the mouths of the Arab nations. They have to choose it on their own, much as they are trying to do with Egypt.
The Book of Ecclesiastes records some timeless wisdom:
There is an appointed time for everything,
and a time for every affair under the heavens …
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1,8
Jewish tradition teaches there are necessary wars, and there are also optional wars. Examples of necessary wars involve fighting for the Land of Israel, as our ancestors did in ancient and modern times. Wars of self-defense are necessary wars, e.g., WWII, when our country fought against the Japanese Empire after they bombed Pearl Harbor. The war against Nazism was a war for the preservation of human civilization. We all knew and understood the genocidal plans of Hitler.
Americans sent their sons to fight this war because so much was at stake.
In contrast, the War of Iraq and in Afghanistan are examples of optional wars—wars that do not necessarily defend the American mainland. What is so tragic about the situation in Syria is that we are actively supporting the same organization that was responsible for 9/11.
On the other hand, the idea of a nuclear powered Iran, who has spread more violence in the international community than any other political force, is a game-changer. Imagine if Hitler had nuclear weapons. Such a situation may prove unavoidable—since all of Western Civilization will be at risk.
The death of 400 + innocents is tragic, but equally compelling narratives suggest that the Al Qaeda rebels obtained chemical weapons to use on their own people in order to frame Assad. Given the amoral nature of this conflict, how do we know who was guilty?
Given the ruthlessness of the Al Qaeda organization, we cannot ignore this possibility.
Kneejerk reactions are the problem—but as the philosopher Immanuel Kant explains his Metaphysics of Ethics, even God is bound to a moral code; Abraham should have simply said, “No thank you …” Nothing more need be said.
In his brilliant short book, “You Shall be as Gods,” Fromm comes to a compelling conclusion about the nature of Divine power: If God Almighty can be bound by an ethical law, how much more so must political and authoritarian power be bound to the principle of ethical responsibility.
Fromm argues that if you examine the biblical stories of Genesis and the Bible, you will see a remarkable pattern. The ancient Israelites’ perception of God undergoes radical changes. Gradually, God ceases to be an authoritarian ruler who can do with Creation whatever he wants.
By entering into a covenantal relationship with humankind, God ultimately becomes a constitutional monarch, and human beings are fully accountable and responsible for the evil that exists in the world.
However, we cannot rely upon angelic beings to stop the hands of government from slaughtering their Isaacs in the name of patriotism and freedom.
We are the ones God expects to hold our leaders responsible and accountable when it comes to perpetuating bellicosity in a dangerous part of the world where human beings disrespect life in the name of God and in the name of State.
May the sobering lessons of the Isaac’s Binding remind us that God never intended we continue sacrificing our Isaacs—even today.
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Rabbi Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom. He may be contacted via michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com