V. 13. וישא. On that he looked around. He felt the urge to dedicate the sacrifice, this עקוד and העקד, this free-willed surrender of one’s whole being with hand and foot on the altar, which he had been ready to do in actuality, now, by a symbolic offering, to be the tenor of the whole future life of his son and the descendants of his son.

Just as Isaac had been ready to sacrifice himself on the altar of God, and had risen up to life from the altar of God, so is this same feeling and the same cheerful readiness for sacrifice to be the vow expressed in offerings by him and his children, and fulfilled in life. Isaac’s life and the life of his children are to form an eternal Akeida.

The identification of the person in his offering is established for all time with the greatest pithiness by this איל תחת בנו. In תנא דבי אלי׳ it says: — אותו יום שהעלה אבינו אברהם את יצחק בנו על גבי המזבח תיקן הקב״ה שני כבשים אחד בשחרית ואחד בין הערבים שנ׳ את הכבש אחד וגו׳ וכל כך למה שבשעה שישראל מקריבין תמידים על המזבח וקוראין את המקרא הזה צפונה לפני ה׳ הקב״ה זוכר עקידת יצחק מעיד אני עלי שמים וארץ בין גוי בין ישראל בין איש בין אשה בין עבד בין שפחה קורא את המקרא הזה צפונה לפני ה׳ הקב״ה זוכר עקידת יצחק בן אברהם.

There too the daily offering in the Temple is taken to be just a national continuation of the Akeida of the forefather, and especially the command צפונה לפני ה׳, that the holiest offerings had to be brought before God on the “midnight side” of the altar is taken in connection with it. In the “midnight of life”, with the sun far beneath us, around us all darkness, and still to say: Even if we can not see, ה׳ יראה God does see, — to stand צפונה, in midnights of life, לפני ה׳, before God, — to say: “God has insight, He can see for us, no need for insight into the insight of God, neither His Law nor His manner of ruling need to justify thesmelves before the tribune of our understanding, whatever the conditions may be here below: ה׳ יראה.” Such is the institution of the eternal offering on Moriah.

That was why Abraham looked for an animal, for words were insufficient, and see, there stands a ram, and אחר, afterwards, after Abraham had first seen it, it became caught by its horns in a bush. Then Abraham took it and brought it as “an offering in place of his son.” These words which we have stressed are a striking refutation of that narrow-minded or malicious misconception which disputes the symbolic meaning of our offerings, so as to be able to launch into a proud disparagement of the “bloody ritual of offerings”.

If offerings had no symbolic meanings, if the offering of this ram did not express a much higher and much more meaningful giving oneself up to God, what a blasphemy, yea, what an absurdity would it be to say תחת בנו; instead of the dearest, most precious thing, for which one would sooner have suffered death oneself ten times over, to substitute an animal that just happens to be running wild in the forest, so that it has not even the value of one’s own possessions! Somebody has generously given me a million pounds, and I pick up a pin and say, well at least take this for it!